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Students boo commencement speaker after she calls AI next industrial revolution

404media.co

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Re: Students boo commencement speaker after she calls AI next industrial revolution

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My great hope for AI is that it kills social media by making 99% of content and comments untrustworthy and not worth consuming.

The content being untrustworthy doesn't matter when it comes to social media, as most of what is enticing about social media nowadays isn't the content of the content. It's the fact that there is a never-ending stream of content specifically catered to maximize your dopamine to keep you scrolling. So much of social media nowadays is just low quality clips of TV shows/movies with an AI-generated song over them. Or the…

People love hot dogs. People don't want to know how they are made.

Re: Students boo commencement speaker after she calls AI next industrial revolution

#122
post #86

> College of Arts and Humanities and Nicholson School of Communication and Media Somehow I have a feeling that the reaction would have been totally different if it would have been the EECS graduates. Fear and rejection in certain professions is real and maybe even understandable. I imagine 25 years ago someone telling music graduates “streaming is the future of music distribution” would have received the same reactio…

I suspect for CS it would have been outright food riots. The humanities are probably the best insulated from AI as the uncanny valley is really obvious in AI literature and art. CS is the final stage in the “programming myself out of a job” meme which is quite depressing if you’re just getting your first job (or, more likely at the moment, not.)

Interesting, it’s not my experience in recent interactions with CS students. There was more positivity around possibilities.

However there was a feeling that “the job” is radically changing right now.

Re: Students boo commencement speaker after she calls AI next industrial revolution

#123
post #112
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In writing code, yes. But has there been an actual positive impact in other fields?

Medicine? There was recently an article shared around here that an LLM diagnosed ER patients more accurately than doctors. Looking beyond LLMs image analysis to detect cancer and other diseases. Like in coding, AI can and should be a useful tool for the human who decides and is ultimately responsible.

Remember when IBM claimed the same about Watson?

Re: Students boo commencement speaker after she calls AI next industrial revolution

#125
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting that I'm only seeing this kind of anti-ai tendency only in American/Western art circles. Anywhere else in Middle East/Asia, artists are having fun experimenting with it.

anecdotally, I have noticed the same thing. The most affluent people are afraid of the moat being bridged methinks.

Investing in a skill for a craft isn't a moat.

Anyone can pick up a pencil and practice for hours a day! You can look out a window for inspiration! There is no "gatekeeping" art, only people upset it doesn't come as easily to them as B2B SAAS and confusing real effort and introspection as "gatekeeping".

The AI art people were so happy to rub it in artists face, that finally, without effort or appreciation, they no longer had to pay the skilled person for an image.

Re: Students boo commencement speaker after she calls AI next industrial revolution

#126
post #20

[flagged]

I mean, duh. Do we really think someone with the title of "vice president of strategic alliances at Tavistock Group" lives in the same universe as the rest of us? In her alternative universe, Zucc and Bezos are heroes to look up to. These people have no actual interaction with the rest of us, and just assume their world view is universally held. Look how genuinely surprised she was by the audience's reaction. In thei…

> I mean, duh

Clearly people don't consider it obvious, considering my comment got flagged.

Re: Students boo commencement speaker after she calls AI next industrial revolution

#127
post #33

There's a very real possibility that AI proponents completely lose the next generation of adults. The output is not enjoyable to consume, the people who rely on it are not cool, and the effects of using it are unpleasant and hard to defend on aesthetic, intellectual, or moral grounds. There are real use cases for this technology! But the idea that the generation of superficially plausible text is "the next Industrial…

[deleted]

Re: Students boo commencement speaker after she calls AI next industrial revolution

#128
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps, owe was a poor word to use too. I will admit that, however I did not think that would be a point of focus in my comment at the time. > in US mind you That is my only reference. > Still, just because a technology facilitates something does not make their distaste any less potent. Sure, I agree once again. I may have not explained my position well initially. I just cannot help but feel it's a little hypocritic…

https://archive.is/20260511160009/https://www.404media.co/uc... As I am reading the source, it is more weird than I initially accounted for. The speech she gave was fairly benign compared to some of the bigger quotables from Musk, Altman or other AI industiry figures. Basically, march of time and 'I remember when' kinda nostalgia. But given how weirdly benign the speech was, I have to ask. Why the boos? Is there some…

I am lost as well. I am more confused about why she was even talking about AI at all in the speech. She could have just hit the high-notes and used the same cliches as many other speeches.

I feel mentioning AI in a commencement speech would be like me stating something in a graduation speech like, "Congratulations, class of 2026. The Carolina Hurricane have swept their opponents in both rounds of the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs. May your future be as bright as theirs."

No telling though. I am completely unaware of who the speaker even is.

Re: Students boo commencement speaker after she calls AI next industrial revolution

#129
post #68

[flagged]

That is nauseating to watch, she is an abysmal public speaker, arrogant, extremely uninspiring, and generally very out of touch. I would feel this way if she was reading a review of cat in the hat. Letting this woman speak about AI, what a disaster.

Re: Students boo commencement speaker after she calls AI next industrial revolution

#130
post #68

[flagged]

That is nauseating to watch, she is an abysmal public speaker, arrogant, extremely uninspiring, and generally very out of touch. I would feel this way if she was reading a review of cat in the hat. Letting this woman speak about AI, what a disaster.

You have to admit though, a very appropriate speaker for new graduates in 2026.
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