During Stanford University's 135th commencement ceremony, approximately 200 students organized by groups like Students for Justice in Palestine and No Tech for Apartheid staged a walkout protest, waving Palestinian flags and chanting "Free Palestine" while Google CEO and alumnus Sundar Pichai delivered his keynote address to the graduating class of 2026. The demonstration was a protest against Google's alleged ties to Israel, specifically citing Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion cloud-computing contract with the Israeli government, and reflects ongoing student activism related to the conflict in Gaza, which has included alternative commencement events featuring activists like Mahmoud Khalil. Pichai, in contrast to previous tech leaders who faced backlash for promoting AI amid job market concerns, focused his speech on personal experiences and the transformative power of computing accessibility rather than AI's advancements.

During Stanford University's 135th commencement ceremony, approximately 200 students organized by groups like Students for Justice in Palestine and No Tech for Apartheid staged a walkout protest, waving Palestinian flags and chanting "Free Palestine" while Google CEO and alumnus Sundar Pichai delivered his keynote address to the graduating class of 2026. The demonstration was a protest against Google's alleged ties to Israel, specifically citing Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion cloud-computing contract with the Israeli government, and reflects ongoing student activism related to the conflict in Gaza, which has included alternative commencement events featuring activists like Mahmoud Khalil. Pichai, in contrast to previous tech leaders who faced backlash for promoting AI amid job market concerns, focused his speech on personal experiences and the transformative power of computing accessibility rather than AI's advancements.

During Stanford University's 135th commencement ceremony, approximately 200 students organized by groups like Students for Justice in Palestine and No Tech for Apartheid staged a walkout protest, waving Palestinian flags and chanting "Free Palestine" while Google CEO and alumnus Sundar Pichai delivered his keynote address to the graduating class of 2026. The demonstration was a protest against Google's alleged ties to Israel, specifically citing Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion cloud-computing contract with the Israeli government, and reflects ongoing student activism related to the conflict in Gaza, which has included alternative commencement events featuring activists like Mahmoud Khalil. Pichai, in contrast to previous tech leaders who faced backlash for promoting AI amid job market concerns, focused his speech on personal experiences and the transformative power of computing accessibility rather than AI's advancements.

A group of 200 students staged a walkout protest during Stanford University's commencement ceremony on Sunday, while Google CEO and Stanford alumnus Sundar Pichai delivered his keynote address.

A video shows dozens of students walking out of the commencement ceremony holding and waving Palestinian flags and chanting “Free Palestine,” as Pichai continued his speech.

The students' protest was against the company’s alleged links to Israel.

Pichai, an alumnus of the University, returned to his alma mater to deliver the commencement address to the graduating class of 2026.

About 20,000 people, including 3,600 students, attended the university’s 135th commencement ceremony.

The protest was reportedly organised by groups like the Students for Justice in Palestine and No Tech for apartheid, SF Gate reported.

The report also stated that the students were protesting Google’s reported ties with the Israeli government, in particular Project Nimbus, a USD 1.2 billion cloud-computing contract signed in 2021 involving Google and Amazon.

The protests are reportedly not new, as students have demonstrated in response to Israel’s war in Gaza over the last three years.

The students had also hosted their own people’s commencement after the event, featuring activist Mahmoud Khalil.

Khalil was arrested and detained for more than 100 days last year, with the US immigration and Customs Enforcement threatening to deport him over his pro-Palestine activism on the Columbia University campus in 2024.

Pichai notably did not speak about AI as other tech leaders have faced booing from the audience and heavy criticism in the past. Many students are worried about AI replacing jobs.

Earlier this year, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and other tech leaders were booed at university events after promoting AI when many of the graduates were struggling to find jobs amid concerns of layoffs in the tech sector.

Pichai instead spoke about his past experiences and anecdotes from his time at the university.

In a recent interview, Pichai, when asked how he would deal with the booing, said that he would take the theme of technological advancement on a different route and focus on accessibility.

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

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