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Eric Schmidt got booed at a university commencement address last week…

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Eric Schmidt got booed at a university commencement address last week for talking about AI. I find that fascinating. Not because the students were wrong to feel something, but because of what the booing actually reveals. The backlash isn't really about AI being bad. It's because AI is becoming impossible to ignore, and that's uncomfortable. Discomfort looks for an outlet. Booing is an outlet. But here's what I think people are missing. There's a concept called the K-shaped economy. A K has two lines coming off it: one going up, one going down. The rule of thumb is simple. If you're AI native, you're on the upline. If you're not, you're on the downline, and you probably wouldn't even know it. The students booing Schmidt? The people talking about AI slop dismissively and calling for the whole thing to stop? They're on the downline. And feeling superior about it doesn't change the direction of travel. This moment of backlash will pass. It always does with technologies that become genuinely unavoidable. What gets left behind is a clear divide: the people who got serious about AI adoption and the laggards and resistors who mistook cynicism for discernment. The laggards might feel like they're holding the line on quality or authenticity. I think they're getting things wrong. Being dismissive of AI right now is a bit like being dismissive of the internet in 1999 because most websites looked terrible. The websites got better. The people who sat it out got left behind. You don't have to love AI. You don't have to think every output is brilliant. But if you're still in the "AI slop" camp and that's your complete position, it's worth asking honestly which line of the K you're actually on. If this resonates, drop a comment. I'm curious whether you're seeing this split in your own industry.

Mark HadfieldJun 5, 2026Published to Linkedin - Mark HadfieldView original ↗

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