The 2026 graduation season is turning into a public test for corporate tech leaders: when AI comes up in commencement speeches, some students are booing. Behind the noise are surveys showing Gen Z’s excitement for AI falling and anger rising, a job market that
A commencement speech is supposed to be a promise. This one, at least for some students, turned into a confrontation.
In the 2026 graduation season. speakers at commencement ceremonies—including former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta—have been booed when they mention AI. The reaction has become loud enough to draw attention to a widening gap: corporate and Silicon Valley enthusiasm for AI is meeting a Gen Z audience that is growing increasingly anxious about what AI means for their future.
The job market is part of the reason the mood has soured. The grad job market has steadily worsened since 2023 after a hiring surge in the years immediately after the pandemic. Some recent grads have said they have been searching for months for full-time jobs after college. Their frustration has been deepened by a sense that their career plans formed before the rise of generative AI—and that resentment has been further inflamed as companies increasingly cite AI as a reason for layoffs.
That anxiety is also showing up in polling. An earlier-this-year survey by the Walton Family Foundation, GSV Ventures, and Gallup sampled 1,572 14- to 29-year-olds. It found that Gen Z’s excitement toward AI has dropped 14% over the past year, while feelings of anger toward these tools have risen.
At the University of Arizona commencement ceremony, Eric Schmidt faced boos throughout his speech. The moment has circulated widely, including a post from Christina Kueppers, LL.M in IP & Technology Law, dated May 16, 2026, describing the audience response.
Booing isn’t limited to speeches from tech executives. At Middle Tennessee State University. Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta responded to students who booed him after he said AI is rewriting production. His advice came down to two lines: “Deal with it.” He also added. “You can hear me now. or you can pay me later. ” as he spoke to the crowd.
Borchetta is the founder and CEO of the record label that discovered and signed Taylor Swift. Some young people, the reporting notes, do resonate with Borchetta’s sentiment—saying AI can help them advance more quickly in their career.
Still, the survey picture is complicated by how often Gen Z is already using AI. Over half of 14- to 29-year-olds say they use AI daily or weekly. according to the same study by the Walton Family Foundation. GSV Ventures. and Gallup. Even with that regular use. the emotional balance appears to be shifting: the excitement is falling. anger is rising. and the cultural backlash is spilling into public moments like graduation ceremonies.
The pushback is not only happening in the seats—it is showing up inside offices too. A survey conducted by AI company Writer and research firm Workplace Intelligence. published in April. found that 29% of employees—44% of Gen Z among them—said they had undermined or resisted their company’s AI strategy. That survey included 1,200 C-suite executives and 1,200 employees across the US, UK, and Europe. Among those who said they had worked against their company’s AI strategy. some said they did so because they didn’t want AI to take over their jobs.
A market that was already tightening has made the stakes feel personal. When companies cite AI for layoffs, and when students report months-long searches for full-time work, the idea that AI will “rewrite” the future starts to feel less like opportunity and more like risk.
The reaction has even started to shape tastes. AI anxiety is helping revive nostalgia for old tech and has propelled a trend toward going analog.
Gloria Caulfield, a speaker and real estate exec, described what she heard at the University of Central Florida’s spring commencement—saying, “OK, I struck a chord,” when she heard the boos from the audience.
For now. the booing at commencements reads like a new kind of signal—less about whether AI exists. and more about what people believe it will do to their careers next. The contradiction is visible in real time: students who use AI daily or weekly are still booing when leaders talk about it as a coming wave of progress.
Gen Z AI backlash commencement speeches Eric Schmidt Scott Borchetta job market generative AI layoffs Walton Family Foundation Gallup GSV Ventures Writer Workplace Intelligence workplace AI resistance analog trend