Vice President JD Vance delivered the commencement address Thursday at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs — and made sure the graduating class knew the rules upfront: no booing allowed.
Addressing more than 900 cadets commissioning into the Air Force and Space Force, Vance acknowledged he’d been watching other graduation speeches this season get derailed by heckling — specifically, corporate executives who praised artificial intelligence and got booed for it.
“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 told the cadets.
“Now, you can’t boo me. I’m the Vice President of the United States.”
It was a notable preemptive strike from a politician who has become something of a lightning rod for public heckling. Vance was booed at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Milan in February, and again in Michigan in March after goading a crowd with a claim about the state’s educational rankings.
Active-duty military personnel are bound by regulations prohibiting political demonstrations while in uniform.
“AI will inevitably change warfare,” Vance said. “But one of the things that makes Americans unique — that makes you as warfighters unique — is that we wage war justly.”
The ceremony marked the Academy’s 68th commencement, with the Air Force Thunderbirds performing a flyover at the conclusion.
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