Sundar Pichai faces boos and walkout at Stanford commencement over Google’s Israel and ICE ties

At a glance:

• About 200 Stanford graduates walked out and booed during Sundar Pichai’s commencement address.
• The protest targeted Google’s $1.2 billion Project Nimbus contract with the Israeli military and its ties to ICE.
• Organizers included Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine, No Tech for Apartheid, and Tech for Liberation.

Protest at Stanford commencement

Over the weekend, Google CEO Sundar Pichai delivered the commencement speech at Stanford University, where he earned his graduate degree in materials science and engineering. About 200 students from the graduating class reportedly walked out while others loudly booed the tech executive, and video footage shows protesters waving Palestinian flags and chanting “free Palestine.”

Signs carried messages such as “ICE SPIES WITH GOOGLE AI,” “GENOCIDE RUNS ON GOOGLE,” and “FREE FREE PALESTINE,” and a protest statement declared, “We are walking out because we refuse to glorify the corporations that fuel this violence and exercise our power to choose differently.” The walkout was organized by Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine, No Tech for Apartheid, and Tech for Liberation.

Project Nimbus and Google's defense contracts

Project Nimbus is a $1.2 billion cloud and artificial‑intelligence contract jointly held by Google and Amazon to provide services to the Israeli government and military. The deal has drawn sustained criticism from human‑rights groups and from within Google’s own workforce, who argue that the technology enables surveillance and military operations in Gaza.

Microsoft has faced similar scrutiny for its cloud agreements with Israeli authorities; after an investigation revealed that its services were being used for mass surveillance of Palestinians, the company restricted the Israeli government’s use of its technology. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has accused Google, Amazon, and other firms of “choosing to look the other way” on Israel’s use of their platforms.

Internal and external backlash

In 2024 Google terminated 28 employees who participated in internal protests against Project Nimbus, yet dissent has persisted and the company continues to face pressure from advocacy organizations. The firings have not silenced criticism; instead they have become a rallying point for employees and external watchdogs who demand greater transparency over defense contracts.

Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, co‑founder of Sun Microsystems, publicly condemned the Stanford protest on X, calling it “biased, idiotic, short‑sighted and very selfish” and arguing that the students ignored the billions of people who could benefit from AI advances. His remarks highlight a split in Silicon Valley between those who view the contracts as strategic imperatives and those who see them as ethical liabilities.

Broader context: AI skepticism at graduations

Commencement speakers across the United States have increasingly encountered hostile receptions when they promote artificial‑intelligence optimism, but the Stanford episode stands out because the anger was directed at specific corporate decisions rather than at AI hype in general. Students’ signs and chants named Google’s contracts, turning a ceremonial address into a referendum on the company’s military and immigration‑enforcement partnerships.

Surveys and campus reporting suggest that many soon‑to‑be graduates worry AI will erode entry‑level job prospects and exacerbate societal inequities, fueling a broader skepticism that extends beyond any single employer. The Stanford protest illustrates how that anxiety can translate into direct action against the leaders of the firms shaping the technology.