The utter stupidity shows through.......

Google billionaire booed over AI comments at graduation speech

By Timothy Karoff

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt was booed repeatedly during a commencement speech at the University of Arizona after he brought up artificial intelligence. In his speech, Schmidt, who was Google’s CEO from 2001 through 2011 before serving as its executive chairman for four years, told graduates that they will “help shape artificial intelligence.” He pivoted to the subject of AI after a discussion of developments in computer technology. At the mention of AI, the jeers began.

“I know what many of you are feeling about that,” Schmidt said, responding to the crowd. “I can hear you.”

Despite the negative reaction, Schmidt pressed onward.

“If you don’t care about science, that’s OK, because AI is going to touch everything else as well,” Schmidt said at one point in his speech, prompting another loud wave of boos. “Whatever path you choose, AI will become part of how the work is done.”

“You can now assemble a team of AI agents to help you with the parts that you could never accomplish on your own,” he said at another moment. “When someone offers you a seat on the rocket ship, you do not ask which seat. You just get on.”

The boos were prominent enough that at one point, the executive had to pause to finish a statement. “If you’d let me make this point, please,” he said, interrupting himself. 

Schmidt, whose net worth is $43 billion according to Forbes, drew controversy before he took to the podium. Prior to Schmidt’s speech, some University of Arizona students launched a petition calling for the university to choose a different speaker. A former girlfriend and business partner of Schmidt’s has accused him of sexual assault in a lawsuit. Schmidt has denied the allegations, and the lawsuit entered private arbitration in March.

Mitch Zak, a University of Arizona spokesperson, told NBC that Schmidt was invited to speak because of his “extraordinary” contributions to technology:

“He helped lead Google’s rise into one of the world’s most influential technology companies and continues to advance research and discovery through major philanthropic and scientific initiatives, including partnerships that support important work at the University of Arizona.”

Just one week earlier, another commencement speaker was booed over AI-related comments. Gloria Caulfield, an executive at Tavistock Group, caught heat from an audience of University of Central Florida graduates.

“Let’s face it, change can be daunting. The rise of artificial intelligence is the next industrial revolution,” she said, prompting boos.

Schmidt and his wife, Wendy, own real estate in Santa Barbara. In 2025, the couple helped save Tri-County Produce from closing with an angel investment.