Florida students boo graduation speaker who called AI ‘next Industrial Revolution’

Though college graduations usually consist of a speaker giving advice to students, one recent ceremony featured students giving the speaker their opinions – loudly.The University of Central Florida’s 2026 graduating class booed as a real estate development executive spoke about how “the rise of Artificial Intelligence is the next Industrial Revolution” and about “living in a time of profound change”.The crowd of students was so loud that Gloria Caulfield paused, turned away from the podium and threw her hands up in the air.“Woop, what happened?” she asked, before letting out a nervous laugh: “OK, I struck a chord. May I finish?”As the crowd calmed down, Caulfield proceeded. “Only a few years ago, AI was not a factor in our lives.” That seemed to cheer them up – and led to a raucous applause.“We’ve got a bipolar topic here, I see,” Caulfield said, as she got back on track, for a third time: “AI capabilities are in the palm of our hands,” she said, before the crowd booed again. “Oh I love it, passion: let’s go,” she said playfully.Like a teacher scolding disruptive students, she continued: “OK, I don’t want any giggles when I say this. We have been through this before,” she said.She segued into a comparison of the current graduates’ plight to when she finished college as the internet started taking off. “I know it sounds amusing, but at that time we had no idea how any of these technologies would impact the world and our lives,” Caulfield said. “There were some of the same trepidations and concerns we are now facing, but ultimately it was a gamechanger for global economic development and the proliferation of new businesses.”The crowd did not interrupt the rest of her speech, but the boos that rang through the arena echoed a very real source of anxiety that’s taken hold of students across the country. Graduating college seniors are worried about how AI is already transforming some jobs, and could eventually replace others, altogether. The pressure to pick a major that leads to an AI-proof career is high, students have said, as tech CEOs slash workforces based on claims that AI can replace some jobs and boost efficiency at an unprecedented scale. Industries outside Silicon Valley don’t seem immune either, as AI is affecting everything from graphic design to Hollywood and journalism.A majority of recent college graduates view AI as a threat to their job prospects, according to a 2025 poll by the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School.The University of Central Florida did not immediately respond to a request for comment.