The boos started almost as soon as the word "AI" left the commencement speaker's mouth at the University of Central Florida, Mediaite reports. At a Friday ceremony for UCF's College of Arts and Humanities and Nicholson School of Communication and Media, business executive Gloria Caulfield tried to frame artificial intelligence as "the next Industrial Revolution." Graduates responded with loud jeers, one person shouting "AI sucks!" as Caulfield laughed nervously and asked, "Whew! What happened?"
She asked if she could finish, and the crowd then cheered when she noted that only a few years ago AI "was not a factor in our lives," before booing again as she described its growing presence "in the palm of our hands." Caulfield, visibly shaken by the reaction, said she must have hit on "a bipolar topic" as she attempted to continue her prepared remarks. The reaction was notable given her audience: students in journalism, communications, humanities, and the arts—fields frequently flagged as vulnerable to AI-driven disruption.
Orlando Weekly reported on the speech and spoke with graduates who saw the remarks as out of step with their concerns. One, Houda Eletr, called Caulfield a "corporate mouthpiece" and slammed the talk as a "tone-deaf, ad-like commencement," adding, "Boo to AI and boo to your agenda." Clips of the exchange have since spread widely on social media, where users have largely sided with the students and criticized the focus on AI at their send-off. "It's ghoulish, but Caulfield's surprise is the kind of reaction you get when you're completely disconnected from the fears and struggles of people being shoved out into an economy being taken over by AI," writes Kenneth Shepard at Kotaku. Adds Richard Lawler at the Verge, "As a VP of strategic alliances at a real estate firm, celebrating AI ... probably goes over differently in her meetings."
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