Ronny Chieng walked onto one of the most elite campuses in the world and told graduates the mission of their generation was to “destroy AI.”
The crowd didn’t boo.
For months, CEOs, tech executives, and AI evangelists have been telling students to embrace AI. Instead, graduates across the country have been booing pro-AI commencement speeches, reflecting growing anxiety about jobs, careers, and the value of their degrees.
Newsmax: Why are college kids booing AI during graduation ceremonies?
Me: Because they did everything society told them to do — took on debt, got the degree, worked their asses off — and now they’re graduating into a brutal job market while billionaires openly brag about… pic.twitter.com/v4qSoDEW5v
— Mike Nellis (@MikeNellis) May 26, 2026
3 commencement speakers were booed at the mention of Artificial Intelligence (Video)
1. Eric Schmidt, Google CEO
2. Scott Borchetta, Big Machine Records CEO
3. Gloria Caulfield, Tavistock Development VP pic.twitter.com/LSbXL9oiln— This Week in AI (@ThisWeeknAI) May 19, 2026
Chieng tapped directly into that frustration.
His argument was simple: AI has legitimate uses in medicine and science, but using it to replace thinking, writing, creating, and problem solving is making people intellectually weaker.
The reaction may be the bigger story than the speech itself.
A year ago, questioning AI made you sound out of touch.
Now graduates at Harvard are cheering anti-AI lines while executives keep getting booed for promoting it.
🔥 @ronnychieng at Harvard: “F*ck A.I. — the mission of your generation is to destroy it… shortcuts to skip to the end aren’t always good. The journey is the point of all this.” pic.twitter.com/RGnWZrOKkz
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) May 29, 2026
The fight is no longer AI versus humans.
It’s becoming AI hype versus a generation that increasingly thinks the people selling it are not being honest about the costs.