By Brad Smith
Publication Date: 2026-06-10 13:00:00
In 1838, the invention of the camera sparked predictions that photography would make artists obsolete. When noted French painter Paul Delaroche first saw an early photograph on a metal plate, he declared, “From today on, painting is dead!” Why, he argued, would anyone pay an artist to slowly and laboriously paint a scene when a camera could do the job more accurately, quickly, and at a lower cost?
This question has arisen again and again as technology changes, and it has come to the forefront in recent weeks as college students graduate from universities across the United States. Today’s topic is of course not photography, but the social impact of artificial intelligence. And as graduates booed the mention of AI in their graduation speeches, they served as a stark reminder of several important truths. First, people will insist on having a say in when and how AI is used.
The student message to technology leaders
The reactions of this year’s graduates…
