Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt was interrupted with sustained booing during his commencement address at the University of Arizona on Friday after he turned to artificial intelligence and its impact on the workforce, contrasting sharply with applause for other speakers and reflecting broader anxiety among graduates entering one of the most uncertain job markets in a generation. Schmidt acknowledged the fear in the room, saying “there is a fear in your generation that the future has already been written, that the machines are coming, that the jobs are evaporating,” before validating those concerns as rational and arguing “the question is not whether AI will shape the world. It will. The question is whether you will have shaped artificial intelligence.” The reception contrasted with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s commencement at Carnegie Mellon the previous week, where his line that “AI is not likely to replace you, but someone using AI better than you might” landed more positively, though some Arizona students also planned to boo Schmidt over separate sexual assault allegations he has denied as “fabricated” and which a judge ordered to arbitration in March.
