Summary
Are the kids all right? The answer to that question probably depends on your criteria. At the very least, I can tell you that some of them are most definitely very mad. The anger percolating among America’s youth was on display this graduation season, as college students across the country booed and jeered several high-profile commencement speakers who dared discuss—let alone extol the benefits of—artificial intelligence. While AI use among college kids is widespread, so too is the fear and mistrust about what the technology might mean for the future. A recent Gallup poll found that Gen Z sentiment toward AI has significantly declined, with only 22 percent of respondents expressing excitement about the tech—and anxiety around AI affecting 42 percent of them. Among the commencement speech chaos, though, one school stood out to me: Stanford University. The California-based institution, long a key hub for Silicon Valley recruiting and a pipeline into elite tech gigs, this year saw more than a hundred students walk out of Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s remarks to graduates. Ironically, Pichai didn’t explicitly mention AI in his address at all. But for the organizers of the Stanford walkout, AI is only a tangential concern: More than any specific technology, their demonstration was designed to raise awareness of Google’s contracts with the US and Israeli governments, as well as ICE. The walkout organizers may not have convinced Google to change its ways, but they did manage to create an international news event. Media outlets including CNN and the BBC ran with the story, and videos of the walkout have amassed millions of views online. I wanted to know more about how the coordinated effort came to be, what student organizers hoped to accomplish, and how it feels to be newly graduating—from a school as Silicon Valley–aligned as Stanford, no less—into a world that’s now arguably run by Big Tech. Two of the Stanford walkout organizers, Eva Jones and Amanda Campos, traveled to New York and sat down with me in person earlier this month. Our conversation is below. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. KATIE DRUMMOND: Eva Jones and Amanda Campos—welcome, both of you. AMANDA CAMPOS: Thank you so much, Katie. Thank you for having us. I’m delighted that you’re here. Thank you for making the trip. First of all, congratulations on graduating. What did you study in school? Why did you choose Stanford four years ago when you were thinking about where to go to undergrad? Campos: I studied environmental policy at Stanford, and I am currently working in the environmental justice activism and advocacy space in California. I quite literally came to Stanford because I knew I wanted to take action, to solve the environmental crisis. I grew up in Brazil, and since I was little it was the huge issue I saw as being able to take action towards. But arriving at Stanford, I quickly realized [the school] just had so much fossil fuel money and bias, and I quickly became an organizer as a result. As a sophomore, when October 2023 came, I quite quickly realized how intertwined the environmental justice movement and the movement for Palestinian liberation are. It goes back to the corporate ties Stanford has, and choosing a Google CEO is indicative of such a tie and of such a bias, really. I was a lead organizer with Stanford SJP, Students for Justice in Palestine, and as soon as we heard about Sundar Pichai being chosen as the commencement speaker, we knew we had to do something. Eva, what about you? What did you go to Stanford to study? EVA JONES: I am a recent graduate, having studied hydrology and water resources for my master’s degree, but I also did my bachelor’s programs there, in feminist philosophy and in freshwater engineering. I came to Stanford five years ago now, from a rural town in Oregon, because I truly believed that a place like Stanford was looking to pool together minds and resources to tackle these existential threats to humanity, to build the kind of world that I always envisioned could be possible, one of connection, one of belonging. I’m curious, Amanda, you talked about how you got involved with student organizing to begin with, but I’d love to hear from both of you a little bit more about that. How did you go from student to campus activist and organizer? Jones: I came to Stanford as a student organizer. I was of the generation of students who were part of climate justice organizing, anti-gun-violence things, people who came into university ready to use their voice, thinking of that as a way to build a future. As soon as I got to Stanford, I got involved in anti-sexual violence organizing, which quickly put me in opposition with the administration. By 2023, when the student encampments in solidarity with Palestine began, that was something that we saw so many more students get involved in and really come together to build something more than just opposition. It was a really beautiful moment where we got to define why we came to university for ourselves, why we came seeking an education, and what we wanted to make of that. Campos: I’ll say that, differently from Eva, I definitely did not come to Stanford as a student organizer, but I very quickly became one because it was needed. But more broadly, I did come in also a bit naive in terms of thinking about Stanford as this place where I can innovate on environmental solutions, where I can help people. I saw the power of education, the power of a Stanford degree as a way to do that. But I think my view of power has definitely changed, especially through organizing. I viewed power as something to gain, and now I view it as something to build, as something that we all have through our voices. Getting involved in SJP organizing, for me, has been extremely liberating. I have a lot of hope in the student movement. Theo Baker has a new book out, I don’t know if either of you have read it, called How to Rule the World. It describes Stanford as basically what you are both saying, a funnel into tech jobs and Silicon Valley, a place with a lot of clubbiness, tech elitism, VCs scouting for talent, and plenty of ethical lapses on the part of students and faculty and administration. Do you have any reactions to that book? Jones: I have concerns about someone looking to define their career by participating in the rabid consumption of the American cultural fascination with what’s going on at elite universities. I think it really distracts from the actual issues going on, which are, in many ways, defense-propelled career pipelines at these universities and in Silicon Valley, at these companies that run deep and fuel really violent technologies and systems of control. I would invite anybody who is interested in Theo Baker’s book to take it a step further and become a part of a movement to counter this obsession with elitism, tech optimism, and become a part of the solution of what that means, which is participating