(05-15-2026 10:45 AM)Native Georgian Wrote:  

(05-15-2026 10:29 AM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(05-14-2026 09:13 PM)Native Georgian Wrote:  

(05-14-2026 06:21 PM)Gitanole Wrote:  Corporate speaker surprised to learn college graduates don’t like tech that ends jobs.

That’s not even close to what the video shows.

Yes, that is what it showed.

I had the same experience last month. I teach a senior capstone class at a university.

There's three groups of students:

A) The students who embraced AI and use it to enhance their work. Most of these students have good jobs lined up.
B) The students who used AI to help them cheat, and don't have jobs.
C) The students who refused to adapt, and never use AI. These students are very, very bitter about AI, especially if they've been having trouble finding a job.

Group A is the largest group, by far. Group C is the smallest group, but it is extremely vocal. Group C is who was booing that speaker.

What part of the video makes it seem as if the speaker were unaware of these things

The fact that she talked about it in a graduation speech. Graduation speeches are supposed to avoid highly controversial topics.

It would have been just as tactless to talk about abortion, or religion, or how much she loves/hates a certain politician.

(05-15-2026 07:12 AM)MemTigers1998 Wrote:  A girl that I’ve know most all my life was telling me her 19 yr old is 1 year out of HS. All of his friends just couldn’t believe he was not gonna go to college and instead got in plumbing apprenticeship program. He made almost $60k as a 1st year apprentice due to working a ton of OT. Now a few of his friends are considering dropping out of college to join him.

Skilled blue collar labor is going to be the hardest thing to replace with AI. Plumbers, electricians, carpenters, auto mechanics----that aint easy to replace with a robot. That said, many companies are finding that even white collar labor that rides a computer all day is not as easily replaced by AI as advertised. Some are finding that AI is only making acceptable work output 80% (or less) of the time in positions where they have fully taken over for human employees. In the final analysis----the biggest problem seems to be that AI doesnt really "think". In most human replacement roles the AI is simply attempting to mimic what a human might say or do in a given situation----and thats not the same as actually thinking. Apparently, that makes a difference in the real world more often than originally thought. Not saying AI wont get better or isnt a threat to take over many jobs---but AI taking everyone's job might not be happening as soon as some might believe----and some of the jobs its already "taken" might be returning to the "now hiring" category. Another issue is our resources that can be allocated to AI are not unlimited. AI's massive power and water requirements are going to eventually create a battle between AI demands and human demands (we are already seeing it in some places).

One thing I will say, the last thing we need is to be issuing a bunch of H1B Visas in the current environment. With the exception of a few rare instances where there really is a complete dearth of domestic talent in some specific niche field---there should be no H1B visa's being issued with unemployment about to take off with the advent of AI. HiB visa's should only be used when we dont have talent in a given area----NOT because we can get desperate less talented employees from overseas who will accept wages well below the US average in the field in exchange for legal entry into the best nation in the world.

(05-15-2026 10:47 AM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(05-15-2026 10:31 AM)b2b Wrote:  The support for AI in here is kind of crazy to me. It's going to make water and electricity more scarce and eliminate jobs. Yet people keep using it at the same time complaining about those things. Why are you using it?

The support for cars in here is kind of crazy to me. It's going to consume all the oil, kill tens of thousands of pedestrians, and eliminate millions of jobs in animal husbandry.

point taken

(05-15-2026 10:51 AM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(05-15-2026 10:45 AM)Native Georgian Wrote:  What part of the video makes it seem as if the speaker were unaware of these things

The fact that she talked about it in a graduation speech. Graduation speeches are supposed to avoid highly controversial topics.

It would have been just as tactless to talk about abortion, or religion, or how much she loves/hates a certain politician.

If she had dedicated the entire speech to AI, or to a subject like the ones you listed, I would agree. But she didn’t do that, she just mentioned it in passing. She wasn’t cheering for AI or trying to persuade the audience to hold a certain opinion about it. She simply acknowledged that it’s happening in the course of a broader talk. There is nothing tactless about that. Not even slightly.

If there was anyone in the audience who can’t handle that — I guess we could refer to them as “Group C” in your description — so what? They are about to embark on a life of deep failure if they don’t get an attitude adjustment very soon. Hopefully this Commencement Address might be the spur for some of them to begin that process.

