Why did Stanford graduates walk out during Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s speech? Reason explored

Married to chemical engineer Anjali Pichai, the billionaire CEO of Google and its parent company Alphabet, Sundar Pichai recently made the headlines after several Stanford graduates walked out during his commencement speech at the Stanford Stadium on June 14, 2026. According to BeInCrypto, the 54-year-old high-profile tech executive, Pichai, who pursued a Master of Science at Stanford University, attended the June 14 event as the keynote speaker to address the class of 2026.

Things took a different turn at the 135th Commencement ceremony of Stanford University on Sunday, when a bunch of graduates walked out in protest during Sundar Pichai's speech. While the incident grabbed a considerable amount of attention online, netizens are curious to learn why several graduates walked out during Pichai's speech.

As per BeInCrypto, several graduates walked out during Sundar Pichai's speech to show support for Palestine and to protest against Google and Amazon's Project Nimbus, which is a $1.2 billion contract with the Israeli government. With Israel continuing to be at war with Palestine, the walkout of those Stanford graduates who targeted Google was a planned move.

According to BeInCrypto, Amazon and Google's Project Nimbus is meant to provide Artificial Intelligence and cloud services to the government of Israel and its other agencies. While the announcement of Project Nimbus was made back in 2021 by Israel's finance ministry, Stanford protestors fear and are concerned that the multi-billion-dollar contract is meant for military operations and surveillance in the city of Gaza in Palestine.

Sundar Pichai sidestepped Artificial Intelligence during his Commencement speech at Stanford Stadium

While in recent times, tech executives who tried to discuss AI and how it might replace humans were booed off, Sundar Pichai deliberately chose to completely avoid discussing artificial intelligence in his speech on June 14. However, as per BeInCrypto, the Google CEO did crack a joke about the subject and said:

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"Actually, it's been the same advice, and it's 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."

As he chose not to delve into the topic of AI, Pichai did share his wisdom and told the Stanford class of 2026 to work hard and try their hand at difficult things, and to pursue things that excite them.

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