Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt booed during graduation speech about AI

Tech NewsFormer Google CEO Eric Schmidt booed during graduation speech about AISchmidt was met with boos at the University of Arizona as he likened the emergence of AI to the “technological transformation” brought about by the computer.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Eric Schmidt, CEO of Relativity Space and former CEO of Google.Stefani Reynolds / Bloomberg via Getty Images fileShareAdd NBC News to GoogleMay 17, 2026, 4:45 PM EDTBy Mirna Alsharif and Austin MullenFormer Google CEO Eric Schmidt was booed multiple times Sunday while discussing artificial intelligence during a commencement speech at the University of Arizona.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Schmidt, who led Google for a decade, opened his remarks by reflecting on his own student years and the rise of the computer, — a device named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” in 1982. He traced its evolution into the laptop and smartphone and its proliferation through the internet and social media.While the computer connected people, “democratized knowledge” and lifted many out of poverty, it also carried a darker side, Schmidt said.“The same platforms that gave everyone a voice, like you’re using now, also degraded the public square,” he said. “They rewarded outrage. They amplified our worst instincts. They coarsen the way we speak to each other, and that way, and in the way that we treat each other, is in the essence of a society.”Schmidt then drew a parallel between artificial intelligence and the transformative impact of the computer — and was immediately met with boos.“I know what many of you are feeling about that. I can hear you,” Schmidt said, addressing the crowd as many continued to boo him. “There is a fear ... there is a fear in your generation that the future has already been written, that the machines are coming, that the jobs are evaporating, that the climate is breaking, that politics is fractured, and that yo...