Transcription
Today, we stand on this edge of another technological transformation. It will touch every profession, every classroom, every hospital. I know what many of you are feeling about that. I can hear you. There is a fear. He can hear you. So can we.
That was former Google CEO Erik Schmitt getting booed during his commencement speech at the University of Arizona last week. That's right. His comments about technology and how new graduates are being impacted by AI did not sit well with the audience. As well. My goodness. Yeah. You can say that again, Guy.
So this is happening at college campuses across the country. Students, they're rebelling against AI. They're holding protests Columbia University, Indianapolis, Central Florida, just to name a few. In a new Business Week article, it was featured in the forecast newsletter. Joe Conscience and Victor Zweisenthal, well, they write that the unique threat of artificial intelligence would poses students education and their hopes of someday landing a job has made the university a powerful crucible for anti resistance.
Well, I spoke with Joe earlier about it. Some of the concerns are it's very multifaceted. There's a lot of other things that students are worried about. I think there's the climate impact. That's something that this generation really cares about and and is very concerned about. And so, you know, they see news about data centers and how much energy those those data centers take and what it really takes to power these systems. They're concerned about that. They're also concerned about things like, you know, critical thinking. They they really they're they go to college because they wanna develop their critical thinking skills, and I think that they just see sometimes with their peers. If their peers are overusing chatbots, sometimes that means that they're outsourcing the work and the thinking to these tools in a way that they feel like isn't really helping them, and and can honestly lead sometimes to a bit of a dependence on these tools. And so they don't like that. And then I think another kind of fierce source of opposition is is worry about, AI, you know, entering the arts and and what that does to art and human creativity. So I think that, yes, the job market fears about displacement are certainly present, but there are a lot of other things that young people are concerned about.
Now at the same time, you have companies that are that are looking for people who are AI savvy. So don't they need the skills too? Absolutely. That's what I've heard time and again from from all of the executives that I talked to. They're looking for young people who, are, you know, know how to use these tools, use them effectively, and are excited about them and the potential that they bring. And they're really looking to, in many cases, to these young people to come in and and shake up their organizations because they don't necessarily have preconceived notions of how, the work should get done. And so they can come in, use AI, and, you know, find brand new ways of doing things. So executives are are certainly looking for that. And but it's it's interesting. When I've been talking to college students, and, you know, for the stories I'm writing about the job market, they are often deeply conflicted. Some of them say, you know, I am using AI for my internships, but I don't know how to feel about it. Or I'm not wild about it, but I feel like I have to because in order to get a job nowadays, this is what employers are looking for.
Well, let's get into that sentiment because there's a Gallup poll out that kinda breaks it down a little bit more. Mhm. Yes. So this Gallup poll looked at, Gen Z sentiment about AI in particular, and it found that even just from last year to this year, you know, sentiment has deteriorated among this group. It's it's last year, almost 30% of Gen Z respondents said that they were hopeful about AI, and the technology. And and this spring, only about 18% said that they were hopeful. So and there's rising anxiety. There's rising anger. In in many cases, because they see this technology becoming it's no longer an option. You know, it's something that they feel like they they have to use either in the classroom or in order to get a job.
Yeah. And you talk about the classroom. I mean, there's also this this whole thing around, you know, using AI in the classroom and anti plagiarism. I know when my daughter goes to college orientations, they lay out a whole, you know, AI agenda and what's allowed, what's not allowed. It's it's it's changing there too. It absolutely is. And I think what's difficult sometimes for students is that different professors will have different policies, and sometimes it's not consistent. And and so it can be very difficult for a student who, you know, cares very much about about not plagiarizing, not you know, and following the rules. And, and so they are very hesitant to use AI in a lot a lot of cases. And yet when they graduate, they're expected to be completely fluent and the most savvy AI user out there. So it's it it can be difficult to to understand how to navigate that.
How are colleges responding to a lot of these protests that are going on in some of the colleges? You know, I think that, you know, in some cases, they're they're setting up forums to talk to students to try to open up that channel of communication because I think that in a lot of cases, it's mostly coming from students feeling like they haven't been consulted in some of these decisions. They're not being heard. So there's some of that, but I think the main argument from universities is we would be doing students a great disservice if we didn't include AI in our curriculums in some form or fashion because this is what employers are looking for. This is where companies are the direction companies are heading. And so, you know, that's that's kind of how they're trying to adapt.