If you’re scheduled to deliver remarks to a group of young people any time soon, maybe avoid mentioning artificial intelligence.
Driving the news: Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt was loudly and repeatedly booed during a commencement address in which he talked up the potential of AI. “I know what many of you are feeling about that. I can hear you,” Schmidt responded.
Why it matters: As AI tools become more capable, people appear to be growing more hostile to the technology. Young people have been relatively positive about its potential, but that may also be changing.
In a poll conducted last year, 61% of Canadians said they regarded AI as a “threat that could harm jobs, privacy, and stability," but people aged 18 to 29 were the least likely to hold that position.
Why it’s happening: Recent grads are concerned that AI is hurting their career prospects — 47% say AI is already impacting hiring in their fields, according to a ZipRecruiter survey. Whether that’s true is still a matter of debate, but a wave of tech layoffs that executives have attributed to AI does not inspire warm and fuzzy feelings among workers.
It doesn’t help that the heads of AI companies themselves regularly issue dire warnings about the technology’s impact on humanity.
Our take: The job market for young people is already terrible. It shouldn’t be surprising in the least that there is a swell of anger directed toward a technology that threatens to make the situation even worse without much discernible upside.—TS
