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Steve Wozniak managed to mention AI at a commencement ceremony without losing the room. At Grand Valley State University on May 2, the Apple co-founder used the topic to make a simple point about people, intelligence, and life beyond tech hype.
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Graduates have not exactly welcomed AI speeches lately. Some commencement crowds have pushed back when speakers framed artificial intelligence as the next major force in work, education, and daily life.
Steve Wozniak took a different route. Instead of praising large language models or pitching a future run by machines, he used AI as a setup.
“AI is the big term today,” Wozniak said at Grand Valley State University. “[It would] take an hour to talk about AI fully, but you all have AI!”
Then came the turn.
“You all have AI,” he repeated, “actual intelligence!”
The line landed. Applause followed, and Wozniak used the moment to poke fun at the long tech industry chase to build something like a human brain.
“My entire life in the technical world, I’ve been following people that were trying to figure out how to make a brain,” said Wozniak. “Software or hardware?”
He kept the joke going with a line that got laughs from the crowd.
“I was at a company where the engineers figured out how to make a brain,” said the Apple co-founder, “It takes nine months.”
The reaction showed how different his framing felt from the usual AI talk. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt drew boos during a commencement speech after praising how AI could transform life. Another speaker, a real estate executive, also got heckled after calling AI “the next industrial revolution.”
Wozniak did not ignore technology. He simply refused to make the moment about tools over people. Near the end, he reminded graduates that their strongest memories would come from shared life, not formulas or classroom facts.
“The day you die,” he continued, “you’re not gonna remember things you learned in your class, formulas and all that, what you’re gonna remember is the good times you had doing things with other people, enjoying anything in life.”
For a speaker known as one of computing history’s most liked figures, the message worked because it felt plain and honest. AI got the setup, but people got the point.