Graduates Boo AI at US Universities Amid Job and Ethical Concerns

It's graduation season for universities across the US, and this year an unexpected viral trend has emerged: graduates booing artificial intelligence (AI).

AI isn't a new concept, but as its presence in our daily lives intensifies, so too does opposition to it.

And it seems that opposition is exceedingly vocal among new graduates grappling with how the technology will impact their ability to get a job.

Here's a look at just a few of the instances of graduates rejecting AI that are circulating on social media at the moment.

'The next industrial revolution'

One of the earliest examples of this trend came out of the University of Central Florida, when real estate executive Gloria Caulfield gave a speech at a ceremony for arts and humanities graduates.

Midway through her speech, she mentioned the "profound change" that AI was creating.

"The rise of artificial intelligence is the next industrial revolution," she said.

She was met with a chorus of boos and jeers, before continuing on.

"Only a few years ago, AI was not a factor in our lives," she said.

This was met with cheers.

A snippet of her speech was clipped from the YouTube video of the ceremony and shared widely across social media.

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A generation's 'rational fear'

Another example came a week later, when former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt spoke at a University of Arizona graduation ceremony.

The crowd was heckling throughout much of Dr Schmidt's speech, becoming more raucous when he mentioned Time Magazine selecting the "Architects of AI" as its person of the year for 2025.

This was met with a chorus of discontent so loud, he paused his speech.

"It will touch every profession, every classroom, every hospital, every laboratory, every person and every relationship you have," Dr Schmidt said.

Another outburst from the crowd came after he spoke about how ubiquitous AI would be.

With a smile on his face, Dr Schmidt waited as the crowd jeered before moving on.

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'A lesson learned'

Then came the glitch from a ceremony for graduates at Glendale Community College in Arizona.

The ceremony was last week, but a snippet from the ceremony went viral in recent days, with just one version attracting more than 9 million views on X.

Local broadcaster Arizona's Family reported that the names of graduates were supposed to appear on the live stream screen, but they didn't match those walking up to the stage.

At one point, the names stopped appearing altogether, with a generic message saying "Congratulations Graduate!" appearing instead.

The news station spoke to student Grace Riemer, who said her name wasn't called out to the crowd when she was on stage.

Instead, she says it was called out several minutes later.

After a long pause in proceedings, the college's president Tiffany Hernandez addressed the crowd.

"We're using a new AI system as our reader," Dr Hernandez said, prompting an outburst from the crowd.

"That is a lesson learned for us."

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She explained that graduates who had already walked up on stage would not be able to do so again with their correct names being read out.

While this was happening, dozens of graduates were standing, waiting to be called on stage.

After a few minutes and sustained jeers from the crowd, Dr Hernandez said those who hadn't walked on stage would be able to do so with a human calling out their names.

They were instructed to tell their names to person waiting at the stairs to the stage, who would then announce their name into a microphone.

By this point, some graduates and their supporters were already walking out of the ceremony, AZ Central reports.

However, many graduates did take up the offer to appear on stage after being introduced by a human.

The ABC has contacted Dr Hernandez for comment.

What does this viral trend mean?

"I don't think these videos going viral necessarily reflect a blanket rejection of AI from the wider public or from university students overall," Xueyin Zha, from the Australian National University's Integrated AI Network, says.

"I think that might be a stretch."

Instead, Ms Xueyin reckons it speaks to anxieties around how AI is being integrated into higher education.

"I think it speaks to a broader frustration among students who are currently being told that AI will transform every field, while they themselves are still struggling with unclear institutional guidance around what learning, thinking and academic integrity even mean in the age of AI," she says.

Many comments on social media point out the contradiction between students being banned from using AI while being lectured about its benefits.

But what about people who aren't in the university sector?

"I think many young people are feeling AI fatigue at the moment," Sarah Keith, a senior lecturer in media at Macquarie University, says.

"AI is so ubiquitous in platforms, software and services, that it is impossible to avoid."

Dr Keith says this proliferation of AI-produced content online is leading more people to be more critical of it.

"I think there is also public scepticism about whether AI actually improves people's lives," she says.

Going 'AI vegan'

"Teaching young adults, I've noticed a number of students who are critical of AI and either refuse to use it at all or use it only in very limited ways," Dr Keith says.

"I've heard students use the word 'AI vegan' to describe how they intentionally stay away from AI."

A recent Gallup poll of Americans between the ages 14 and 29 found increasingly negative attitudes towards AI.

That's despite about half of the generation Z respondents saying they used AI daily or weekly.

What do graduates have against AI?

About 70 per cent of US university students think AI is threat to them landing a job, a Harvard Kennedy School poll found in 2025.

"A lot of recent media has picked up on how AI is affecting the number of entry-level positions in many different fields, and how major companies like Atlassian are 'streamlining' their workforce by cutting staff due to AI," Dr Keith says.

"For recent college graduates this is bad news.

"They're stepping into a new stage of their lives and it will be more difficult and more competitive because of AI."

But it's not just about jobs.

"A lot of media attention has also been given to how AI has profound effects on the environment, how tech companies use copyrighted material to train their models without acknowledgement or payment to the original creator, and more," Dr Keith says.

Navigating 'complex terrain'

"Universities are still trying to work out what appropriate AI usage even looks like in practice," Ms Xueyin says.

"Policies around AI are still evolving, and I don't think that is necessarily because universities are being lax.

"It is because this is genuinely very complex terrain.

"Using AI to brainstorm or plan an essay could, depending on how it is used, either completely take the agency of thinking and learning away from the student.

"Or it could actually supercharge thinking and creativity by helping students bounce off their own ideas, expand lines of inquiry, and stimulate further exploration.

"So the terrain is enormous and the possibilities are vast."

Ms Xueyin says there are "unprecedented levels of benefits, but also unprecedented levels of harms" when it comes to AI.

"AI can genuinely enhance thinking, learning and creativity, but it can also stymie foundational skill acquisition, whether that is learning how to code for the first time, or learning how to write and reason for the first time."