TOI correspondent from Washington: For many years, American commencement speakers could safely rely on stereotypical speeches that included inspirational clichés, autobiographical struggles, and advice to recent graduates to “dream big” and not fear failure.
In 2026, there’s a new guardrail: mention AI at your own risk.Across the United States this graduation season, commencement speakers who cite artificial intelligence have been greeted not with polite applause but with boos and jeers. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt was harassed at the University of Arizona after telling graduates they would help shape the future of artificial intelligence — an argument that found favor among students staring down a tough job market increasingly rife with automation, layoffs and hiring freezes.At the University of Central Florida, graduates booed when real estate executive Gloria Caulfield declared that “the rise of artificial intelligence is the next industrial revolution.” The reaction was immediate enough for the astonished speaker to ask, “What happened?” Before you bravely try to continue. At Middle Tennessee State University, music executive Scott Borchetta also drew boos as he spoke about the impact of artificial intelligence on the creative industries.
Instead of optimism, many graduates heard something closer to: “Congratulations, your alternative is scalable.”Hazing is more than just campus theater. It reflects a broader American backlash against a technology system that is increasingly seen as enriching billionaires while annoying everyone else. While elites promise growth and abundance, young graduates (and their mothers and fathers) worry about electricity bills, water supplies, and the disappearance of entry-level jobs. The anger now extends beyond college campuses to suburbs, farmlands and zoning board meetings — especially around data centers, the massive warehouse-like facilities fueling the artificial intelligence boom. Just outside Washington, D.C., in Northern Virginia, nicknamed “Data Center Alley,” residents are fighting proposed server farms over noise, energy use, land consumption, and environmental impact. Similar disturbances spread across Georgia, Arizona, Oregon, Texas and New Jersey.It has become such a hot topic that President Trump himself faced questions about it on Wednesday, only for him to insist that “AI has been amazing, because we now have more jobs, more people now working in the United States with the FAR, than we ever had before,” before quickly turning to Iran. The billionaire class — from chip makers to cloud providers to venture capitalists — has touted AI as the next transformative leap in human productivity.
They’re not entirely wrong. AI promises medical breakthroughs, faster scientific research, personalized education, improved logistics, increased efficiency, and potentially trillions in economic output. “Artificial intelligence exists and is smarter than humans in many areas.
“We have to get used to the idea that it will replace humans in many areas,” says Professor Lil Mohan, who teaches a course on artificial intelligence at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.However, critics argue that the gains are unevenly distributed. The graduate entering journalism, design, software engineering, law, marketing or customer support is now simultaneously hearing that AI will deliver extraordinary productivity gains — and that entry-level work may shrink as programs can draft memos, generate code, summarize documents or design graphics.Meanwhile, residents near the proposed data centers hear promises of innovation and tax revenues, but sometimes see soaring energy demand, heavy water consumption, an artificial landscape, and relatively modest permanent job creation.
Public skepticism toward artificial intelligence has grown as societies question whether technological acceleration is beyond democratic consent. “It’s a very natural response by the graduating class because there’s some simple truth behind the decline in entry-level jobs,” says Aditya Balu, who graduated from Johns Hopkins in 2019 and now works as an operations analyst in the World Bank’s AI unit. “Eventually, everyone is going to have to internalize it and increase their AI skills because that will lead to tremendous progress.” However, the story is not just AI optimism or technological pessimism. History also carries a warning often omitted from Silicon Valley keynote speeches: Transitions hurt. They are redistributing power. They create winners and losers. When ordinary people believe that the billionaire class captures most of the upside while societies absorb the unrest, anger follows.Which may explain why America’s graduates are booing.
