Authored by Kay Rubacek via The Epoch Times,
Eric Schmidt hadn't finished the word "artificial" before the booing started.
A child uses a laptop in a file photo. Alain Jocard/AFP/Getty ImagesThe former Google CEO stood at the University of Arizona's commencement last month, ready to deliver the kind of speech he had probably given a dozen times before: AI as the next great transformation, graduates as its rightful authors.
He got as far as telling them the technology would "touch every profession, every classroom, every hospital, every laboratory, every person, and every relationship you have." The boos rose before he could finish his own sentence. "I can hear you," he said gently. The boos continued, as did Schmidt, who was unable to fully conceal the awkward embarrassment.
He wasn't the only one. A week earlier, at Middle Tennessee State University, Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta told graduates that "AI is rewriting production as we sit here." The boos from graduates started immediately. He responded with tough love: "I know it. Deal with it." But the boos only grew louder.
A week before that, real estate executive Gloria Caulfield barely got through the phrase "next industrial revolution" at the University of Central Florida before the crowd erupted. "Okay, I struck a chord," she said, turning around with her hands up in disbelief and clearly caught off guard.
They were all caught off guard. This isn't how graduations usually go.
Older generations had their own frustrations with the people steering their world, but they rarely stood up at their own commencement, in front of their families, and told a stranger they didn't believe them or what they had to say about their future.
It would be easy to read the response as simple nerves about a tough job market and leave it there. But when you look more closely at how this generation actually lives with technology, their worldview takes a different form.
A recent Gallup survey found that Gen Z's use of AI has leveled off, but their feelings about it have not. Excitement has fallen 14 points in a year, to just 22 percent. And anger has climbed 9 points, to 31 percent. Even among those who use it every day, enthusiasm dropped by 18 points over 12 months. Eight in ten now believe AI will make learning harder. Forty-two percent believe it will hurt their ability to think carefully. Only a quarter believe it will help. Nearly half say the risks of AI in the workplace now outweigh the benefits, which is a sharp rise from the year before. And when asked whose work they actually trust, 69 percent said human work. Only 3 percent said AI's work alone.
A separate Gallup study found that 47 percent of college students have seriously considered changing their major because of what AI is doing to the job market. Sixteen percent have already changed. The students who use AI most, such as in technology, business, and engineering, are also the ones most likely to be reconsidering whether they picked the right field at all.
The kids know the use of artificial intelligence is built into every device they touch throughout their day. It is being wired to replace the skills they were once told to seek in every career they had been advised to pursue.
They know it is being promised to make their lives "better" and "easier," while they feel it is chipping away at their cognitive abilities and sense of challenge and fulfillment, and the adults in the room - or those being offered as role models on commencement stages - are wondering why youth aren't as excited about AI as they expected.
And we should have seen this coming. According to researchers, Gen Z is the first generation in modern memory to test less cognitively capable than their own parents did at the same age, despite having more schooling and more access to information than any generation in human history.
In January, neuroscientist Jared Cooney Horvath told the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee that attention, memory, literacy, numeracy, reasoning, general IQ - key cognitive performance indicators among young people - have stalled or reversed across much of the developed world over the past two decades. He points to classroom screens and education technology as the cause, arguing the brain was never built to learn the way these tools teach. More tools. More data. Less mind.
For nearly two centuries, every generation had tested smarter than the one before it. Researchers called it the Flynn effect, and it held through wars, depressions, and the collapse of empires. It was a 200-year winning streak. Horvath told lawmakers the streak is over.
The graduates booing those speakers are not confused about this. They are living it. They are the data.
A year ago, I wrote about a different version of this same generational response. Vinyl records were outselling CDs, mostly bought by people under 35. Journaling by hand, crochet, taking silent walks, and a trend called "Posting Zero," in which young people stepped back from performing their lives online. That calm rebellion looked like withdrawal, but it has given way to something louder and bolder. It is a signal that we older folk need to pay attention to.
Older generations tend to see AI the way we see most new technology: as a tool that does or doesn't work, that we adopt or resist on our own terms, in our own time. Younger generations don't have that luxury of distance, and there is a fury at being told how to feel about it by people who built it, sold it, or profited from it first without understanding the consequences of using their youth as part of a larger experiment.
This next generation may not hit all the test scores that their forbears did, but they still have human wisdom intact. Children don't get a vote on the experiments run on their own development, and yet these graduates found a way to cast their vote loudly. Either way, I hope their votes will be counted.
Kay Rubacek is an award-winning educator, filmmaker, author, and mother. Detained in a Chinese prison in 2001 for her human-rights advocacy, she has since dedicated her work to exposing the systems and ideologies that diminish human life and human sovereignty. She has been a contributor to The Epoch Times since 2010.
