What To Know
- Bill Maher criticized new college graduates and questioned the value of higher education in the age of artificial intelligence.
- He highlighted concerns about AI replacing human jobs and mocked students’ reliance on technology for answers.
- Maher delivered a pointed joke about Jill Biden thinking for Joe Biden.
Bill Maher just issued a brutal takedown of former President Joe Biden while slamming new college graduates and AI on Real Time With Bill Maher.
On the Friday, June 5 episode of his late-night show, Maher, 70, called out artificial intelligence during the “New Rule” segment. “It’s commencement season, the time of year when college kids make the transition from campus life to their parents’ basement,” he joked.
Maher then pointed out, “As for the degree you just got, that’s a little more complicated,” before showing clips of grads booing mentions of AI in recent commencement speeches.
He added, “I got to say, the kids are right. They’re right to fear that in the age of AI, that degree they’re holding is about as useful as your unused miles on Spirit Airlines. Really, isn’t that the big question we should now be asking about education? Now that you can get the answer to everything by asking your phone, why are we going to college at all?”
As Maher drew attention to AI’s growing capabilities and potential to replace human jobs, he also shared that college professors have complained about students’ lack of basic skills in the classroom. “Why bother learning with context when ChatGPT can not only just tell me the answer but also compliment me for asking such an astute question,” the stand-up comedian quipped.
Maher continued,”We emptied the kids’ heads by letting them out of high school without knowing anything. And then, what a perfect time for robots to come along and say, ‘No problem, I got you. I’m your brain now.’ That is one big, grand experiment we’re running here. Can humans survive if we completely outsource to something that does all our thinking?”
That’s when he quipped, “Like Jill Biden used to do for Joe.”
After extended applause and cheers from the audience, Maher then joked, “fake laugh machine”—a tongue-in-cheek reference to President Donald Trump‘s latest social media jab against him, echoing what he said earlier in the Real Time episode.
What do you think of Maher’s remarks on college graduates and AI?
Real Time With Bill Maher, Fridays at 10/9c, HBO