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UCF graduates boo speaker who hypes AI - Gitanole - 05-14-2026 06:21 PM
Corporate speaker surprised to learn college graduates don’t like tech that ends jobs.
A real estate development executive received an unexpected jolt when her remarks about artificial intelligence (AI) during a Florida university's commencement ceremony were met with boos from the audience.
![[Image: Gloria-Caulfield-51126-4bb52c4ccbad41c9b...10e1c4.jpg]](https://people.com/thmb/pQc0AwO1les4w8vEwpqV2Belq20=/4000x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(753x162:755x164):format(webp)/Gloria-Caulfield-51126-4bb52c4ccbad41c9bda6b16ed510e1c4.jpg)
Gloria Caulfield, vice president of strategic alliances at Tavistock Development Company, was one of six scheduled speakers at the University of Central Florida’s commencement ceremonies, which took place on Friday, May 8, and Saturday, May 9.
Caulfield said that, in her line of work, she had the opportunity to interact with “some of the most prolific leaders and innovators of our time...”
....
She later added, “We are living in a time of profound change. That’s an understatement, right? Change is exciting. And let’s face it: change can be daunting. The rise of artificial intelligence is the next Industrial Revolution.”
As seen in the ceremony’s livestream, the remark gradually drew boos from the audience, which caught Caulfield off guard—prompting her to turn to the other people on stage and ask, “What happened?”
Facing the audience again, Caulfield smiled and said, “Okay. I struck a chord. May I finish.”
Then she continued, “Only a few years ago, AI was not a factor in our lives,” which then prompted the audience to cheer.
....
AI has been a hot-button issue in recent years, with concern about the technology's role in the replacement of people’s jobs, the growth of data centers and rising electricity rates, and risks AI poses to young people’s mental health.
....
https://people.com/commencement-speaker-stunned-remarks-about-ai-draw-boos-11972049
RE: UCF graduates boo speaker who hypes AI - bobdizole - 05-14-2026 07:46 PM
Welcome to the new world. If you aren't using AI to enhance your work output in the tech space, you will be replaced.
RE: UCF graduates boo speaker who hypes AI - stinkfist - 05-14-2026 08:42 PM
1/2 are scared they just wasted 4/5 years and are leaving in debt to a labor market that is more uncertain than any in the past...
yeah, they should be scared ... too many are gonna be scarred in only a few years...
welcome to the jungle of the ill trained...
RE: UCF graduates boo speaker who hypes AI - Native Georgian - 05-14-2026 09:13 PM
(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.
RE: UCF graduates boo speaker who hypes AI - stinkfist - 05-14-2026 09:29 PM
(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.
interesting ... that's what you derived from the vid?
explain, please ... b/c her following disclaimer that drew applause can work two ways ... and that's not in the vid...
her opener scares 'em (deservedly so ... they heard 'robber barons') ... the following setup/disclaimer (that draws applause) is about said 'fear' due to it only existing for "three years" ... 'now wtf am I gonna do' ... then she fully mucks it with the fe-mah-le (rhymes with tamale) emo tardo quip "we've got a bipolar topic here..." ... all the while she's so out of her element her voice is cracking ... reminded me of knee pads in any interview/behind the mic'd pulpit...
all I know, is I'm glad that vid was < 1 min...
RE: UCF graduates boo speaker who hypes AI - b2b - 05-14-2026 09:54 PM
(05-14-2026 07:46 PM)bobdizole Wrote: Welcome to the new world. If you aren't using AI to enhance your work output in the tech space, you will be replaced.The more you use it the more replaceable you become.
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RE: UCF graduates boo speaker who hypes AI - CardinalJim - 05-15-2026 03:41 AM
Young people better be looking at vocational training unless they are working towards a professional degree in medicine or law.
Better to be a working electrician without debt than an electrical engineer with a mountain of college debt who can’t find a job.
AI is going to force rethinking the whole everyone needs a college degree to succeed paradigm.
RE: UCF graduates boo speaker who hypes AI - TigerBlue4Ever - 05-15-2026 06:28 AM
(05-14-2026 07:46 PM)bobdizole Wrote: Welcome to the new world. If you aren't using AI to enhance your work output in the tech space, you will be replaced.
Thank goodness there are still opportunities in the world of legacy tech for those who know where to find them. I'm making more money now than at any point in my life while working less. Closing in on 70, I never imagined such a scenario when I retired from AT&T in 2016.
