A University of Central Florida graduation ceremony speech delivered by Gloria Caulfield, Vice President of Strategic Alliances for Tavistock Development Company on May 8 received very negative reception from the audience of graduates. The speaker spoke of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and the innovation that she believes will come of it. She referred to it as “the next industrial revolution,” to which the audience responded with boos, and one person yelled “AI sucks”.

She continued to speak of AI, stating that “only a few years ago, AI was not a factor in our lives.” As the crowd continued to respond negatively, Caulfield said something of the enthusiasm of the crowd and continued her 11- minute speech praising the future of AI. This was given to a group of graduating arts and humanities students at UCF, many of whom likely fear the future of the job market because of AI.

Many students at OCSA have varying thoughts on AI. In the words of Jaleah Rios sophomore creative writer, “I think it’s definitely going to remove some of the current jobs that we have in today’s society, but I think it’s also similar to past events when as obviously as technology continues to increase other less necessary jobs fade away so I think there will be new opportunities that open up.” This is a popular opinion amongst many people especially those who are savvy to the job market.

In reference to Generative AI, Janyah Cruz junior Visual Artist, “The AI is getting out into almost every popular algorithm, so it’s impossible to avoid using. It’s in education, it’s in business and just casual web surfing.” AI has become part of every sector of modern life. It seems like many people have realized that it has become almost unavoidable in the future of the workplace. Even though many fear what it will mean for important aspects of life like finding employment in the future, there are many factors that make it a more complex conversation.