(05-15-2026 10:53 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(05-15-2026 07:12 AM)MemTigers1998 Wrote:  A girl that I’ve know most all my life was telling me her 19 yr old is 1 year out of HS. All of his friends just couldn’t believe he was not gonna go to college and instead got in plumbing apprenticeship program. He made almost $60k as a 1st year apprentice due to working a ton of OT. Now a few of his friends are considering dropping out of college to join him.

Skilled blue collar labor is going to be the hardest thing to replace with AI. Plumbers, electricians, carpenters, auto mechanics----that aint easy to replace with a robot. That said, many companies are finding that even white collar labor that rides a computer all day is not as easily replaced by AI as advertised. Some are finding that AI is only making acceptable work output 80% (or less) of the time in positions where they have fully taken over for human employees. In the final analysis----the biggest problem seems to be that AI doesnt really "think". In most human replacement roles the AI is simply attempting to mimic what a human might say or do in a given situation----and thats not the same as actually thinking. Apparently, that makes a difference in the real world more often than originally thought. Not saying AI wont get better or isnt a threat to take over many jobs---but AI taking everyone's job might not be happening as soon as some might believe----and some of the jobs its already "taken" might be returning to the "now hiring" category.

One thing I will say, the last thing we need is to be issuing a bunch of H1B Visas in the current environment. With the exception of a few rare instances where there really is a complete dearth of domestic talent in some specific niche field---there should be no H1B visa's being issued with unemployment about to take off with the advent of AI. HiB visa's should only be used when we dont have talent in a given area----NOT because we can get desperate less talented employees from overseas who will accept at wages well below the US average in the field in exchange for legal entry into the best nation in the world.

Actually, AI is replacing some blue collar labor.

For example, in dairy barns, they need someone to identify which cows need to be milked, and someone to put the suction pumps on the cow's udder. Now they have AI that does both of those jobs. The AI system I saw in Indiana replaced 6 of the 8 workers that used to work with the animals.

AI will replace most driving jobs. Long haul trucking and taxis are already starting to be taken over by AI (as in, a large number of companies are already operating in this space).

There's 3 million truckers and 400,000 taxi drivers/chauffers. My guess is that at least 2.5 million of those will be taken over by robots. The only question is how fast the new cars/trucks can be manufactured - 5 years seems pretty reasonable.

What will happen to salaries of plumbers/electricians when 2 million unemployed Teamsters switch to those fields?

(05-15-2026 11:02 AM)Native Georgian Wrote:  

(05-15-2026 10:51 AM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(05-15-2026 10:45 AM)Native Georgian Wrote:  What part of the video makes it seem as if the speaker were unaware of these things

The fact that she talked about it in a graduation speech. Graduation speeches are supposed to avoid highly controversial topics.

It would have been just as tactless to talk about abortion, or religion, or how much she loves/hates a certain politician.

If she had dedicated the entire speech to AI, or to a subject like the ones you listed, I would agree. But she didn’t do that, she just mentioned it in passing. She wasn’t cheering for AI or trying to persuade the audience to hold a certain opinion about it. She simply acknowledged that it’s happening in the course of a broader talk. There is nothing tactless about that. Not even slightly.

If there was anyone in the audience who can’t handle that — I guess we could refer to them as “Group C” in your description — so what? They are about to embark on a life of deep failure if they don’t get an attitude adjustment very soon. Hopefully this Commencement Address might be the spur for some of them to begin that process.

Oh, I agree. These students are being dumb.

But then again, so are people who boo a pro-life advocate. That doesn't mean a commencement speaker should discuss the evils of abortion - it's a day for the students, not a day for controversial subjects.

(05-15-2026 11:22 AM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  What will happen to salaries of plumbers/electricians when 2 million unemployed Teamsters switch to those fields?

All the more reason to ramp up deportations and cut back on immigration altogether.

Change is inevitable.

We moved from farming to manufacturing. From steam to gasoline. From walking to riding to eventually flying.

The arrival of AI is scary. It would be foolish to not be apprehensive of the coming change.

The reality is none of us really know what introducing AI into the marketplace will do. There will be jobs lost. Wainwrights lost their jobs when Ford made the automobile affordable.

With that being said, I have faith in Americans and in their ability to thrive in any situation.

(05-15-2026 11:22 AM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  

(05-15-2026 10:53 AM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(05-15-2026 07:12 AM)MemTigers1998 Wrote:  A girl that I’ve know most all my life was telling me her 19 yr old is 1 year out of HS. All of his friends just couldn’t believe he was not gonna go to college and instead got in plumbing apprenticeship program. He made almost $60k as a 1st year apprentice due to working a ton of OT. Now a few of his friends are considering dropping out of college to join him.