Tyler Durden Tue, 06/30/2026 - 17:40For months, several auto news outlets and EV forums and auto-focused YouTubers have been tracking what some are calling a "hidden time bomb" inside Tesla's Cybertruck: a growing number of owner complaints linked to Power Conversion System failures.
The PCS failure, according to those reports, can paralyze charging and key electrical functions, in some cases leaving the roughly 7,000-pound stainless truck immobilized until service or replacement parts are available.
"Tesla is risking a backlash from Cybertruck owners affected by Power Conversion System (PCS) failures. This prevents trucks from using Level 2 (AC) charging. While Tesla is aware of these issues, it has only offered a fix on a case-by-case basis rather than issuing a recall to replace the faulty parts across the fleet," Autoevolution wrote in a report.
Here's where things get weird. The report continued:
Tesla fans are always happy that the EV maker has far fewer recalls than other carmakers. On the other hand, critics point out that Tesla prefers to deal with failures quietly by forcing owners to sign NDAs. This makes it appear that Tesla EVs have fewer problems than other car models. It also allows Tesla to address failures without notifying the NHTSA and issuing a recall.
For Cybertruck owners, this approach has become increasingly obvious during the past months. An unusually large number of Cybertruck owners have been affected by a wave of PCS failures that can prevent the truck from charging via AC. This negates one of the most important advantages of an EV: cheap overnight charging at home. The good news is that, in most cases, DC charging remains available.
Another report suggests that early 2024 and 2025 Foundation Series trucks are the most discussed, and there is concern that repairs could become expensive once the basic 4-year/50,000-mile warranty expires.
Auto blog Not A Tesla bluntly asked:
Where is the Recall?
Despite the clear pattern of failure affecting dozens of confirmed vehicles, and reports that some service centers proactively replace the PCS when trucks come in for unrelated tire or trim service, there is no official NHTSA recall or proactive owner notification specifically addressing the PCS hardware defect.
For now, early Cybertruck owners are left hoping their PCS either fails safely within the initial 50,000-mile warranty window or survives long enough for Tesla to officially acknowledge the defect and issue a sweeping recall.
What X users are saying:
Day 16
Cybertruck PCS2 failure, in for service
Started at 62% charge and is in low power mode
Now at 39% and expected 2 weeks more till parts arrive.
Who else has been waiting longer? pic.twitter.com/eOtrHztct5
Sooo according to this my VIN is affected 😞
Hopefully I don’t ever see the issue and Tesla figures out how to fix it before it becomes a problem. https://t.co/IelPOzwVeH pic.twitter.com/OrmUbxnIup
@Tesla PCS2 Failure can leave you with zero ability to charge your vehicle.
It would be equivalent of someone putting a locking gas cap that can't be removed on a gas vehicle. When you run out, you're done.
Everyone with a Cybertruck should inundate Tesla service for an… pic.twitter.com/WK6LbufQJM
Mine went into a failure mode last month. The replacement occurred this past week. They also replaced the Device Cluster and two harnesses. I did hear a service advisor mention a bulletin but I haven’t been able to find it in SI. My appointment was for Monday 3/2 and it was… pic.twitter.com/qzW3mnSXfR
— Scott Brown (@TechScottBrown) March 8, 2026Guys, what’s wrong with my Cybertruck?
Am I cooked??? pic.twitter.com/ksoBEGfmym
Another one bites the dust. Cybertruck PCS failure.
Coolest part, 10 days for earliest appointment and it won't charge at a supercharger either.
I'm cooked 🫠 pic.twitter.com/j5wHCxym9S
Tesla added free supercharging to my truck until July 20th.
Due to the PCS2 failure pic.twitter.com/v2KBWQEAlj
Good luck with a timely fix...
I’m on week 8!!!
Cybertruck Owner Warning: AC Charging / PCS Failures & Backorders 🚨
If your Cybertruck’s home charging speed suddenly cut in half (or stopped completely), you are not alone. Widespread failures are hitting the Power Conversion System (PCS) / AC Converter.
🔴…
YouTube channel The RED Review warned:
The Power Conversion System (PCS2) is quietly breaking down on Cybertruck owners across the country — bricking their trucks, killing AC charging, and leaving them with a $2,500+ repair bill that Tesla won't warn you about. There's no recall yet, and most owners have no idea it's happening.
Watch: Your Cybertruck Has a Hidden Time Bomb (PCS2 Failure)
And another report:
We hear that Tesla is providing free Supercharging to affected Cybertruck owners, and service staff have acknowledged this as a growing problem.
Tyler Durden Tue, 06/30/2026 - 17:20