- Eric Schmidt’s speech was particularly bad regardless of the subject, his condescending tone alone deserved the booing.
- GenAI is the first technology that I've ever seen that is actively rejected by young adults and fervently pushed by people over 55.
It seems Eric Schmids of the world think they (in their 70s) have more say about the future of these students than the students themselves. That is very unlikely.
by analogpixel
2 subcomments
- > Tennessee State University suggested AI was "rewriting production as we sit here" and told his audience to "deal with it" as they jeered him in response.
Guess it doesn't take much to see what's under the mask.
by billbrown
1 subcomments
- There was an effort to disinvite him as soon as it was announced that he was the speaker.[1] And then when that failed, activists passed out flyers encouraging students to boo Schmidt during his speech.[2] This all took place before he set foot on campus because of alleged sexual harassment.
This wasn't about what everyone wants it to be about.
[1] https://tucson.com/news/local/education/college/article_078e...
[2] https://tucson.com/news/local/education/college/article_ab7e...
by softwaredoug
1 subcomments
- Tech execs made choices that made the public hostile to AI. They told everyone they were going to lose their jobs a not participate in the upside (implication: they get all the wealth). They cozied up to a corrupt administration that stripped public benefits while enriching themselves (now from tax dollars). They forced towns to accept environmentally toxic data centers that take their water/power
We’re all going to suffer the economic consequences of being left behind in AI (and other fields) all because execs wanted to double down on privatize the gains / socialize the losses.
- The kids are alright.
- Correctly or not (probably to some degree correctly) new grads are hearing AI is a major reason why they're having trouble finding jobs which is simultaneously 1.) Probably mostly has always been the case--I no longer have the vast sheaf of rejection letters when I ever got one at all and 2.) Is anecdotally actually the case for a variety of reasons that also include pandemic overhiring and probably an out-sized AI effect on junior engineers, probably especially programmers.
- Discussed here (2 days ago): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48177785
- Schmidt will get over it. In the coming unrest/wars, he will profit nicely from all his investments in weapons and surveillance.
by trynumber9
0 subcomment
- I suspect general attitude to AI will split along those who had to apply for jobs in the post-AI world of automatic resume generation and filtering and those who didn't.
- All right, I read the Eric Schmidt speech and it's fine https://xcancel.com/Jason/status/2056413992369676293?s=20
It's not "out of touch" or rubbing everyone's noses in it or any of the other nonsense that people are talking about. It's got a pretty clear thesis: this is a revolutionary technology of a kind that many of us thought impossible even within this last decade; and it hasn't been fully defined what its use and shape will be for humanity; and then there's a note of optimism in it.
As far as I can tell this is a pretty decent commencement speech. It's not "disconnected from reality" or "living in a bubble" or "spiteful" or any of these other phrases that people are using.
A commencement speech has to address the elephant in the room: this present revolution. It has to exhort the students on to something: which this aims to do. And it has to present challenges in order to do so: this does that as well.
by steelkilt
2 subcomments
- If I were an adversary of the U.S. I would encourage anti-AI sentiment among young people, to my strategic advantage.
by isityettime
0 subcomment
- You can watch Schmidt's commencement speech here, at 2h:13m:05s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1eM3jv0vWY&t=7985s
It seems like they start booing him pretty close to the start, and pretty often.
by SirMaster
1 subcomments
- How many of those booing used AI to do some of their homework?
by Fraterkes
2 subcomments
- Apart from being tonedeaf, this stuff just strikes me as very lazy. Who still needs to be told that AI is new and transformative? Getting the privilege of monologueing to a crowd of people on one of the biggest days of their lives, and then just throwing out a bunch of obvious cliches... pretty damning imo.
by heathrow83829
0 subcomment
- "Deal with it" is the response these CEOs give.
Well, don't be surprised when society starts to regulate or even outright ban AI and data centers. Companies will need to "deal with that".
by hermannj314
7 subcomments
- "After my speech for the troops about how we are losing in Iran, my speech to children with cancer about how we've gutted research, sure I can then give a speech to people entering the job market about how AI is ruining the job market"
Perfect, that's exactly the message of despair we want to send! (How I imagine picking these speakers goes at every college campus)
- A commencement speech should leave people motivated, not feeling like they’re about to be economically replaced before even starting their careers.
by fractorial
2 subcomments
- > Schmidt, who served in various capacities as CEO, Chairman, and technical advisor to Google and its parent company Alphabet across several decades, ...
It is gratuitous to say “several,” no?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Schmidt
by ludicrousdispla
0 subcomment
- If you don't want to be booed at while yapping about AI during a commencement speech, then maybe you shouldn't be doing that in the first place.
