The AI Revolution No One Wants to Celebrate: Lessons from UCF Graduation

I graduated in 1997. Back then, if someone called on our phone while I was trying to work on our one home computer, it would knock me offline. Artificial Intelligence was something only in movies. I still had to go to the library on campus and check out books for research. There was no Siri, Grok or ChatGPT. 

This speaker looks to be about my age or maybe just a bit older. I'm 50 and trying to figure out what AI will mean in the next decade. Thankfully, I write for a company who appreciates unique takes and original work. They've been clear if a writer is caught using AI, it would be a problem. That's encouraging, particularly as I hear about other news outlets using AI to write articles. 

It seems this Speaker was trying her best to be relevant and talk to the next generation entering career fields. She apparently really missed the mark. While so many young people are using AI to complete homework assignments and schoolwork, they also internally suspect AI is going to be very bad for their future prospects if not managed. They are living in that tension.

Gen Z hates AI, as they should. https://t.co/Rtn2KxjlSN

— Matt 🎮 (@6amerBr0) May 12, 2026

They hate it in theory. Not so much when they have a homework assignment due. It's like the people who mock Ozempic until they need to lose weight.

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the tech world has genuinely not grappled with how many people
despise them and what they make pic.twitter.com/t2VIuYEjLW

— onion person (@CantEverDie) May 11, 2026

We stand at the edge of a strange new world, where technology is no longer content to serve humanity ... it has begun to trespass into territory it was never meant to enter. Perhaps we went too far. Perhaps the real question is no longer what we can do, but what we should.

It's reality. You can't boo it away.

— JC Allen (@JCTAllen11) May 13, 2026

This is indeed the issue. It's not going away. It's also not always accurate as some attorneys who tried to use it to write briefs quickly discovered. It's a tool, nothing more, nothing less. 

The rejection of the race to an AI future imposed on the masses by the few has begun.

The only question is will the masses wake up before it’s too late to stop it.

AI could be wonderfully good.

The way it is being done is horrifically bad.

I am not anti-AI.

But the pro-AI… https://t.co/V4BkTX2LBQ

— John Sherman (@ForHumanityPod) May 12, 2026

We’re not going to be able to stop progress – I think the skillful move is to redirect it. That’s the conversation we should be having. How do we reshape our world to reconnect human beings with how we naturally thrive? What if we use AI to solve the problems it’s causing?🤔

— Neighbors First | Mike Brooks (@DrMikeBrooks) May 12, 2026

AI cannot be “Wonderfully Good” if it continues to be built on the stolen intellectual property and data of millions. The founding fathers fought a revolution over No Taxation without Representation. Our generation’s fight is now No use without Concent and Compensation.

— Friendly Neighborhood Butlerian (@TheOneButlerian) May 12, 2026

I agree with the issues raised here. AI can be wonderfully good, accelerating science and medicine in unbelievable ways. But the current path has real problems like prioritizing speed over competence.

That said, 'stopping' it isn't realistic. This isn't a single switch we can flip — it's distributed across nations, companies, and open-source efforts. History shows technological revolutions don't get put back in the bottle; they get shaped.

We're early. The masses are waking up. The question is whether we channel that energy into smarter guardrails.