At the University of Central Florida graduation, Gloria Caulfield calls AI the 'next industrial revolution' and is booed by students
At the University of Central Florida graduation, real estate executive Gloria Caulfield referred to AI as the 'next industrial revolution' and was booed by students.
At the Middle Tennessee State University graduation, Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta stated that AI is rewriting the industry, responding to boos with, 'Accept reality, this is just a tool.'
These incidents reflect a strong resistance among some graduates to the impact of AI on creativity and employment.
Source: Public information
ABAB AI Insight
Gloria Caulfield, as Vice President of Tavistock Development, has previously promoted technological transformation in business settings. Her speech continued this optimistic narrative but faced direct backlash from graduates in arts and humanities. Similar incidents have occurred at multiple graduation ceremonies.
Scott Borchetta, a veteran in the music industry, has pushed for the digital transformation of artists like Taylor Swift. His firm response continues his stance that 'the industry must change,' with resources shifting towards AI-assisted production tools, motivated by the need to help traditional record companies adapt to the impact of generative content.
The recurring boos regarding AI at recent university graduation speeches, along with the creative industry's resistance to generative AI, indicate that the current cohort of graduates is in the early stages of transitioning from low acceptance of AI tools to adapting to reality. Students in humanities and creative fields express particularly strong emotions.
This essentially represents a transfer of pricing power: AI technology replacement shifts pricing power from traditional human creative labor to efficient tools and platforms. The mechanism is that graduates are directly facing an employment market where AI has rapidly penetrated content generation and production processes. The resistance stems from a conflict between short-term job anxiety and long-term adaptation lag, forcing education and industry to accelerate responses to skill restructuring.
ABAB News · Law of Cognition
The louder the boos against AI, the more it proves to be a real threat to traditional jobs.
Those who reject tools will be left behind by the times; those who embrace tools can rewrite the rules.
When the voices resisting change are the loudest, it is often the moment when change becomes most irreversible.