Sundar Pichai faces boos, walkout at Stanford graduation ceremony over Google's Israel, ICE ties
AI is once again at the heart of a college graduation protest - this time for the technology's use in Google's defense contracts. Over the weekend, Google CEO Sundar Pichai faced a small revolt when he delivered his 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.
Key Takeaways
- The focus of the protest was Google's defense ties - including Project Nimbus, the controversial $1.
2 billion contract, shared with Amazon, to provide cloud and AI services to the Israeli military, as well as its relationship with the U.
- "We are walking out because we refuse to glorify the corporations that fuel this violence and exercise our power to choose differently," a statement associated with the protest reads.
The walkout was organized by a number of campus activist groups, including Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine, No Tech for Apartheid, and Tech for Liberation.
- It was also recently criticized by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which accused it and other companies of "choosing to look the other way" on Israel's use of their services.
- Speakers at college graduation ceremonies around the country have faced boos when they have attempted to get outgoing college students excited about AI.
But rarely has student animus been as targeted as it was with Pichai, directed not at AI hype, but at the specific business decisions made by the company he leads.
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Stats & Key Facts
- #2 billion contract, shared with Amazon, to provide cloud and AI services to the Israeli military, as well as its relationship with the U.
- #In 2024, Google fired 28 workers for protesting the contract, although it has continued to suffer internal dissent over the issue since then.
The focus of the protest was Google's defense ties - including Project Nimbus, the controversial $1. 2 billion contract, shared with Amazon, to provide cloud and AI services to the Israeli military, as well as its relationship with the U. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Student signs included phrases like "ICE SPIES WITH GOOGLE AI" and "GENOCIDE RUNS ON GOOGLE," as well as "FREE FREE PALESTINE," a press release associated with the protest notes. Students also waved Palestinian flags and shouted "free Palestine," online video of the protest shows. "We are walking out because we refuse to glorify the corporations that fuel this violence and exercise our power to choose differently," a statement associated with the protest reads.
The walkout was organized by a number of campus activist groups, including Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine, No Tech for Apartheid, and Tech for Liberation. TechCrunch reached out to Google for comment. As the war in Gaza has raged, Google's participation in Nimbus has drawn protests from both inside and outside of the company.
For more details please read the original article at TechCrunch AI.
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