Stanford graduates left Stanford Stadium on June 14th as Sundar Pichai began his 2026 commencement address, protesting Google's deal with the Israeli government.
The CEOs of Alphabet and Google subsequently avoided the topic of artificial intelligence entirely. This was a rather suggestive choice, especially given that many other tech leaders this year have faced backlash for talking too much about the subject.
The protest march targeted Google, not AI.
The organizing group from the "Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine" had been planning their exit for weeks. They targeted Pichai's company, not concerns about automation or job losses.
The project they are protesting against is Project Nimbus. This agreement, worth approximately $1.2 billion, provides cloud and AI services to Israeli government agencies and was signed between Google and Amazon.
Stanford grads walk out as Google CEO Sundar Pichai takes the stage as commencement speaker. No mention of AI, unlike other UNI speakers getting booed down this year. Story for @sfgate shortly pic.twitter.com/qvS2rJ91Ip
— Matt Brown (@maattttbrown) June 14, 2026
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The Israeli Ministry of Finance announced the signing of this agreement in April 2021. The contract has an initial term of 7 years and is for state, defense, and security agencies.
Protesters argue that the contract supports surveillance and military operations in Gaza. This issue further links Google's ambitious AI race to this geopolitical hotspot.
The speech skipped over the most obvious topic.
Pichai, who earned his master's degree at Stanford, admitted that he also felt pressure to talk about AI. He even joked that the topic was in the last two letters of his name.
"Actually, the advice has always been the same, which is about what not to say. Many people think this will be difficult for me; after all, it's the last two letters of my surname," a passage from his speech stated.
Instead of mentioning AI, he Chia three things with the students: choose optimism, do challenging things, and pursue what truly excites you.
Google's leaders also recounted their journey from Chennai to the US and their contribution to the development of the Chrome browser.
This restraint is quite different from his usual style. Previously, Pichai spent the past year talking about his vision for developing personalized AI and introducing Mariner – an AI assistant using Google's Gemini technology.
A turbulent year for technology speakers at universities.
Pichai's cautious approach clearly reflects the tension facing the tech industry when speaking at graduation ceremonies this year. Many speakers have recently been booed by students for mentioning AI and the risk of job losses due to technology.
Google itself is facing internal controversy over Project Nimbus. In 2024, Google fired more than 20 employees for opposing the contract, sparking a "No Tech for Apartheid" movement.
The wave of criticism has now spread to other AI contracts Google has made with governments , and the large investment in AI is putting significant pressure on Alphabet's stock price.
For the graduating class of 2026, a speech that didn't mention AI couldn't separate Pichai from his contract, leading many to stand up in protest during the ceremony.
The coming days will show whether Google will respond to this pressure or continue to remain silent as it is now.
