UCF Commencement Speaker Draws Boos After A.I. Remarks(www.nytimes.com)
10 pointsby reaperducer6 hours ago1 comment
  • sameers5 hours ago
    The remark reportedly that free the boos: "Change is exciting. And let’s face it: change can be daunting. The rise of artificial intelligence is the next Industrial Revolution.” It's surprising to me how something that's about as neutral as you can get about something that everyone, especially fresh grads, should be thinking actively about, simply draws this knee-jerk reaction. Or maybe even the Industrial Revolution is such a reviled concept these days, that she may as well have said, "This will change history the way the destruction of WWII did," and the reaction may have been less negative.
    • rahulyc5 hours ago
      It has nothing to do with the Industrial Revolution. Put yourself in their shoes. They are fresh entrants to a job market and these companies seem hell-bent on making them useless in it.
      • ronsor4 hours ago
        You just described one of the key conflict points of the Industrial Revolution...
        • flextheruler2 hours ago
          Which was a legitimate criticism and took decades of fighting to resolve through organized labor, and protests. There was no 5 day work week or laws against child labor or wage requirements or against nearly any exploitation of employees at its advent.

          If AI is like an Industrial Revolution which is yet unproven, but is being marketed as such, then you would expect exactly this reaction.

    • rchaud4 hours ago
      > everyone, especially fresh grads, should be thinking actively about,

      Everybody is already thinking about AI. Hearing another 'business leader' yapping about it at commencement is the equivalent of working at the guitar store and hearing somebody play Stairway to Heaven for the 10,000th time that week.

    • flextheruler2 hours ago
      If the Industrial Revolution is reviled it's at least partly because of the deadliness of the technology and wars it made possible. Both wars feature a single technological change that by themselves are to this day considered weapons of mass destruction. But you don't have to look to war as to why the Industrial Revolution is reviled at times. You cannot make a solid argument that the many protests and critiques against the Industrial Revolution were or are illegitimate ones. Or that we're not now suffering immensely due to inaction and ignorance of said criticisms. Climate change being another undeniable one. If you believe that AI is like an Industrial Evolution in the factors which it purports to be right now then why mock protests against it? This is like arguing for an unadulterated Industrial Revolution. No rational actor wants to see social strife on that level again. Both fascism and communism can be traced to unfettered industry.
    • squibonpig4 hours ago
      Lol that's not a neutral statement in any way. Also, the speaker wasn't mobbed on the spot, he got booed.
    • alphabeta3r565 hours ago
      I think its not as much about AI as it is about power grab. In the same sense that it would not be as much about Indusutrial reolvution as it would be for related colonialism.
    • flextheruler2 hours ago
      "The rise of [technology that's marketed as destroying half the jobs you've just studied for 4 years to do] is the next industrial revolution."