University graduates are met with boos and insults during commencement ceremonies when corporate executives praise artificial intelligence, revealing a growing disconnect between the technology’s evangelists and its human cost.

The viral videos show former Google CEO Eric Schmidt facing loud and sustained jeers from students who see AI as part of their rapidly evaporating job prospects. Journalist Marisa Kabas notes that 'these young people have already been forced onto the ship and there aren’t enough seats.'

Artists, designers and creators — whose livelihoods are threatened by generative AI tools — are particularly vocal in their disdain for corporate executives with a smirking ‘adopt-or-die’ attitude. Game designer Austin Burkett, who found work on Pocket Bard, adds that 'these are not the people who have to worry about rent, and they’re not the people whose jobs will be replaced.'

The student anger is coming to a head at a time when young people in most fields face intense pressure from the tech and business world to adopt these tools — even as employers use them to justify hiring freezes and mass layoffs. Polling shows that students and Gen Z are some of the biggest critics, having witnessed AI’s failure to deliver on its promises.

At a commencement ceremony for Glendale Community College in Arizona, the room swelled with angry boos after the college president revealed that the school’s new AI system had failed to read out more than half the students’ names as they walked onstage to receive their diplomas.