Skilled blue collar labor is going to be the hardest thing to replace with AI. Plumbers, electricians, carpenters, auto mechanics----that aint easy to replace with a robot. That said, many companies are finding that even white collar labor that rides a computer all day is not as easily replaced by AI as advertised. Some are finding that AI is only making acceptable work output 80% (or less) of the time in positions where they have fully taken over for human employees. In the final analysis----the biggest problem seems to be that AI doesnt really "think". In most human replacement roles the AI is simply attempting to mimic what a human might say or do in a given situation----and thats not the same as actually thinking. Apparently, that makes a difference in the real world more often than originally thought. Not saying AI wont get better or isnt a threat to take over many jobs---but AI taking everyone's job might not be happening as soon as some might believe----and some of the jobs its already "taken" might be returning to the "now hiring" category.

One thing I will say, the last thing we need is to be issuing a bunch of H1B Visas in the current environment. With the exception of a few rare instances where there really is a complete dearth of domestic talent in some specific niche field---there should be no H1B visa's being issued with unemployment about to take off with the advent of AI. HiB visa's should only be used when we dont have talent in a given area----NOT because we can get desperate less talented employees from overseas who will accept at wages well below the US average in the field in exchange for legal entry into the best nation in the world.

Actually, AI is replacing some blue collar labor.

For example, in dairy barns, they need someone to identify which cows need to be milked, and someone to put the suction pumps on the cow's udder. Now they have AI that does both of those jobs. The AI system I saw in Indiana replaced 6 of the 8 workers that used to work with the animals.

AI will replace most driving jobs. Long haul trucking and taxis are already starting to be taken over by AI (as in, a large number of companies are already operating in this space).

There's 3 million truckers and 400,000 taxi drivers/chauffers. My guess is that at least 2.5 million of those will be taken over by robots. The only question is how fast the new cars/trucks can be manufactured - 5 years seems pretty reasonable.

What will happen to salaries of plumbers/electricians when 2 million unemployed Teamsters switch to those fields?

I would consider neither of those "skilled labor". Maybe truck driving is sort of skilled----but its not like plumbing or electricians where there are apprenticeships and difficult licensing proceedures. Mechanics have quite significant levels of training as well these days and have to invest in thousands of dollars of tools just to practice their trade. Repetitive tasks requiring minimal skill where the laborer is largely static are the easiest for AI to replace. What I find most instructive is ZERO car companies seem willing to sell the general public a self driving car designed for actual use as a self driving car. What does that tell you about governmental and commercial confidence in the product at this time and their fear of the potential liability surrounding mass adoption of the technology? It appears to me they are confident enough to dip their toe in the water at a very limited level as a test case where total liability is limited---but they fear the total number of errors AI would make in a mass adoption scenario at this time could potentially bankrupt them.

Im not saying AI wont replace anyone----Im saying mass unemployment from AI is a ways off (and it may never happen with the current high resource consuming large language models in use today). Again, total resources that can be poured into total AI capacity are not infinite. At some point, it will become a "drinking water and power for your home" vs "more AI data centers" debate (thats already happening in some areas and we arent even anywhere NEAR the AI capacity needed to create mass unemployment). CardinalJim is right---there will be change. Im just saying the doom and gloomers are likely just as wrong as the "nothing is going to happen" crowd.

Anyone who is in any kind of field that isn't an essential trade skill should be concerned. I just was at an AI conference last week, great information, but scary for a LOT of industries, not just tech. The next big risk is how do you make sure the guardrails you try to put around the different AIs stay in place and don't end up exposting your proprietary information to the world. Everyone in the infosec world is trying to keep our users from accidentally spilling all the corporate IP to the rest of the world by using AI in an inappropriate way.

Saw this earlier today... taking top level finance positions potentially now.

(05-15-2026 10:31 AM)b2b Wrote:  The support for AI in here is kind of crazy to me. It's going to make water and electricity more scarce and eliminate jobs. Yet people keep using it at the same time complaining about those things. Why are you using it?

If you don't have a full understanding of where AI can improve your skillset then you are going to be in big trouble.

(05-18-2026 09:50 AM)mlb Wrote:  

(05-15-2026 10:31 AM)b2b Wrote:  The support for AI in here is kind of crazy to me. It's going to make water and electricity more scarce and eliminate jobs. Yet people keep using it at the same time complaining about those things. Why are you using it?

If you don't have a full understanding of where AI can improve your skillset then you are going to be in big trouble.

