Ro Khanna blames ‘clueless’ boomers for Gen Z booing AI: They handed over a ‘broken economy’

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) had a simple message for graduates at Suffolk University in Boston last Sunday: AI’s windfall shouldn’t flow only to billionaires. “As AI transforms our economy, we must ensure it serves workers, not billionaires,” he said. The room erupted. Khanna, whose district sits at the heart of Silicon Valley, didn’t shy away from the fears haunting graduates who’ve spent the past year being told their chosen careers may soon be automated away. His warm reception stood in sharp contrast to the boos greeting pro-AI speakers at commencement ceremonies across the country. “I think a lot of the boomers who were the commencement speakers are clueless about how young people feel about the current broken economy,” he told Fortune. The congressman, whose district lies more than 3,000 miles west at the heart of Silicon Valley, hammered a variety of points conducive to riling up a crowd of graduates who have, for over a year now, been told the careers they were encouraged to pursue may soon evaporate. Gen Z’s resistance to AI is showing up everywhere, from commencement boos to young workers actively sabotaging their company’s AI rollouts out of fear of displacement. All the AI hype over the last year has excited investors but left young people cold. While Wall Street continues to boom thanks to the anticipated “revolution” or “renaissance”—and hyperscalers have committed $700 billion on infrastructure capex—excitement about AI among Gen Z dropped from 36% to 22% in a single year, according to a recent Gallup poll, while anger surged nine points. Khanna talked to Fortune about his speech at Suffolk University, the backlash against data centers, trade schools, and workforce retraining—and that wealth tax that saw him trading tweets with disgruntled billionaires. Khanna’s seven-point plan—and its blind spot These are ways, the congressman said, to address the grievances Gen Z has with the technology. He