Ronny Chieng's 'Fuck AI' Speech Met with Cheers from Harvard Graduates

Comedian Ronny Chieng urged Harvard College graduates to "destroy AI" during a Class Day speech, repeatedly shouting "fuck AI" to cheers from the audience. Chieng argued that AI makes "mediocre people dumber" and called on the graduating class to reject the technology, citing an MIT study on "cognitive debt" from excessive use of large language models.

Ronny Chieng https://www.complex.com/tag/ronny-chieng is calling on college graduates https://www.complex.com/tag/college to reject the oft-repeated though never convincing notion that they will need to fully embrace AI https://www.complex.com/tag/ai in order to thrive in our increasingly enshittified world, urging them to instead take on a mission aimed at destroying it. During a recent speech https://www.harvardmagazine.com/commencement/class-day-ronny-chieng-harvard as part of Harvard College Class Day, where the Daily Show https://www.complex.com/tag/the-daily-show personality served as keynote speaker, Chieng tucked in multiple instances of “Fuck AI,” drawing cheers from the crowd. “While we're on the topic of A's, by the way, can I just say: fuck AI, fuck AI, fuck AI,” Chieng said during his speech. “I’m so glad you agree. I prepared a completely different speech in case you guys turned on me, but I won't be needing that anymore. Fuck AI. Fuck it to death, alright? … It's stupid. It's so stupid. Have you tried using it? It's always wrong.” After providing a humorous example of this wrongness in action, Chieng continued by excluding certain medical and physics-related instances of such tech being utilized. “Obviously, if you're using it for that purpose, you're not the problem,” he said. “I’m talking about the accumulation of cognitive debt due to excessive use of large language models, according to a study by MIT published in 2025. … That's right, MIT. MIT did that study. I guess you guys were too busy giving each other A's. Feel free to boo MIT, by the way, and AI, and yourselves, I guess. Elsewhere, Chieng acknowledged the recent trend of graduation speakers who insisted on championing the opposite message. Unlike the enthusiastic response to Chieng’s remarks, AI-favoring graduation speakers have often been met with boos https://www.pbs.org/newshour/classroom/daily-news-lessons/2026/05/shorts-2026-graduates-boo-commencement-speeches-on-ai . “I’m here to tell you the mission of your generation is to destroy AI,” Chieng told grads. “Kill it. … AI is just going to end up making mediocre people dumber. Have you heard how dumb people brag about how they use AI? They're always like, ‘Hey, did you know that AI can now read my email, summarize it, and draft a response?’ Yeah, you know who else can do that? Me. I can do that. You can't do that? How useless are you?” Later, Chieng emphasized the shortsightedness of those who seek shortcuts, particularly in art. As he explained, and as any true artist would agree, the journey—however arduous it may be, and no matter how many obstacles may reveal themselves over time—is, quite literally, the entire point. “What they’re missing is this: the creating is the fun part,” he said. Chieng, of course, is one trillion percent correct here. The type of AI use targeted in his speech tends to be employed, seemingly exclusively, by the dumbest people on the face of the planet. The comedian is also far from alone in highlighting this, as his remarks come not long after Seth Rogen https://www.complex.com/tag/seth-rogen pointed to the general shittiness of AI-generated videos often hyped up by proponents on social media. “Every time I see a video on Instagram that’s like ‘Hollywood is cooked,’ what follows is like the most stupid dogshit I’ve ever seen in my life,” Rogen told Brut earlier this month. Expanding his stance to include writing, Rogen was even more clear. “If your instinct is to use AI and not go through that process, you shouldn’t be a writer,” he said.