I tend to agree. Yes, AI will eliminate some jobs, but imo, the bigger impact will be people that refuse to adopt AI in their current job roles being replaced by those that do adopt AI.

(05-18-2026 09:50 AM)mlb Wrote:  

(05-15-2026 10:31 AM)b2b Wrote:  The support for AI in here is kind of crazy to me. It's going to make water and electricity more scarce and eliminate jobs. Yet people keep using it at the same time complaining about those things. Why are you using it?

If you don't have a full understanding of where AI can improve your skillset then you are going to be in big trouble.

I'm pretty resistant to change but I AM using it occasionally. We're all basically being forced to use it by our company. Trainings and all that kind of thing.

(05-18-2026 10:13 AM)b2b Wrote:  

(05-18-2026 09:50 AM)mlb Wrote:  

(05-15-2026 10:31 AM)b2b Wrote:  The support for AI in here is kind of crazy to me. It's going to make water and electricity more scarce and eliminate jobs. Yet people keep using it at the same time complaining about those things. Why are you using it?

If you don't have a full understanding of where AI can improve your skillset then you are going to be in big trouble.

I'm pretty resistant to change but I AM using it occasionally. We're all basically being forced to use it by our company. Trainings and all that kind of thing.

Everyone has parts of their job that is easily repeatable by AI. The good news is it usually is the parts that nobody wants to do as part of their job anyway. There is where it will definitely take out jobs because of improved efficiency. You won't need 3 of a position when 1 will handle it with AI agents working along side the person.

If you really want to see where AI will create chaos, wait until someone's AI agent(s) are compromised and start moving outside of the guardrails set up by their security teams. It will happen, and it will be very costly to companies when it does do that. AI running amok is going to happen, and each company will need to proactively monitor for that (likely monitoring by a competing AI model and/or humans). There is no putting these LLM AIs back in the bottle, they are out and they are going to be used everywhere. Hopefully people find ways to use it intelligently and not in a threatening manner, but we already know that won't happen. I'm now actively involved in training AI to defend our enterprise from the bad guys who are already using it to attack and quickly pivot once they get a foot in the door of your corporate network. Sadly, it won't take a genius computer hacker to take down your corporation in the future, it will be the script kiddies that only created mild headaches by launching DDoS attacks in the past but now have toolsets that will truly be a risk for everyone.

(05-18-2026 10:23 AM)mlb Wrote:  

(05-18-2026 10:13 AM)b2b Wrote:  

(05-18-2026 09:50 AM)mlb Wrote:  

(05-15-2026 10:31 AM)b2b Wrote:  The support for AI in here is kind of crazy to me. It's going to make water and electricity more scarce and eliminate jobs. Yet people keep using it at the same time complaining about those things. Why are you using it?

If you don't have a full understanding of where AI can improve your skillset then you are going to be in big trouble.

I'm pretty resistant to change but I AM using it occasionally. We're all basically being forced to use it by our company. Trainings and all that kind of thing.

Everyone has parts of their job that is easily repeatable by AI. The good news is it usually is the parts that nobody wants to do as part of their job anyway. There is where it will definitely take out jobs because of improved efficiency. You won't need 3 of a position when 1 will handle it with AI agents working along side the person.

If you really want to see where AI will create chaos, wait until someone's AI agent(s) are compromised and start moving outside of the guardrails set up by their security teams. It will happen, and it will be very costly to companies when it does do that. AI running amok is going to happen, and each company will need to proactively monitor for that (likely monitoring by a competing AI model and/or humans). There is no putting these LLM AIs back in the bottle, they are out and they are going to be used everywhere. Hopefully people find ways to use it intelligently and not in a threatening manner, but we already know that won't happen. I'm now actively involved in training AI to defend our enterprise from the bad guys who are already using it to attack and quickly pivot once they get a foot in the door of your corporate network. Sadly, it won't take a genius computer hacker to take down your corporation in the future, it will be the script kiddies that only created mild headaches by launching DDoS attacks in the past but now have toolsets that will truly be a risk for everyone.

I'm skeptical. I work in construction scheduling and cost / progress reporting. It can do a halfway decent job of summarizing data but when I've tried to used it for much more than that I've spent more time cleaning up bad information / end product than I would've if I'd just started from scratch. It definitely can't take a set of plans and turn it into a construction schedule or coordinate that schedule with other projects that share a footprint.

