Microsoft president says AI backlash at graduation events should be wake-up call for the tech industry

Humans Matter: The ever-growing financial investments in AI development have so far caused two major reactions. Some people see AI as a ruinous technology that will drag everything down, while others are still keeping their optimistic view of the traditional evolution cycle of computer technology. Brad Smith definitely belongs to the latter, although he is asking his colleagues to have a closer look at how "normals" are expressing their dissatisfaction with the current state of the (tech) world.

Microsoft president and vice chairman Brad Smith recently shared his – definitely informed – opinion about the growing backlash against AI. Smith thinks that other leaders in the industry should listen when people express their disdain for "pro-AI" speakers attending graduation events. Smith believes that they should take the backlash as a significant wake-up call, because younger generations have always been the most eager early adopters of the latest technology products and trends.

Tech executives are definitely loving the concept that AI will revolutionize everything – although they might overestimate its capabilities because of what Box's CEO called AI psychosis. At the other end of the spectrum, students who have completed their education are now looking at an increasingly complex job market.

Some executives have so far proposed AI as a transformative technology that is going to profoundly reshape the workforce. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei famously said that LLMs and chatbots are going to erase half of entry-level white-collar jobs within the next five years, while Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman stated that "most" white-collar jobs will be taken by AI over the next 12 to 18 months.

Smith said that graduates are definitely recognizing the benefits of AI, but they want to keep it where an automation technology should belong. They want agency over chatbots, and they want to decide the future role of machines for themselves and not the other way around.

Microsoft's president is even trying to revive the concept of the "American Dream," stating that the dignity of work has always given life meaning and purpose.

"To those in the tech sector who seemingly want to pursue a future where computers replace jobs and AI becomes more capable than people, the next generation of people has offered a compelling response: 'not so fast,'" Smith said in his post.

Microsoft's stance appears to align with the recent shift in tone in pro-AI enthusiasm coming from technology leaders. CEOs of AI corporations are trying to highlight the potential benefits of automation technology, arguing that it will make workers more productive and efficient rather than simply replacing them.

Smith still thinks that AI is a transformative technology, an evolutionary leap that's going to have significant implications for both individuals and organizations over the next few years. However, he also thinks that Microsoft is going to play a major role in this transformation, just like it did with the personal computer revolution.

"Workers have been Microsoft's lifeblood from the start. If the world's people don't have jobs, then neither do we," he said.