Comedian and actor Rob Schneider made it clear on Wednesday that he was unimpressed with the state of higher education in the United States, referring to universities in general as a “closed system” that was guarded by “thought police.”

Schneider’s observation came in response to yet another campus protest — this time at Portland State University — during which radical trans rights activists disrupted and shouted down speakers with whom they disagreed.

“Student activists at @Portland_State attempted to disrupt our public conversations today,” philosopher and author Peter Boghossian tweeted. He was on the campus alongside two other speakers for a discussion on whether or not minors were capable of consenting to puberty blockers and cross sex hormone treatments.

“I am genuinely embarrassed for the activists and disappointed that they prevented students with sincere objections from engaging us,” he added.

Student activists at @Portland_State
attempted to disrupt our public conversations today. I am genuinely embarrassed for the activists and disappointed that they prevented students with sincere objections from engaging us. https://t.co/QZHxIMiudj

— Peter Boghossian (@peterboghossian) May 4, 2023

Schneider reacted to Boghossian’s comments, tweeting, “@peterboghossian Universities in America no longer promote learning or allow debate. It’s a closed system of thought run by thought police … Authoritarianism dressed us as tolerance.”

. @peterboghossian Universities in America no longer promote learning or allow debate. It’s a closed system of thought run by thought police…
Authoritarianism dressed us as tolerance. https://t.co/T5V3hgUfLg

— Rob Schneider (@RobSchneider) May 4, 2023

Boghossian knows Schneider’s sentiments all too well — in 2021 he left his post as a professor of philosophy at Portland State University after a decade, saying that his school had “sacrificed ideas for ideology” and that the more he had tried to push back against the tide, the more he was personally attacked.

“I never once believed —  nor do I now —  that the purpose of instruction was to lead my students to a particular conclusion. Rather, I sought to create the conditions for rigorous thought; to help them gain the tools to hunt and furrow for their own conclusions,” Boghossian wrote in a scathing resignation letter.

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“But brick by brick, the university has made this kind of intellectual exploration impossible. It has transformed a bastion of free inquiry into a Social Justice factory whose only inputs were race, gender, and victimhood and whose only outputs were grievance and division,” he said.

This latest disruption comes on the heels of several others — including one dangerous protest during which former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines was forced to barricade herself in a locked classroom for her own physical safety.

CKE Restaurants, the company which controls fast food chains Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, announced on Thursday that the brands would use artificial intelligence in their drive-thru systems at select locations across the country.

Leading corporations and investors have poured considerable funds into developing AI tools meant for consumer products and business solutions in recent months. The two brands will incorporate Tori, an AI voice ordering platform created by OpenCity, to increase “order accuracy” and create a “significant impact to labor efficiencies,” according to a press release.

“The implementation of OpenCity’s AI technology at our drive-thru’s has significantly benefited our business by enhancing the speed and accuracy of order processing, resulting in reduced wait times for customers and increased efficiency for our staff,” CKE Restaurants CTO Phil Crawford said. “The AI technology has transformed our drive-thru experience, providing us with a competitive edge in the market and helping us to better serve our guests.”

Customers who arrive at drive-thru lines can place their orders through a “digital interaction” with Tori before they pay an employee for their meal, thereby allowing associates to “focus more on providing better customer service and preparing timely and freshly made orders.”

Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s are two of several fast food restaurants to pivot toward increased automation. McDonald’s partnered with IBM to automate drive-thrus and unveiled voice-ordering technology at multiple Chicago restaurants two years ago after purchasing several AI startups, while Chipotle introduced a robotic chip machine in California after the state passed a law to create a council with authority to raise fast food minimum wages.

The trend occurs as labor shortages persist well after the lockdown-induced recession: there are currently nearly two open positions for every unemployed worker in the United States, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released two months ago, increasing operational expenses for businesses and contributing to broader inflationary pressures.

Tori integrates with existing point-of-sale and headset technology at restaurants to take orders with “zero wait time,” according to a webpage from OpenCity. The AI platform can also offer personalized recommendations to increase the average revenue per order.

High Noon Restaurant Group, a franchisee for Popeyes based in Louisiana, deployed the system last year, resulting in a 20% faster speed of service and a 20% increase in satisfaction.

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The rush for companies to implement AI solutions into their products and services accelerated when ChatGPT, a mass-market AI chatbot capable of writing computer code and emails in a matter of seconds, rapidly gained popularity across the world. Microsoft, which invested billions of dollars into ChatGPT creator OpenAI, announced that the system would be incorporated into search engine Bing and internet browser Edge, while Google revealed that Bard, an experimental conversational AI service, would soon be added to the company’s search engine.

Some analysts have raised concerns about possible widespread technological employment even as the novel AI applications create productivity increases for workers and businesses. One recent forecast from Goldman Sachs predicted that AI could eliminate 7% of positions in the United States, largely in sectors that rely upon office work such as administrative support and legal, while positions in sectors such as building and grounds maintenance, construction, logistics, and healthcare support are predicted to remain broadly intact.