'People thought it would be really difficult for me': Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai dodges AI at Stanford graduation speech but hundreds of students walk out in protest at Google's Palestine policies

Date:
Mon, 15 Jun 2026 10:10:00 +0000

Description:
Sundar Pichai swerves AI in Stanford speech, but still faces protests at
Google policies: Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai ducked the recent trend of speakers mentioning the benefits of AI at university graduation speeches, but still faced a protest about Google 's work in the Middle East.

Pichai was giving the graduation address at California's Stanford University, where he chose to not mention the hot technology trend of the moment, but instead focus on his own life experience. However reports from the ceremony claimed his speech was disrupted by a walk-out of around 200 students protesting about Google's role in the Israel-Palestine conflict. Pichai did
in fact briefly hint at mentioning AI without mentioning AI, noting how, "people have also been giving me a lot of advice on what to say. Actually,
its been the same advice, and its about what not to say. People thought it would be really difficult for me; it is the last two letters of my last name, after all."

"In all honesty, that topic is truly immaterial to what I want to share with you. The most timeless advice, Ive learned, is technology agnostic. Its about you, the life you want to build for yourself, and the choices that help you pursue that life."

Local reports claimed that around 200 students walked out as Pichai took the stage, withand smaller groups in the audience also caused disruption by
waving banners and Palestinian flags and blowing whistles before also leaving mid-speech.

Google's role in the conflict has been a source of controversy for some time, particularly the company's $1.2 billion cloud-computing deal with the Israeli government known as Project Nimbus , which led to employee protests in 2022.

Pichai's speech otherwise seemed to be well-received, as he recalled stories from his time studying at the University, and outlined his "three simple filters" which have helped [him] get more moments right than wrong and took some of the pressure off.

These were "choose optimism", "gravitate towards working on hard things"
(where he mentioned the "impossible problem" of building the Chrome browser) and "when all else is equal, do the thing that excites you".

This was in stark contrast to one of his predecessors at Google, Eric
Schmidt, whose recent speech at the University of Arizona commencement was roundly criticized and booed by attendees after he declared, AI is going to touch everything, even "if you don't care about science."

Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/people-thought-it-would-be-really-difficult-for- me-alphabet-ceo-sundar-pichai-dodges-ai-at-stanford-graduation-speech-but-hund reds-of-students-walk-out-in-protest-at-googles-palestine-policies

$$
--- SBBSecho 3.28-Linux
* Origin: Capitol City Online (1:2320/107)