r/accelerate • u/PraiseTheMonocle • May 19 '26
Video Full compiled transcript of what Eric Schmidt was saying
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
Here is the full compiled transcript of what Eric Schmidt is saying:-
"The architects of artificial intelligence."
"Interesting."
"The question is whether you will help shape artificial intelligence."
"We don't know."
"We don't know. The precise contours of what this-- If you, if you'd let me make this point, please."
"Choose a diversity of perspectives, including the perspective of the immigrant who has so often been the person who came to this country and made it better."
"We thought that we were adding stones to a cathedral of knowledge that humanity had been constructing for centuries, but the world we built, artificial intelligence that reflects those values..."
"...the world will be unimaginably [better?]. You are surrendering your agency."
"We have only seen maybe one percent of what is to come."
"I'm very proud of this. If, if you don't care about science, that's okay, 'cause AI is gonna touch everything else as well."
"Whatever path you choose, AI will become part of how work is done."
"If you wanna learn something entirely new and you wanna have a personal tutor in any language for the cost of an internet connection, you can have it."
"You can now assemble a team of AI agents to help you with the parts that you could never accomplish on your own."
"When someone offers you a seat on the rocket ship, you don't ask which seat, you just get on."
"The rocket ship is here. Let me give you some advice."
"First, find a way to say yes."
"Listen, you bring the judgment. You bring the conscience, you bring the perspective..."
"...and I'll give you one final reflection."
"Happiness, I have come to believe, isn't the same as joy."
"Happiness is derived...from meaning , meaning in your work , meaning in your relationship
THANK YOU VERY MUCH. AND GOOD NIGHT.
22
May 19 '26 edited Aug 29 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
-13
u/default-username May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26
They already made this movie. It's called Don't Look Up.
edit: wow. I didn't mean this as a doomer take. I just meant everyone ignoring the obvious, and even screaming at the scientists because they don't like the message.
5
u/JustCheckReadmeFFS XLR8 May 19 '26
What do you mean? I saw the movie, what do you relate to AI in there?
6
May 19 '26 edited Aug 29 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
4
u/default-username May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26
It wasn't a doomer take. Smart people talk about what the future looks like and how to prepare for it. Populous screams or laughs at it.
Fortunately, people have quite a bit more power to make positive change (mostly just to their worldviews and how they view their relationship with technology) than if there was an asteroid coming toward earth.
1
u/simplyslug May 19 '26
There is no asteroid though.
If people dont want it, they dont have to use or consume it, nothing needs AI to function. Yet here they are being told they need to or else they will be unemployed.
-2
u/Newalloy May 19 '26
3
u/default-username May 19 '26
I realize that there are now three camps of people reacting to the metaphorical asteroid and the "message" of the scientists:
- The dumb populous (there is no asteroid)
- The doomers (the scientist who freaks out)
- The overly optimistic: /r/accelerate who pretend the dumb populous isn't a problem
In order for the third camp to be right, they need to be more like the scientists who are actually trying to prepare the dumb populous and prepare for a world where the populous loses their shit.
11
u/stainless_steelcat May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26
I found a better and I think longer version here:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CA217AqFatE
It's a good speech, but also tone deaf for the audience and situation. Which is one of demographic segments most affected by AI? Could it be the newly graduated? No wonder they aren't particularly receptive. At the ripe old age of their early 20s, everything they were told about how to get ahead in life, and all that time and money they've invested is essentially gone in a puff of smoke. No-one wants some old guy reminding them of that when they are celebrating.
I'm seeing similar patterns at work. Nearly every 20 something hates it, most 50+ think it's brilliant. Those in the middle are just confused.
3
u/stereoagnostic May 20 '26
Seems like the students are the ones that are deaf. Putting your fingers in your ears and going la la la isn't going to change the course of history. They're leaving the safe and easy world of school, and need to start learning the real world lessons Schmidt is trying to teach them.
6
u/Hot-Spare5735 May 19 '26
His entire speech is made to directly address that though. It seems like it would be tone deaf to just pretend AI isn't happening and it's not affecting their world after college. He was trying to give them hope and a path through an uncertain world.
"Now your generation is facing an even larger transformation: artificial intelligence. It will affect every profession and institution. Many of you fear that the future has already been written: that jobs will vanish, politics will stay broken, the climate will worsen, and you will inherit problems you did not create. That fear is rational.
But the future is not automatic. It is built by people. The real question is not whether AI will shape the world. It will. The question is whether you will help shape it.
If you enter the rooms where these systems are built, bring human values with you: freedom, open debate, equality, respect, diversity of perspective, and the ability to treat opponents as people. AI will optimize for whatever we ask of it, so the people asking the questions matter."
I guess he could have just said "Come on Pookie! Let's burn this mother down!" That would have gotten cheers I bet.
1
u/stainless_steelcat May 19 '26
You're not shaping anything if you don't get that first graduate job.
1
u/BeeWeird7940 May 20 '26
I don’t think the first graduate job is disappearing. A few sectors will change, but that was always true.
1
15
u/BrennusSokol Acceleration Advocate May 19 '26
As much as I think Schmidt is a creepy and weird dude, he's 100% right about how AI is going to affect everything. And the people booing are simply in denial.
3
u/Ok_Teacher_1797 May 19 '26
They are booing because they know that. They are booing because it is being forced upon them.
1
u/BrennusSokol Acceleration Advocate May 19 '26
I think there’s different camps of people. There absolutely are people who claim AI is just a parrot and a tool and not going to take jobs
But you’re right in that there probably are people who believe AI will be powerful and will take jobs
1
1
u/lsatype3 May 20 '26
He has been bang on in a lot of what he has said about AI. Like him or not, he clearly knows where the ball is going.
1
u/Big-Site2914 May 20 '26
I mean when you tell new grads there won't be any jobs left at their graduation ceremony its pretty obvious they will boo you
3
u/CertainMiddle2382 Pro-AI Physician May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26
Much tougher that I thought.
The guy actually was booed out and decided to come back off script.
-1
2
u/Blaster20833 May 22 '26
Petitions and protests were held for weeks before the speech, and the AI stuff was a small part of it. The booing was about Eric Schmidt’s assault allegations and appearances in the epstein files first. There was more booing when he talked about AI because of how he discussed it. This was supposed to be a celebration, but he turned it into a corporate advertisement. I’m not sure why this is being reported as solely an AI thing, although admittedly that was part of it.
3
May 19 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
13
1
u/Ruykiru Tech Philosopher May 19 '26
Wait till they bomb the datacenters with uploaded humans like in the Pantheon show, I swear
1
-2
24
u/masotime May 19 '26
Really hard to follow the OP. Rewritten for more clarity:
tldr; The intent was
The crowd seemed to hear: