Why are university students booing big tech at graduation ceremonies?(english.elpais.com)
english.elpais.com
Why are university students booing big tech at graduation ceremonies?
https://english.elpais.com/technology/2026-05-19/generational-rejection-of-ai-why-are-university-students-booing-big-tech-at-graduation-ceremonies.html
7 comments
Yeah, is that it? I really am curious. Aren’t the youngsters supposed to be enthusiastic about new tech? It must be ant establishment sentiments then. Don’t get me wrong I do love seeing the passion of youth united against big tech, or perhaps, loss of control. But I don’t understand it atm.
Sadly the question in the title is not answered (satisfactory).
Sadly the question in the title is not answered (satisfactory).
The first comment here answers it perfectly.
So they really feel their futures are erased by a technology? Or by Big Tech? I'd say rage against the system (machine), not the tech. Sure captilism as we have it is rigged, money makes money, success depends on which family you're born into (this is even happening in the most socialist countries). It's far from fair. But to blame a specific technology? Meh.
I think you may need to read up a little more on the impact of AI, rather than just any 'specific technology'. They are being told that AI will remove their jobs. I too would boo loudly.
But they don't even have jobs yet, they are simply entering a fast changing world. I am a bioinformatician at the moment, when I left school I could sequence 200 basepairs by hand using gels. Now I use supercomputers to process terabytes of data. I didn't think of booing Illumina at the time.
I can't imagine they boo because the world is changing? Isn't that just exciting? I hope they were mostly taught how to think, and not just rigidly prepared for 1 single profession to be performed in a specific way? That hasn't worked for the last decades.
I can imagine them booing big tech (all your data are belong to us) and wealth differences though. They can't buy houses, they're not insured by default etc etc. There is much to boo about indeed. But AI? Meh.
I can't imagine they boo because the world is changing? Isn't that just exciting? I hope they were mostly taught how to think, and not just rigidly prepared for 1 single profession to be performed in a specific way? That hasn't worked for the last decades.
I can imagine them booing big tech (all your data are belong to us) and wealth differences though. They can't buy houses, they're not insured by default etc etc. There is much to boo about indeed. But AI? Meh.
I think it's the nature of the change that's really freaking them out. You left college and used a new tool to do things more efficiently. These kids are being told they won't be needed for any job at all. The AI will do the whole thing, the AI takes over their whole job. It's a subtle but important difference, I think.
(Or close enough, from the kids' PoV.)