Anxiety over artificial intelligence is hardening among young workers as executives promote faster adoption and companies point to automation in fresh job cuts.
Former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt faced boos from graduating University of Arizona students this week as he described artificial intelligence as a force that would be "larger, faster and more consequential" than previous technological shifts.
Schmidt told students the technology would touch "every profession, classroom, hospital, laboratory, person and relationship you have". He acknowledged their concerns over job security and an uncertain future as rational, while presenting the disruption as something workers would have to adapt to.
The reaction captured a wider unease among young digital natives entering the workforce as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini become household names and employers accelerate plans to embed AI across daily operations.
The anxieties have been reinforced by corporate announcements linking AI adoption to workforce reductions. Standard Chartered said on Tuesday (20 May) that it would cut more than 7,000 jobs and replace what it described as "lower-value human capital" with AI, offering a concrete example of the shift that many young workers fear.
Several large technology firms have also been cutting staff while citing AI and efficiency. Meta, which is installing tracking software on U.S.-based employees' computers to train its AI model, is planning to lay off 10 per cent of its workforce globally starting this month, according to Reuters.
Amazon has axed some 30,000 corporate jobs in recent months as it pushes artificial intelligence and efficiency, while fintech firm Block cut nearly half its staff in February. The announcements have turned broad warnings about automation into visible labour-market decisions affecting office workers, technology employees and new graduates seeking stable careers.
Schmidt told graduates that the scale of change was inevitable, echoing the view of many current executives who frame AI as a productivity tool that businesses cannot ignore. The boos suggested that message is landing differently among younger people who expect to compete with the same systems they are being told to master.
An April Gallup report showed that a rising number of Generation Z respondents, those born between 1997 and 2012 felt anxious or angry about AI. The share who said they were hopeful or excited had fallen sharply compared with a year earlier.
Nearly half of respondents said the risks of artificial intelligence outweighed the benefits, while 15 per cent saw it as a net positive. Most recognised the need to be AI-savvy but said the technology hindered deeper learning and creativity.
"Negative emotions have intensified over the past year," the report's authors wrote, noting that usage was starting to plateau. "Young adults in the workforce are significantly more likely to view AI as a risk than a benefit."
Schmidt's reception followed another recent sign of anger at AI. At the University of Central Florida on 8 May, real estate executive Gloria Caulfield was heckled and booed during a commencement speech on the technology. "The rise of artificial intelligence is the next industrial revolution," she said as boos rang out, before asking what had happened and saying she appeared to have struck a chord.
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