Google CEO Sundar Pichai passes on artificial intelligence in Stanford commencement address

For college commencement speakers this year, mentioning how artificial intelligence is changing the job market or the world in general has been a surefire way to get booed. So when Google CEO Sundar Pichai took Stanford University’s graduation stage Sunday morning as the keynote speaker, it was notable he didn’t mention AI at all.

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Though the booming technology may seem like a natural fit for graduates of the prestigious university located in the heart of Silicon Valley, Pichai instead spoke about his own life experience. Still, the soft-spoken chief executive didn’t completely escape some backlash. 

Around 200 students walked out as Pichai took the stage, and smaller groups in the audience waved banners, blew whistles and waved Palestinian flags before also leaving mid-speech. Pro-Palestinian protesters condemned the company’s ties with the Israeli government, particularly its controversial $1.2 billion cloud-computing deal with the country in 2021, known as Project Nimbus. The walkouts follow other Stanford commencements over the last three years where students have demonstrated in response to Israel’s war in Gaza and the university’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus.

For at least the second year in a row, students walking out on Pichai hosted their own “People’s Commencement.” This year’s event featured activist Mahmoud Khalil as its keynote speaker. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested and detained Khalil for more than 100 days last year, threatening his deportation over his pro-Palestinian activism on Columbia University’s campus in 2024. 

After the demonstrations quieted down, Pichai was largely well-received. Stories of his own failures and triumphs from his earlier years, like immigrating to California, dropping his doctorate in favor of a master’s degree, and struggles when he started at Google were greeted with scattered laughter and applause.

One of Pichai’s predecessors, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, wasn’t received as warmly when he spoke at the University of Arizona commencement last month. Graduates booed when Schmidt said that “AI is going to touch everything,” even “if you don’t care about science.” 

In a recent New York Times “Hard Fork” appearance, interviewers asked Pichai what his “boo strategy” would be in light of Schmidt’s snafu. But Pichai took themes of technological advancement in a different route, focusing more broadly on accessibility, including an anecdote about rural women in India using smartphones to learn new trades. 

“Seeing computing change people’s lives as it had changed mine was the most exciting thing in the world to me,” Pichai said.