‘You can’t boo me’: JD Vance reminds Air Force graduates he’s VP during commencement speech

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO: Vice President JD Vance, on Thursday, May 28, playfully told Air Force Academy graduates that “you can’t boo me. I’m the vice president of the United States” during their commencement speech that has since gone viral. 

Vance's lighthearted warning came as several other graduation speakers across the country were loudly booed by students for praising artificial intelligence.

JD Vance preempts audience boos with viral quip 

Vance spoke to more than 900 graduates and their families at the academy's football stadium near Colorado Springs.

Before wrapping up his main points, he noted that he had watched highlights of other graduation ceremonies where corporate leaders faced major backlash.

“You know, this is the only commencement speech that I’m giving this year and so I’ve watched a few highlights of graduation speeches where this or that corporate leader will discuss artificial intelligence, AI, and be met with literal boos,” Vance said.

According to news reports, audiences recently booed real estate executive Gloria Caulfield, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and music executive Scott Borchetta when they brought up the use of AI in their industries.

To stop any potential boos before they started, Vance used his title to charm the crowd. 

“Now, you can’t boo me. I’m the vice president of the United States,” he added, which made the audience laugh.

JD Vance shares concerns over AI in warfare

While his concluding joke was light, Vance quickly turned to a serious warning about the future of technology. 

He acknowledged that many citizens are “understandably” worried about how AI will affect jobs, how much water and energy it uses, and how it will change everyday society.

Yet, Vance explained that his biggest fear was how the technology would be used by modern militaries.

“But the thing I worry about most with AI is how it will change warfare,” Vance told the cadets, who were about to become Air Force and Space Force officers.

To support his argument, Vance highlighted a recent proclamation from Pope Leo XIV. 

He agreed with the Pope's view that humans should “not outsource the most important moral decisions to digital technology,” in Vance's phrasing. 

Vance urged the new officers to take this lesson to heart and maintain strict ethical boundaries in their military careers.

“I want to endorse that sentiment and make it more specific to each and every one of you,” Vance said. “One of the things that makes Americans unique, that makes you as war fighters unique, is that we wage war justly.”

He reminded the graduates that human empathy must always guide their actions, adding, “You are the ones who ensure that our lethality in war, which is amazing and necessary, it also coexists with our heart and with our conscience.”