Wozniak’s AI jab lands applause, not boos

Wozniak’s AI – Steve Wozniak brought up AI during Grand Valley State University’s Class of 2026 commencement and received applause for saying students “have AI—actual intelligence.” His remarks stood out against a spring of AI-themed speeches and events that have sparked boo

A few weeks after Steve Wozniak walked onstage to address the Grand Valley State University class of 2026, the most striking detail wasn’t that he mentioned AI—it was how the crowd reacted.

Wozniak managed to bring artificial intelligence into his commencement speech without a wave of boos from the audience. “You all have AI—actual intelligence,” he told graduates, prompting applause. He followed it with a personal framing that sounded less like hype and more like a lifelong pursuit: “My entire life in the technical world. I’ve been following people that were trying to figure out how to make a brain.”.

He didn’t leave it there. “I was at a company where the engineers figured out how to make a brain,” he continued, adding that it “takes nine months.”

For new college grads stepping into an unsteady job market with fewer openings for entry-level positions, the message likely landed as a rare moment of reassurance in a season where AI has been a lightning rod.

Wozniak’s approach also contrasts with how sharply other tech figures have spoken about AI. In a March interview with CNN. he said. “I don’t use AI much at all.” He explained that he often reads what AI produces and finds it “too dry and too perfect. ” saying. “I want something from a human being. and I’m disappointed a lot.”.

That tension—between AI’s promise and its perceived emptiness—has shown up across the country this spring. Several commencement speakers have been booed for promoting AI as revolutionary.

On May 8. at the University of Central Florida. humanities department commencement speaker Gloria Caulfield—vice president of strategic alliances at Tavistock Development Co.—was booed after touting AI as the “next industrial revolution.” Last Friday. former Google CEO Eric Schmidt was also booed during his graduation speech at the University of Arizona after comparing AI to the transformative impact of computers.

Then came a more humiliating moment for the technology itself. In Glendale Community College on May 15, an AI system used to read graduating students’ names missed hundreds of students’ names. Leaders of the university were booed after the technical difficulties. “We’re using a new AI system as our reader. ” said the school’s president. Tiffany Hernandez. while the crowd booed. “That is a lesson learned for us.”.

Elsewhere, the AI tone has been more encouraging. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told students at Carnegie Mellon University: “Run, don’t walk” toward AI. His speech about the “AI revolution” landed more positively with students at the university known as the birthplace of AI.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian also offered an AI-related contrast—this time through dismissal rather than endorsement. At Emory University. Bastian told students that he asked AI to write his commencement address out of curiosity. but “trashed it after noticing ‘the lack of soul nor warmth it conveyed.’” He told the crowd: “So. don’t worry.” Then he added. “I threw it away. and took pencil to paper.”.

Taken together. the spring’s commencement moments have created a clear divide in how graduates are being asked to relate to AI: whether it’s presented as something they already “have. ” whether it’s used with humility. or whether it’s sold as a sweeping revolution that may still fall apart in the real world—onstage. in the moment. and in front of everyone.

Steve Wozniak Apple cofounder AI commencement speech Grand Valley State University boos Gloria Caulfield Eric Schmidt University of Arizona Jensen Huang Carnegie Mellon University Ed Bastian Emory University Tiffany Hernandez Glendale Community College Tavistock Development Co.