(05-18-2026 10:31 AM)b2b Wrote:  I'm skeptical. I work in construction scheduling and cost / progress reporting. It can do a halfway decent job of summarizing data but when I've tried to used it for much more than that I've spent more time cleaning up bad information / end product than I would've if I'd just started from scratch. It definitely can't take a set of plans and turn it into a construction schedule or coordinate that schedule with other projects that share a footprint.

It may not quite be ready for prime time in your industry, yet. It will eventually get trained and tuned and be able to do a lot of that without much human intervention needed.

(05-18-2026 10:58 AM)mlb Wrote:  

(05-18-2026 10:31 AM)b2b Wrote:  I'm skeptical. I work in construction scheduling and cost / progress reporting. It can do a halfway decent job of summarizing data but when I've tried to used it for much more than that I've spent more time cleaning up bad information / end product than I would've if I'd just started from scratch. It definitely can't take a set of plans and turn it into a construction schedule or coordinate that schedule with other projects that share a footprint.

It may not quite be ready for prime time in your industry, yet. It will eventually get trained and tuned and be able to do a lot of that without much human intervention needed.

I'm sorry but there's no way it's going to be able to dissect plans and create schedules like that. It's way to complicated. Every project is unique, different crews, equipment, site conditions, materials, suppliers, subcontractors, milestones, interdependencies, sequence of work, etc. I think it could help do it a little faster but you'd have to give it a crap load of inputs and I'm not at all confident that the end product would make much sense without a lot of cleaning up.

(05-18-2026 10:58 AM)mlb Wrote:  

(05-18-2026 10:31 AM)b2b Wrote:  I'm skeptical. I work in construction scheduling and cost / progress reporting. It can do a halfway decent job of summarizing data but when I've tried to used it for much more than that I've spent more time cleaning up bad information / end product than I would've if I'd just started from scratch. It definitely can't take a set of plans and turn it into a construction schedule or coordinate that schedule with other projects that share a footprint.

It may not quite be ready for prime time in your industry, yet. It will eventually get trained and tuned and be able to do a lot of that without much human intervention needed.

^ And most business AI models are set to not seek outside information or prefer internal resources. As your company continues to use it, it will get "smarter". The first time I used it to do some deep sales analysis, it was just making **** up. I had to explain the process line by line of what I was looking for, and from that point forward, I could drop the raw numbers in and get accurate reports. It took a 30-minute job and turned it into a couple of seconds. Repeat that across the company, and it yields true labor savings.

My job as head of IT is to guardrail what people are using it for and explain to the C suite that AI is just a tool. It still needs a human to tell it what to do and verify the results. We are a long way away from the CEO being able to fire everyone and just type what he wants in a box and get what he needs. Though with the advancements of each new model that comes out, I don't think that future is impossible.

(05-18-2026 11:12 AM)b2b Wrote:  

(05-18-2026 10:58 AM)mlb Wrote:  

(05-18-2026 10:31 AM)b2b Wrote:  I'm skeptical. I work in construction scheduling and cost / progress reporting. It can do a halfway decent job of summarizing data but when I've tried to used it for much more than that I've spent more time cleaning up bad information / end product than I would've if I'd just started from scratch. It definitely can't take a set of plans and turn it into a construction schedule or coordinate that schedule with other projects that share a footprint.

It may not quite be ready for prime time in your industry, yet. It will eventually get trained and tuned and be able to do a lot of that without much human intervention needed.

I'm sorry but there's no way it's going to be able to dissect plans and create schedules like that. It's way to complicated. Every project is unique, different crews, equipment, site conditions, materials, suppliers, subcontractors, milestones, interdependencies, sequence of work, etc. I think it could help do it a little faster but you'd have to give it a crap load of inputs and I'm not at all confident that the end product would make much sense without a lot of cleaning up.

I watched an AI agent get an IP address, go out, find out the OS and products that are on that IP, research any vulnerablities related to said product, go break into the product, escalate its priviledges on the box, then fully own the rest of the network all within 60 minutes with no human interaction. Granted, it was a simulation so not totally real world, but to think it isn't doable is the first mistake someone can make.

Will AI be perfect in your situation? Probably not. But it will be a game changer at some point where it will save time and probably will eliminate some jobs as you won't need as many people doing the same job? Probably yes. My suggestion is to become comfortable with it doing smaller, repeatable tasks as part of your process... and you'll see just where it will become a very handy and why your company may begin investing in AI to at least offload some of the easily repeatable tasks, even if a human has to come back through and review what it has completed.

I've spent more time trying to figure out how it can help me than time that it ACTUALLY helped.