College Kids Walked Out Over AI. You Can Argue With the Demand, Not the Worry

Students from UMass Boston, BU, Tufts, MIT, Simmons, Northeastern and more walked out and rallied at the State House for the Freeze AI Now! campaign, The Mass Media at UMass Boston reported. The chant was 'People centered, not data centers!'

Organizer Ari Rosenthal told GBH, as quoted by the paper, that students' concerns are 'about finding jobs after college, and also if there will be a society and democracy when they graduate.'

A full freeze on AI isn't happening. Everybody knows that. But BU's own new poll found just over half of Americans oppose data center construction. This isn't a fringe feeling anymore.

My opinion: when kids paying Boston tuition are worried about whether the entry-level job will exist, lawmakers should listen to the worry even if they skip the demand.