- This is like the 4th post I've seen on here about the exact same event.
by 0xbadcafebee
2 subcomments
- Meanwhile they're doing all their homework and tests with AI
- Next time just let AI give the damn speech and be done with it ... LOL.
by ChrisArchitect
0 subcomment
- 2 days old news OP;
[dupe]
The American Rebellion Against AI Is Gaining Steam
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48188310
Eric Schmidt booed at University of Arizona after praising AI
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48172419
Students boo commencement speaker after she calls AI next industrial revolution
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48096674
Multiple commencement speakers booed for AI comments during graduation speeches
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48177107
An AI Hate Wave Is Here
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48173318
- I wonder how many of those booing used AI to write their term papers. From the teaching side, I hear AI has become an epidemic of students scamming their way into degrees.
by numron-dev
1 subcomments
- AI is hitting junior positions way more than senior ones right now, and students with no professional experience are exactly who that affects most. They're walking into a job market where the kind of role they were supposed to start in is shrinking.
That said, booing a speaker mid-speech wouldn't be my move on my own graduation day. But I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't be grinding my teeth in my seat.
by TrackerFF
2 subcomments
- Yeah, it is incredibly tone deaf.
I can fully understand some executives trying to hype up AI with the "It'll create more jobs!" mantra, but as it happens, the AI boom coincided with the post-COVID layoffs (from the hiring frenzy we saw back then) - so even though AI might directly not be responsible for less junior/grad hiring in the various industries, the vibe is that it is still responsible for the tough times college grads are facing.
- I thought Fauci's comments were pretty good. Just common sense stuff about using critical thinking when confronted with misinformation/disinformation.
1hr 36min
https://www.youtube.com/live/RyWsFYj6380?si=p2W6ih3USKdyDLY1
- Needs more booing. These so-called rich people have the gall to say, “You guys are going homeless, and there is nothing you can do about it. However, please use AI.”
by dude250711
2 subcomments
- They just have not considered the massive shareholder value being captured, which under capitalism is certainly guaranteed to trickle down, as it had been historically proven time after time.
- AI Bros are spending too much good will being obnoxious about fancy approximation algorithms, when their purpose in real AI will be lizard brain/reflex type actions.
The next AI winter can't happen soon enough. (Note each past AI winter did give us new tools just like this one will, it's just a shame that it'll be an excuse to worsen customer support)
by somelamer567
0 subcomment
- Unfortunately, this is typical of the feral business overclass. It seems that the rampant Trump regime, the advent of AI, the long-term decline of the United States, coupled with the complete impunity the business class were granted during the 2008 crisis, has gone to their heads. The hate saddens, but doesn't surprise me.
by throwaway613746
0 subcomment
- [dead]
by swordlucky666
0 subcomment
- [dead]
- [flagged]
- "Your boos mean nothing, I've seen what makes you cheer."
There's an interesting duality. If you are someone people can target with relentless online harassment, you should be mortally scared to share your honest opinion.
If you are not, like Eric Schmidt's, there's absolutely no reason to care what other think.
by OutOfHere
1 subcomments
- By rejecting AI, these students have a particularly bad future ahead. Rejecting reality doesn't make reality bend to you. Due to this rejection, they risk having few jobs, then no jobs. The Schmidts of the world have negative sympathy for such deniers.
by josefritzishere
0 subcomment
- Read the room pal.
by RickJWagner
4 subcomments
- I’d be anxious, too, if I were just starting my career. Those kids just invested a lot of time and money in an education, and the payoff looks a lot like a gamble.
But AI is going to help, not hurt in the long run. Technology always makes things better and cheaper in the long run. Poverty diminishes, free time increases, things truly do get better over time. This’ll be a short term bump, but it’ll be a steep one.
- > “There is a fear in your generation that the future has already been written, that the machines are coming, that the jobs are evaporating, that the climate is breaking, that politics are fractured, and that you are inheriting a mess that you did not create.”
The total lack of self-awareness that Schmidt and his cohort of tech billionaires has significantly contributed to all this is screaming even louder than the boos.
- Imagine bringing a new technology into the world, telling everyone it’s gonna take everything from them including possibly their literal lives, and then telling a bunch of kids to get on board or they’re gonna miss the billionaire rocket ship! lol these people are so out of touch.
- The same people who are being boo'd for being AI tycoons would have been cheered by the same students 4 years ago for just being tycoons.
I hope everybody reflects on the fact that it's the same people.
- Cotton plantation slaves drown out cotton gin-praising introduction speeches with boos
Seamstresses drown out sewing machine demo speeches with boos
The serf class really thinks they’re “upper middle class” don’t they
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