in anti-war, in anti-data-center advocacy, in the student movement that’s demanding a better future for ourselves, for the laborers across the world. This is a global movement against the extraction and disposability of our earth and our people. I would ask everyone to look beyond the fascination with the confines of what is basically a country club for 20-year-olds seeking fame to become a part of that global mission. It sounds like you’re saying it’s one thing to write a titillating book—I have not finished the whole book, but I imagine it would fall under that category—as opposed to rolling up your sleeves and getting your hands dirty in the actual work. Jones: Yeah, and I will invite Theo Baker to participate in that. I think that if people want to be a part of opposing these elite circles that seem to control everything from our politics to our educations, they should get involved, they should get organized, instead of just being discursal witnesses to what’s going on. Which brings me to the walkout. This walkout was not just about AI. You actually issued a press release about the walkout, and I have to give you credit, very impressive. That press release names several issues. There are Google’s contracts with the US government, you mentioned ICE specifically, and then the technological aid provided to Israel, specifically Google’s Project Nimbus. Tell us more about what you were protesting on that day and why. Campos: As soon as we heard that Stanford chose Sundar Pichai to be our commencement speaker we knew we had to speak out. Because for years, through Tech for Liberation organizing, Palestinian liberation organizing, we knew that Google was one of the companies providing the technological backbone for what the UN commission has found to be a genocide, for the continued surveillance and apartheid that Israel imposes on the Palestinian people. And we also knew that Google provides a key technological backbone of ICE’s surveillance, targeting, and quite literally killing operations. When it comes to AI, it is causing a lot of job losses for the working class, and recent grads have concerns about that. However, AI is not only causing job losses, it’s quite literally killing people, and that is something that we knew we just had to call out. We had the opportunity, as well as the duty, to at least try to hold a CEO of a 1.2 billion contract. We, as students of conscience, and many people around the world call on Google to drop Project Nimbus and for accountability to ensue. In the press release about the walkout, you mention ICE contracts specifically. Can you talk more about how Google intersects with ICE? Campos: Yes. So to start off, it’s through the contracts, right? Pretty profitable contracts for Google. Google Gemini is used by CBP. And there are definitely many ties. Google Cloud is also used as a platform by ICE and CBP to store massive amounts of surveillance data. And Google has also shared personal data on people speaking up against ICE. Jones: Without the informatics tools, the data collection and aggregation tools that Google and other companies are creating, ICE would not be able to surveil organizers, immigrants, and create the lethal system of control that they have in our own communities. Campos: Just recently, two people have been killed at the hands of ICE, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, Joan Sebastian Guerrero in Maine. Without companies like Google providing the technological backbone for this, this entire campaign of persecution wouldn’t be possible, or would be a lot weaker. And it’s crucial for us as students to refuse to work for these companies that are quietly killing our own communities, but also call out the system that is enabling these campaigns of persecution and genocide to happen in the first place. I’m assuming you didn’t hear from Google after the walkout. Jones: No, no. I would ask Google to make good on its slogan since its founding that was dropped in 2018, which is “Don’t be evil.” Google, whether it’s your contracts with defense and weapons manufacturers across the world, or your never-ending hunger for the fresh water and energy supply around rural and Black America, don’t be evil. Your employees don’t wanna be a part of that. The consumers that use your products every day don’t want to be searching on a weapons manufacturer’s platform every single day. Campos: Exactly. What’s next for both of you? You’re done being students. Goodbye, Stanford. What now? Campos: I work in environmental justice advocacy, and currently I’m working at this nonprofit in Richmond, California, where there’s a huge Chevron oil refinery. We’re actively trying to advocate for the majority-people-of color-community that has been impacted by this refinery for over 100 years. It definitely makes me thankful for the organizing communities I’ve been part of, because it does feel like Stanford as an institution would prefer me to work as head of corporate sustainability or something at Chevron instead of being more of a troublemaker. But what’s next for me is continuing to advocate for communities in the environmental space, and I’ll definitely keep organizing. Jones: I’m working right now in water quality monitoring and communications for a water justice organization in East Palo Alto near Stanford in the Bay Area. A new class will start at Stanford in the fall. An idealistic, enthusiastic, maybe naive group of students. What advice do you have for them? Jones: I think it’s the same advice that every young person gets from anyone, which is you have to make it your own. At a place like Stanford, there’s gonna be a lot of people trying to entice you that their way, their innovation, their technology, their lab, is the future, is the best way forward. What you need to do is find people of conviction who resonate with you, who are dedicated to building the kind of world that you wanna see, and devote yourself to that. It may not be the easiest path, but if it is your own, I promise you it will be worth it. Campos: I would say organize. It quite literally saved me in my Stanford experiences. I found so many friends in the organizing space, and I believe that right now in particular is just a very desensitizing time and very disillusioning, and to not let yourself get lost in that. Stanford and this dominant narrative will constantly tell you to just stay in your lane, don’t cause trouble, be a good student. Again, find your own path, and I highly encourage you to organize, to actually fight for the standard that you want to have and that you deserve. How to Listen You can always listen to this week’s podcast through the audio player on this page, but if you want to subscribe for free to get every episode, here’s how: If you’re on an iPhone or iPad, open the app called Podcasts, or just tap this link. You can also download an app like Overcast or Pocket Casts and search for “Uncanny Valley.” We’re on Spotify too. Comments Back to top