Gloria Caulfield’s commencement speech was briefly interrupted by boos when she declared AI “is the next industrial revolution.”
FLORIDA, USA — A commencement speaker at a Florida college graduation was booed by graduates when she made remarks about artificial intelligence being the “next industrial revolution.”
Gloria Caulfield, vice president of strategic alliances at Tavistock Development Company, was one of many speakers at University of Central Florida’s graduation ceremonies this past weekend. Her speech was interrupted when graduates booed her.
“We are living in a time of profound change. That’s an understatement, right?” she said in her speech. “The rise of artificial intelligence is the next industrial revolution.”
Students began booing, shocking the speaker. One student can be heard yelling “AI sucks.”
“What happened? OK, I struck a chord,” she said after turning to other speakers, including the school president, on stage.
She continued her speech after asking for permission from students who quieted down again.
The graduating class stunned Caulfield again after she continued speaking.
“Only a few years ago, AI was not a factor in our lives,” she said, prompting students to cheer. “All right. OK. We’ve got a bipolar topic here, I see.”
The rest of her speech was met with boos — which she called “passion” — and low conversation.
She gave the speech to graduates from Central Florida’s College of Arts and Humanities and spent about three minutes of her 11-minute speech praising the future of AI.
Graduates, who consisted of people pursuing art, writing and design careers, were not happy with the speech. Houda Eletr, of the Nicholson School of Communication and Media, told the Orlando Weekly the speech felt like an ad.
“To stand in front of a graduating class of artists and communicators and discuss Jeff Bezos and Howard Schultz, is to spit on our efforts to flip the script,” Eletr said. “I’m embarrassed to have had to endure the most embarrassing, unskippable, tone-deaf, ad-like commencement. Boo to AI and boo to your agenda.”
The rest of the ceremony went on as planned, and graduates were able to walk the stage, take their photos, move their tassels and celebrate their achievements.
Caulfield and the university have not publicly commented about the booing.