Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt was roundly booed by students at the University of Arizona’s graduation Saturday — following backlash over his selection as commencement speaker over sex abuse allegations from his much-younger ex girlfriend.
Tech billionaire Schmidt, 71, was discussing artificial intelligence and automation when students began jeering him, Business Insider reported.
However, he had been expecting a hostile reception regardless of what he said following allegations of rape and sexual harassment made in a lawsuit by ex Michelle Ritter.
Multiple left-wing and feminist student groups handed out flyers at Friday night’s commencement detailing the allegations made against Schmidt by 31-year-old tech entrepreneur Ritter, who was Schmidt’s lover and business partner.
Students were urged to “turn their backs to the stage” when Schmidt came on, “and/or boo to make it clear that the University of Arizona and greater community that we represent, whether from Tucson or beyond, do not support abusers being platformed,” reported the Arizona Daily Star.
Schmidt, who has long been public about having an open marriage, denies the allegations from Ritter.
The boos started for Schmidt when he appeared to admit some of the mistakes he made during his time at Google.
“We thought that we were adding stones to a cathedral of knowledge that humanity had been constructing for centuries, but the world we built turned out to be more complicated than we anticipated,” said Schmidt, who left Google in 2011.
“The same tools that connect us also isolate us. The same platforms that gave everyone a voice — like you’re using now — degraded the public square,” he added.
The boos for Schmidt grew louder as he discussed AI, which critics warn risks obliterating the jobs market for new graduates.
“I know what many of you are feeling about that. I can hear you. There is a fear,” Schmidt said, as he was briefly drowned out by boos.
“There is a fear in your generation that the future has already been written, that the machines are coming, that the jobs are evaporating, that the climate is breaking, that politics are fractured, and that you are inheriting a mess that you did not create,” he said, describing the fears as “rational” before insisting young people should adapt or else.
“The question is not whether AI will shape the world. It will. The question is whether you will have shaped artificial intelligence,” he said.