Commencement speaker praises AI and globalism — graduates crush her with boos

A commencement speech went off the rails when a speaker got an unexpected response when she brought up artificial intelligence.

Last Friday, graduates from the University of Central Florida returned for their commencement but were seemingly shocked when one of the guests started speaking about technology that could replace them.

'All right. OK. We've got a bipolar topic here.'

The graduates came from the College of Arts and Humanities and the Nicholson School of Communication and Media, so it came as no surprise that an audience of future artists, designers, and media professionals were none too pleased with what the speaker chose to discuss.

"Profound change. Change is exciting. Very exciting. And let's face it, change can be daunting," speaker Gloria Caulfield told the graduates.

Caulfield is an executive from Tavistock Development Company, a major development firm in Central Florida, and she was keen on delivering points that mirror World Economic Forum policy.

"The rise of artificial intelligence is the next industrial revolution," Caulfield continued, but this time, she was met with a chorus of boos.

Caulfield was paralyzed and turned to the dais and asked, "Oh, what happened? OK, I struck a chord."

She then asked the audience, "May I finish?" as she laughed. The speaker continued, only for the crowd to react oppositely to her next remark.

"Only a few years ago, AI was not a factor in our lives," Caulfield said. The crowd erupted in huge applause, again sending the speaker into shock.

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- YouTube

The boobirds would make another appearance though.

Caulfield attempted to say the audience was split, stating, "All right. OK. We've got a bipolar topic here," but when she said, "Now, AI capabilities are in the palm of our hands," she was hit with more monumental boos.

The crowd remained subdued for the remainder of the speech though, which only lasted about 11 minutes in total, throughout which Caulfield described AI use as the next "industrial revolution" several times.

She compared it to the launch of the internet and the widespread use of text messages, which she seemingly thought the audience would tell her she was silly for mentioning; she asked for no "giggles" during those remarks.

"I know it sounds amusing, but at that time, we had no idea how any of these technologies would impact the world and our lives," Caulfield continued. "These were some of the same trepidations and concerns we are now facing. But ultimately, it was a game changer for global economic development," she added.

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Gloria Caulfield (L), 2025 in New York City. Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan/Getty Images

Aside from a sometimes hostile graduating class, Caulfield delivered fairly standard globalist talking points that mirror the WEF's pursual of the fourth industrial revolution.

The WEF said in January that its work, moving forward, will focus on AI innovation, energy transition, cyber resilience, and "frontier technologies."

Caulfield also praised previous "revolutions" for creating jobs at Apple, Google, and Meta, before claiming that AI "alongside human intelligence" will help humanity solve some of its greatest problems.

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