May 21, 2026
Boo-bots and billionaire vibes
Hating AI Is Good
As bosses preach the AI future, commenters are booing, memeing, and fighting back
TLDR: BuzzFeed’s founder is betting on AI again after a billionaire rescue deal, even as a growing backlash says the public is done being told to love it. In the comments, some called resistance pointless, others said greed is the real problem, and everyone brought drama.
BuzzFeed founder Jonah Peretti just got a lifeline: billionaire Byron Allen is buying a controlling stake, and Peretti is sliding from chief executive into a shiny new role as President of BuzzFeed AI. That announcement landed right as this essay argued that hating artificial intelligence isn’t just acceptable — it may be the public mood now. The piece points to college graduations where students booed rich, powerful speakers telling them to get on the AI train, whether they liked it or not. When one speaker snapped “Deal with it,” readers practically heard the villain music kick in.
And the comments? Absolute food fight. One camp went full tough-love, saying AI is here, it’s growing fast, and anyone resisting should just “join them.” Another side rolled its eyes at the whole rebellion, arguing the loud anti-AI crowd is a tiny faction while regular people use tools like ChatGPT every day without caring. Then things got darker: one commenter from the film world said AI discourse has gotten so nasty they faced death threats, stalking, and doxxing just for being involved. That turned the debate from “tech argument” into “wow, everyone needs to log off.”
Meanwhile, the funniest drag came from the meme department: “shape rotators vs wordcells” was the kind of terminally online insult that perfectly captured the comments’ energy. Even critics of AI had a split screen reaction — some hate the tech itself, others say the real villain is plain old greed in a futuristic wig. Either way, the crowd is not calmly nodding along anymore; it’s booing from the cheap seats and stealing the whole show.
Key Points
- •Byron Allen agreed to buy 52% of BuzzFeed’s shares as Jonah Peretti shifted from CEO to President of BuzzFeed AI.
- •The article cites a Wall Street Journal front page describing an “AI Rebellion” and says public opinion on AI is worsening.
- •University of Arizona graduates reportedly booed former Google CEO Eric Schmidt during pro-AI commencement remarks.
- •Middle Tennessee State University students reportedly booed record-label CEO Scott Borchetta after he promoted AI and told them, “Deal with it.”
- •The article cites a New York Times report saying Steven Rosenbaum used ChatGPT and Claude in producing a book that allegedly contained misattributed or fabricated quotations.