Eric Schmidt's attempt to sell a roomful of new graduates on artificial intelligence did not go over well, or quietly. The former Google CEO was repeatedly booed Sunday while delivering the University of Arizona's commencement address as he drew parallels between the rise of the computer and today's AI boom, NBC News reports. After recalling how early computers "democratized knowledge" but also eroded public discourse, Schmidt pivoted to AI—and the crowd quickly turned.
"I can hear you," he told the jeering audience, acknowledging fears that "the machines are coming" and jobs are disappearing, while insisting the future "is not yet finished" and that graduates can play a role in how AI is used. He argued that while AI is certain to shape the world, what is not yet clear is how much the graduates of today will shape AI, Business Insider reports. The interruptions continued as he urged students to seek out differing viewpoints and highlighted immigrants' contributions to the US:
- "The point I'd like to make is choose a diversity of perspectives, including the perspective of the immigrant who has so often been the person who came to this country and made it better. America is at its best when we are the country that ambitious people want to come to. Let us not lose that."
The Verge notes Schmidt's "frustration was ... palpable, as he squirmed behind the podium and asked the crowd to let him make his point." A university spokesperson said Schmidt was chosen for his "extraordinary leadership" in technology and philanthropy. (His chilly reception follows a similar scene at the University of Central Florida, where a speaker was booed this month after calling AI the next industrial revolution.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