RE: UCF graduates boo speaker who hypes AI - TigerBlue4Ever - 05-15-2026 06:30 AM
(05-14-2026 08:42 PM)stinkfist Wrote: 1/2 are scared they just wasted 4/5 years and are leaving in debt to a labor market that is more uncertain than any in the past...
yeah, they should be scared ... too many are gonna be scarred in only a few years...
welcome to the jungle of the ill trained...
There are still people getting liberal arts degrees?
RE: UCF graduates boo speaker who hypes AI - TigerBlue4Ever - 05-15-2026 06:40 AM
(05-15-2026 03:41 AM)CardinalJim Wrote: Young people better be looking at vocational training unless they are working towards a professional degree in medicine or law.
Better to be a working electrician without debt than an electrical engineer with a mountain of college debt who can’t find a job.
AI is going to force rethinking the whole everyone needs a college degree to succeed paradigm.
I never needed one in the first place. While I wouldn't call myself hugely successful, only averaging low 6 figures, I aint done that bad for a high school dropout. I raised two very bright—and unconventionally educated—kids who are doing better than me. I made a career in the telecom industry that ended as a field operations manager. Ok Ok, I'm bragging a little, and my story isn't typical.
RE: UCF graduates boo speaker who hypes AI - miko33 - 05-15-2026 07:09 AM
My take on this is mixed. On the one hand the explosion of AI in the workplace probably took many people by surprise. Not everyone - but most. OTOH, our high schools, guidance counselors and even the media has been driving the point home that "college education is everything". Even going so far to say that it didn't matter WHAT you graduated with...just get the bachelors degree and the world opens up. A recipe that was in the making for decades.
Only area of study that I'm legitimately concerned got "rug pulled" are CS and software engineer majors. Jobs are still out there; however, getting the entry level roles to build your skills seems to be missing...or will be in the near future.
RE: UCF graduates boo speaker who hypes AI - MemTigers1998 - 05-15-2026 07:12 AM
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.
RE: UCF graduates boo speaker who hypes AI - stinkfist - 05-15-2026 07:13 AM
(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.
#smart
it won't take long for him to branch off on his own ... hiring other folks is when you start making bank!!!
RE: UCF graduates boo speaker who hypes AI - Native Georgian - 05-15-2026 07:46 AM
(05-14-2026 09:29 PM)stinkfist Wrote:[without agreeing or disagreeing with anything she said](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.
interesting ... that's what you derived from the vid?
explain, please ...
She simply made an observation that the impact of AI in our time is comparable to the impact of the Industrial Revolution in previous times. She wasn’t saying if that’s good or bad or indifferent or some combination. Just pointed out that it’s started and it’s not going to stop. To the OP: that’s not “hype”. It’s just the bare fact staring us — especially 22-year-old “us” — right in the face.
Her “surprise” (if I’m reading her right) is not that “college graduates” don’t like the economic impact of AI on their career path, but that they were booing while she was trying to make a speech. I think at first, she thought they were booing *her*, personally, and that threw her off-balance.
Then she gradually figured out the audience reaction was about AI, and not her or anything she was trying to say.
RE: UCF graduates boo speaker who hypes AI - olliebaba - 05-15-2026 10:03 AM
(05-15-2026 06:30 AM)TigerBlue4Ever Wrote:(05-14-2026 08:42 PM)stinkfist Wrote: 1/2 are scared they just wasted 4/5 years and are leaving in debt to a labor market that is more uncertain than any in the past...
yeah, they should be scared ... too many are gonna be scarred in only a few years...
welcome to the jungle of the ill trained...
There are still people getting liberal arts degrees?
Of course, we still need those Liberal Arts majors to protest almost everything. Otherwise, how are they gonna pay their rent...to their parents for letting them live in the basement.
RE: UCF graduates boo speaker who hypes AI - Captain Bearcat - 05-15-2026 10:29 AM
(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.
RE: UCF graduates boo speaker who hypes AI - b2b - 05-15-2026 10:31 AM
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?
RE: UCF graduates boo speaker who hypes AI - Native Georgian - 05-15-2026 10:45 AM
(05-15-2026 10:29 AM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:What part of the video makes it seem as if the speaker were unaware of these things(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.
RE: UCF graduates boo speaker who hypes AI - hoopfan - 05-15-2026 10:45 AM
all you people are missing the big picture. you are blindly lost in the weeds.
read the book: "If Anybody Builds It. Everybody dies"
RE: UCF graduates boo speaker who hypes AI - Captain Bearcat - 05-15-2026 10:47 AM
(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.