TUCSON — Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt delivered the commencement address at the University of Arizona in Tucson, speaking to as many as 10,000 graduating students about the evolution of computing and its social consequences. A spokesperson said Schmidt was invited to speak because of his extraordinary contributions to technology and innovation.

Schmidt opened his remarks by reflecting on his own student years and the rise of the computer. He traced the machine's evolution into the laptop and smartphone and its proliferation through the internet and social media, and said the technology had also carried negative consequences.

"The same platforms that gave everyone a voice, like you're using now, also degraded the public square. They rewarded outrage. They amplified our worst instincts. They coarsen the way we speak to each other, and in the way that we treat each other, is in the essence of a society," Schmidt said. He also said, "There is a fear in your generation that the future has already been written, that the machines are coming, that the jobs are evaporating, that the climate is breaking, that politics are fractured, and that you are inheriting a mess that you did not create, and I understand that fear."

Schmidt urged the audience to value a range of viewpoints and closed with a message to the graduates: "The future is not yet finished. It is now your turn to shape it."

Schmidt led Google for a decade and left the company in 2011. He acquired a multi-billion dollar fortune during his tenure.

Outside the ceremony, multiple left-wing and feminist student groups handed out flyers detailing allegations against Schmidt by Michelle Ritter, a 31-year-old tech entrepreneur who was his business partner and lover. Ritter has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against him. Schmidt denies the allegations and has said he has long been public about having an open marriage.