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Graduates are booing pep talks on AI at college commencements

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Re: Graduates are booing pep talks on AI at college commencements

#41

Post by seanhunter »

ethanplant wrote: post #5

I’m genuinely confused as to why the speakers are baffled by the boos. Everyone, and especially new grads constantly hear that AI is going to replace every job. And absolutely no one seems to be interested in answering the question of “okay, then what?” Of course people are going to react negatively when they hear, “the machines are going to take your jobs from you. No, we don’t care how you’ll be able to pay your re…

Also why on earth did they think this was a good topic for a commencement speech? A commencement speech is about “congratulations on your achievement - the world is now your oyster. The education you have worked hard for really matters and with a bit of grit and determination, you can go out and forge a better future than old geezers like me can ever imagine.”

Eg This is a frikkin commencement speech https://youtu.be/DCbGM4mqEVw?si=2-83hbB1Um5NAQFC

Re: Graduates are booing pep talks on AI at college commencements

#42

Post by pesus »

jstanley wrote: post #17
booleandilemma wrote: post #6

There is nothing about AI that seems like it's going to have a net positive for humanity. Faster code? Sure. Better chatbots? Sure. Textual analysis? Sure. But the downside, and it's huge, is massive unemployment and societal collapse. Nothing AI brings to the table is worth having an unemployment rate of 25% (or more). Our society is simply not ready for this. We need to rework things from the ground up, not proceed…

We've done this dozens of times before. In the short term some people suffer and that is bad for them. In the long term everyone is much better off due to increased productivity.

I'd love for everyone justifying and hand waving the suffering of others to quit their jobs, give up their assets, and join in on the suffering. If it's really worth it for the "increased productivity", they should have no problem doing so. After all, they'll be much better off in the end, right?

Re: Graduates are booing pep talks on AI at college commencements

#43

Post by hello_moto »

jstanley wrote: post #17
booleandilemma wrote: post #6

There is nothing about AI that seems like it's going to have a net positive for humanity. Faster code? Sure. Better chatbots? Sure. Textual analysis? Sure. But the downside, and it's huge, is massive unemployment and societal collapse. Nothing AI brings to the table is worth having an unemployment rate of 25% (or more). Our society is simply not ready for this. We need to rework things from the ground up, not proceed…

We've done this dozens of times before. In the short term some people suffer and that is bad for them. In the long term everyone is much better off due to increased productivity.

short-term?

how about 100 years?

> Beginning in Great Britain around 1760, the Industrial Revolution had spread to continental Europe and the United States by about 1840

You know what else happened during that 100-200 years time frame? 2 Wars + Governments decided to step in and rebuild post-war. Governments tax the rich/elite by 90%.

You know what else happened? workers being punished physically and mentally until the formation of Unions.

You skipped a big chunk of The Ruling Class always exploit everybody else like what we're seeing right now: Tech CEOs laying off and not hiring.

History repeats again.

Are our productivity increase for the better? People are still working overtime because of reduced worker's protection today.

Re: Graduates are booing pep talks on AI at college commencements

#44

Post by dakiol »

People are not idiots. AI benefits only the ones at the top of the chain, and the 10% of the rest of us. Are you in the top 10%? No, you typically are in the bottom 90%. So we don't want AI, we don't want the top getting richer at our expenses. We just want a job to bring bread home and keeping pushing our store while being "happy". You take that away from us, just so you can double your net worth, and well, bad things will start to happen

Re: Graduates are booing pep talks on AI at college commencements

#45

Post by gofreddygo »

ethanplant wrote: post #5

I’m genuinely confused as to why the speakers are baffled by the boos. Everyone, and especially new grads constantly hear that AI is going to replace every job. And absolutely no one seems to be interested in answering the question of “okay, then what?” Of course people are going to react negatively when they hear, “the machines are going to take your jobs from you. No, we don’t care how you’ll be able to pay your re…

exactly what else do you expect them to do?

They can see peers cheating the system using AI to get ahead, future job prospects, directly affecting time to pay off student loans are being crushed by the AI narrative which is a reminder of how the tuition money is never coming back

and then to have someone come in on commencement day and sing praises of AI just totally shows how tone deaf, blind, and off track the college system really is

related [1] Glendale Community College's screws up names as students walk up to the stage on graduation day. Blamed on AI

[1]: https://www.azfamily.com/2026/05/19/ai-system-fails-during-g...

Re: Graduates are booing pep talks on AI at college commencements

#46

Post by happytoexplain »

jstanley wrote: post #17
booleandilemma wrote: post #6

There is nothing about AI that seems like it's going to have a net positive for humanity. Faster code? Sure. Better chatbots? Sure. Textual analysis? Sure. But the downside, and it's huge, is massive unemployment and societal collapse. Nothing AI brings to the table is worth having an unemployment rate of 25% (or more). Our society is simply not ready for this. We need to rework things from the ground up, not proceed…

We've done this dozens of times before. In the short term some people suffer and that is bad for them. In the long term everyone is much better off due to increased productivity.

Every time, the people suffering are correct to revolt, and the people trying to repress them are incorrect to repress them, from the perspective of human beings.

Every time, the "increased productivity" is inevitable, but that is not the same as better off. None of these changes has been 100% positive, even in the long run, and this one is shaping up to be the most disappointing of them all in that dimension.

Inevitable != purely good.

You can be pragmatic and give a shit about humans at the same time. It's not a puzzle.

Re: Graduates are booing pep talks on AI at college commencements

#47

Post by bawolff »

rybosworld wrote: post #20

Executives of these tech companies keep saying the automation of intelligence will drive job creation because previous waves of automation did the same. To anyone with a brain, that is obviously not true. If AI continues to improve at the pace that it has been, why would anyone hire a human to do the thinking? Human intelligence will be orders of magnitude more expensive, and much slower... The tech executives know t…

> If AI continues to improve at the pace that it has been, why would anyone hire a human to do the thinking?

Sure, but that is the big if, right? It seems unlikely to me that AI will continue at this rate indefinitely. Every technology eventually hits limits.

Re: Graduates are booing pep talks on AI at college commencements

#48

Post by weard_beard »

bryan0 wrote: post #35
ethanplant wrote: post #5

I’m genuinely confused as to why the speakers are baffled by the boos. Everyone, and especially new grads constantly hear that AI is going to replace every job. And absolutely no one seems to be interested in answering the question of “okay, then what?” Of course people are going to react negatively when they hear, “the machines are going to take your jobs from you. No, we don’t care how you’ll be able to pay your re…

> Schmidt offered a similar message to graduates: Their fear is rational, but they have the power to shape how AI develops. This doesn't sound like being baffled by it. It sounds like they are trying to shake the students and say: "fine boo, but you need do something about it." You can't just wallow and complain about it. I mean you can but it's a path to failure.

CEOs: “Do something about it.”

Luigi Mangione: …

CEOs: “Not like that…

I’m not suggesting that it’s a good response. I’m suggesting that this interpretation of what CEOs are saying is wrong.

Re: Graduates are booing pep talks on AI at college commencements

#50

Post by jstanley »

toasty228 wrote: post #38
jstanley wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've done this dozens of times before. In the short term some people suffer and that is bad for them. In the long term everyone is much better off due to increased productivity.

> In the long term everyone is much better off due to increased productivity. reply Do people still believe in these fairy tales lmao? Most of the productivity gains don't go to the workers, pretty much everywhere in the developed world working hours and retirement age are going up, housing affordability is going down. You're not "much better off" https://assets.weforum.org/editor/HFNnYrqruqvI_-Skg2C7ZYjdcX... Politi…

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