Why Indian graduate students cannot afford to boo at AI

The Wall Street Journal immediately cited the backlash as evidence that "The American Rebellion Against AI Is Gaining Steam", while Fox News noted that the graduates were letting tech elites know "exactly what they thought of AI."

This growing negativity against AI also reflects a profound and deep anxiety regarding what AI means for their future. Rather than seeing it as an exciting tool, many view it as a direct threat to the entry-level creative, analytical, and white-collar jobs they just spent four years and tens of thousands of dollars preparing for. They may have used generative AI tools to help with coursework, they heavily resent the technology's broader encroachment on human expression, and quite critically, the job market.

Can Indian students boo AI?

Back in India, Indian youth and professionals appear to be experiencing a level of AI-induced anxiety that rivals or even exceeds that of Western graduates.

As students fear that AI job displacement is probably more likely in India. To compound matters, India's leading IT firms have witnessed their net hiring numbers slow down dramatically.

Junior developer roles, content writing, data entry, and basic BPO (call center) jobs, traditionally the massive engines of social mobility for India’s middle class, are the exact roles AI seems to be automating first.

High level of anxiety

Glenn Fernandes, a Masters student in Creative Writing at Alliance University in Bengaluru admitted that AI may not evoke boos but evidently makes his batchmates anxious.

"Indian students too feel what American students are going through – there is a high level of anxiety in them. After paying money and taking two or three years to master a craft, they fear the jobs they seek will be taken up by AI,” said Fernandes. However, he pointed out that at the same time students are only too aware that AI still has some way to go and requires human intervention.

Also read: AI Impact Summit: AI will create more jobs than it replaces, says MeitY secretary

"We all know that right now AI is soulless, lacks human texture and requires tweaks to make it more nuanced," Fernandes pointed out.

In his view, it is better to learn AI tools and be more prepared. "I am planning to do a course on prompt engineering. Right now, AI can be used to structure text but sources need to be manually checked. It is just a tool to make your writing better. As of now, I don’t feel worried. I read a lot, and I have good grasp on my writing and I don't fear it will replace me," he added confidentally.

Fernandes, employed as an intern for a digital platform, shared that his employers have no strict policy about using AI.

“They advise us to avoid using too much of it since it can churn out bland content and their website will end up being ranked low by Google. I don’t think AI is a threat to us yet,” said this student, who will enter the India's crowded job market in 2027 hunting for jobs in journalism and content writing.

Impacting job search

Meanwhile, Ishaan Raj, studying for a masters degree in Applied Math at Manipal University, felt it is students at entry level jobs who are battling with the threat of AI. They cannot possibly afford to boo at AI despite being anxious, he admitted.

“I know students are worried how it is going to impact their job search. There is a significant amount of anxiety among students today. Their parents have put in a lot of money and their chances in low-level entry jobs may not be as high,” said Raj, who is not unduly worried about his own employment opportunities.

"Math students like us building AI machine learning tools will not be impacted," he said, adding that he believed that jobs in the fields of digital communication, content writing, social media platforms will be impacted. "We read reports in newspapers of placements in engineering universities dropping," said Raj.

Direct threat to livelihood

India’s $300-billion IT outsourcing industry (led by giants like TCS, Infosys, and Wipro) has been built over the years on cost-effective human labour handling coding, maintenance, and tech support. But, since generative AI can now write basic code, debug software, and handle customer service at a fraction of the cost, Indian IT firms are turning to climb the value chain and move from an outsourcing hub to global tech leader.

If they fail to do that western companies will just move to automated systems or companies that do use AI. This means, said experts, the Indian workforce has to be become pioneers in AI, rather than become its detractors fighting against it.

Also read: AI set to take over desk jobs in 18 months, warns Microsoft AI CEO amid scepticism

Unlike the US, millions of young graduates enter the Indian job market every year. India already struggles with high graduate unemployment. While Indian students might not be loudly booing tech CEOs at graduation ceremonies yet, institutional resistance is brewing.

The backlash has been seen in India's creative sectors, including the film, voiceover, and advertising industries, where professionals are protesting against the unauthorised use of media and AI-generated content displacing human artists.

Meanwhile, Indian students and tech workers are clearly choosing the path to upskill rather than boycott. Instead of heckling the tool, Indian graduates are learning how to prompt AI, manage it, and prove they are more capable than the machine.

The "cosmic howl" of anxiety Ian Bogost describes in The Atlantic is felt deeply across India's engineering campuses and tech hubs. The boos from American graduates represent a luxury of protest but for Indian students, the quiet anxiety of an AI-driven job market is a direct threat to their livelihood.