'Stupidity of these Stanford students': Vinod Khosla blasts walkout during Sundar Pichai speech

Tech entrepreneur Vinod Khosla on Monday criticised a group of Stanford University graduates who walked out of their commencement ceremony while Google CEO Sundar Pichai was delivering the keynote address. He called the protest "biased, idiotic, short-sighted, and very selfish".

Reacting to the incident on social media, Khosla wrote: "The stupidity of these @Stanford students to take the greatest opportunity for equality in humanity ever and to really free humanity and go walk out on @google and @sundarpichai that's pioneered that."

"Biased, idiotic, short-sighted, and very selfish. Selfish because they ignored the bottom 3 billion people on this planet that could benefit from AI, and they are worried about their misinformed selfish self-interest."

What happened at Stanford?

Stanford University's graduation ceremony on Sunday was briefly disrupted when a group of students walked out as Pichai took the stage to deliver his commencement speech.

According to reports, the protest was linked to activist groups present at the ceremony. A post shared by the BreakThrough News handle said organisations, including Students for Justice in Palestine and No Tech for Apartheid, organised the walkout.

The protest was aimed at Google's reported contracts with the Israeli Defence Forces, the US Department of Homeland Security, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. During Pichai's speech, several graduates reportedly stood up and exited together, drawing attention inside the auditorium.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar joins criticism

BJP Kerala president and former Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar also criticised the students' actions. "This is a case of deep idiocy that's afflicting some of our youth," he wrote on X.

Calling the walkout a missed opportunity, Chandrasekhar said: "This is simply a foolish abuse of the opportunity to study, learn at an elite University, and hear thoughts and views of those who are achievers and builders like @sundarpichai."

While acknowledging that young people often challenge authority and established ideas, he said protest and questioning should not come at the cost of reason. "I get it - as a youngster, there's a built-in gene to rebel, to question, to challenge, to oppose, to search for a cause. We all did that as students and even crazier things," he wrote.

"But recognize this truth as well - that being a rebel with a cause doesn't automatically mean stupid and silly. You are living in the age of #ArtificialIntelligence, not Natural Stupidity."