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Finally a Commencement Speech That Gets AI Right

Leave it to The Woz to hit the right note with freshly minted graduates

2:00 PM CDT on May 22, 2026

AI has been having a pretty rough go of it on this year’s college commencement circuit. Speakers at graduation ceremonies across the land have been met with choruses of boos when they’ve trotted out hopeful lines about the promise of the technology. But on May 1, Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer and one of the few tech entrepreneurs that’s near-universally beloved, struck the right chord with graduates of Grand Valley State University in Michigan. “You all have AI … actual intelligence,” Wozniak said to blossoming applause and cheers. See what else The Woz says about the timeline needed to create all the software and hardware for a brain below.

Credit: Grand Valley State University / YouTube

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