Graduates boo AI hype: young people are skeptical about the future

When former Google CEO Eric Schmidt told University of Arizona graduates that their task was to help shape the future of artificial intelligence, he got not applause but a wall of boos and whistles. Instead of enthusiasm, he met direct criticism from a younger generation being asked to become architects of a technology that inspires in them more fear than admiration.

Skepticism instead of excitement

The scene is repeating at commencement ceremonies across the country. For decades, students were told about digital transformation and innovation. But AI was the first technology to be met not with admiration but with open skepticism. Young people simply don't buy the narrative of noble progress. They grew up in an era when every new technology brought not only conveniences but also problems: data leaks, toxic social networks, power concentrated in the hands of a few companies. They're told: help build AI. Their reaction: why?

Real concerns

This isn't just youthful cynicism. The graduates' worries have a very concrete basis:

• Displacement in the job market — AI may replace entry-level professionals faster than they can establish themselves
• Lack of control and transparency — no one explains how and why large models work
• Environmental footprint — data centers for training models consume astronomical amounts of electricity
• Concentration of power — control over the technology sits in the hands of a few corporations
• Social instability — rushed automation without a social safety net for those who are displaced

Graduates see businesses already adopting AI en masse to cut costs. The first wave is always job cuts, not the creation of better jobs.

A generational divide

This is a fundamentally different view from the one at the start of the internet boom. The generation that grew up with the internet has already lived through several technology cycles: blockchain promised a revolution and ended up as speculation, social networks promised to connect people and created information bubbles.

Young people don't deny that AI is useful. But they demand guarantees, not promises: that the technology will be developed with society in mind, that the gains will be distributed fairly, and that no one will be sacrificed in the name of progress.

What this means

For the AI industry, this is a moment of truth. Companies have grown used to the enthusiastic forecasts of investors. The time when technologies were taken on faith is passing. Young people want not innovation for innovation's sake, but innovation with clear public benefit.

Ignoring the new generation's skepticism risks losing the best talent to other fields, or having it work against the technology it is meant to build.