Commencement season featured cancellations and public disagreement over artificial intelligence, including students booing speakers after AI-related remarks. Some speakers responded by leaning into the tension with jokes and blunt framing. Daniel Pink joked that a little-known federal law requires the phrase “in an age of artificial intelligence” in 2026 commencement speeches. Noah Baumbach opened with a dry statement about discussing AI wonders and expressing controversial views on the Middle East. Other speakers aimed to balance recognition of a frightening, uncertain world with celebration of graduates’ accomplishments. Moments included personal stories about support and paying it forward, connecting past academic struggles to present opportunities.
"At their best, universities are truly supportive institutions who nurture the hopes and the aspirations of their students ... One anecdote from my own past symbolizes that for me. This was back in the dinosaur era of the early 1980s. It was so dinosaur that you didn't then write your thesis on a laptop, you tapped it out chapter by chapter on a portable manual typewriter, and you corrected the mistakes as you went by painting white stuff over them-it was called Tipp-Ex, right?-and then typing on top of it. When you'd finished all that, you gave it to a professional typist who, for a price, would turn out a beautiful, perfect version."
"This year's commencement season was characterized by speaker cancellations and discord over artificial intelligence, with students at a handful of universities booing their commencement speakers over their comments lauding AI. But some speakers decided to lean into the chaos; author Daniel Pink, speaking to students at Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio, preceded his comments on AI by joking, "Under a little-known federal law, every commencement speech during the year 2026 is required to contain the phrase 'in an age of artificial intelligence.'""
"Director and writer Noah Baumbach, meanwhile, opened his address at Vassar College by telling graduates dryly, "I'm here to tell you about the wonders of AI and also to express my controversial views on the conflict in the Middle East." The speakers this year worked to acknowledge the uncertain and at times frightening world today's students are graduating into, while still celebrating their accomplishments. Here's a sampling of some of the most entertaining, funny and poignant moments from the 2026 commencement addresses."
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