The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that as artificial intelligence casts a shadow over career prospects, it is becoming an unwelcome subject at this season's U.S. college commencements. An Associated Press dispatch to The Globe says that at several campuses, graduates have interrupted speakers with stadium-wide boos when the topic turned to AI. Former Google chief executive officer Eric Schmidt faced repeated jeers over the weekend during his keynote address to about 10,000 University of Arizona graduates on the rise of AI. "It will touch every profession, every classroom, every hospital, every laboratory, every person and every relationship you have," Mr. Schmidt said, as booing began to build in the audience. "I know what many of you are feeling about that. I can hear you," he responded as the boos continued. To students the topic felt tone deaf, said Olivia Malone, a 22-year-old University of Arizona graduate bound for law school. Similar responses to keynote speakers who touched on AI at other universities highlight a pervasive sense of anxiety among today's college students. About 70 per cent of college students see AI as a threat to their job prospects, according to a 2025 Harvard poll.
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