Stanford students staged a walkout at the university’s commencement ceremony moments after Google CEO Sundar Pichai took the stage. Pichai opened the university's 2026 commencement address, but faced a silent demonstration from students protesting Google's contract with the Israeli government.
Pichai did not mention AI in his keynote address — other tech leaders have drawn boos for mentioning the topic in their speeches. However, the Alphabet and Google CEO still faced protests from a section of the student body over Google’s involvement in Project Nimbus.
Stanford students walkout on Pichai
According to a New York Post report, more than 100 students left their seats at Stanford Stadium while chanting, “Free, free Palestine.”
The protest centred on Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion cloud computing and AI contract awarded to Google and Amazon by the Israeli government. Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine had announced the walkout weeks in advance, arguing that the project supports Israeli government operations amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
Sundar Pichai’s commencement speech
Sundar Pichai did not centre his speech around the obvious topic of AI. Instead, he spoke about optimism.
{{/usCountry}}Sundar Pichai did not centre his speech around the obvious topic of AI. Instead, he spoke about optimism.
{{/usCountry}}“Choose optimism,” he told students at the graduation ceremony. “It’s easy to look at the news of the day and think that we’re living in uniquely challenging times. For me, it’s helpful to remember that each generation has faced hardship in their own way. We don’t get to choose the world we graduate into, but we do get to choose how we frame our circumstances.”
Pichai, who holds a master’s degree from Stanford, also spoke about his time at the university and having to choose corporate over academia.
Later, as he walked out from Stanford Stadium, a BBC journalist approached him and asked whether he had any reaction to the protestors. Pichai remained mum, refusing to answer the question.
“Mr Pichai, any reaction to the protestors today,” the journalist was heard asking Pichai, who turned away and ignored the question.