Stanford graduates rethink their futures as AI transforms tech

American college graduates have made one thing clear to this year's batch of commencement speakers - beware of bringing up artificial intelligence (AI).

Some of the biggest names in tech, including former Google boss Eric Schmidt, have been booed when they mention the technology.

At Stanford University recently, in the heart of the American tech hub of Silicon Valley, Sundar Pichai - the CEO of Google, a major AI developer - joked about having been told to avoid the topic.

A group of graduates nevertheless walked out during his remarks.

Some students carried signs with them as they left - one sign read "ICE spies with Google AI", while others were seen waving Palestinian flags.

Stanford occupies a unique position in the American tech ecosystem. It's regarded as a hotbed of innovation and resides in the shadow of some of the most influential Big Tech companies on the planet, including many pioneers in the AI field. Its elite students enter the job market with an undeniable edge.

Yet even there, the backlash was inescapable.

The BBC spoke to Stanford graduates shortly after Pichai finished his address and they expressed a wide range of views on AI. Some are scared. Some are excited. But nearly everyone agrees that AI is already changing the world around them, whether they like it or not.

Ifdita Hasan is among the hopeful. And she knows a thing or two about the technology - it's her degree subject.

"I feel optimistic about AI," said the graduating computer science and AI major. "I think AI gives us the opportunity to learn more about the universe. It's a tool that people should try to use and try to adapt to."

But, she added, she's not surprised by the backlash, noting that early pessimism is common with emerging technologies.

"This is what happens. It happened with the internet," she said. "But I would encourage people to be optimistic about AI - to try to learn and explore more."

Some Stanford graduates are less sanguine about AI's arrival. They are, after all, entering the corporate world just as AI is transforming it.

What frightens Atash Heil is the uncertainty of what an AI-dominated future might look like - and the speed of the transformation graduates have witnessed during their college years.

"It's already had such a big impact in such a small time," Heil added.

Heil said he had just visited an exhibit featuring art made by artificial intelligence - an experience which he described as jarring.

"I thought it was scary, especially on my graduation day, to see that. The future is… that? I want art to be made by humans. That's what makes it art, right?" said the major in Earth Systems, which focuses on environmental science and policy.

Heil was one of several graduates who expressed concern about the approach many AI companies have taken towards developing the technology.

"It has to be done ethically, and it's not being done ethically these days," said Heil, as he waited for the ceremony to begin.

AI is also threatening some students' future prospects.

Analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found recent college graduates are struggling to find work.

And employment for early-career workers in the US has substantially fallen in fields considered most exposed to AI, according to a Stanford study published in November.

These include software development. Unsubstantiated rumours have swirled on social media claiming that students in Stanford's coveted computer science programme have had trouble finding jobs.

Stanford told the BBC it did not have statistics to share about the job placement rate for students. But most graduates interviewed by the BBC either had a job lined up or planned to continue their studies.

When most of them entered Stanford as undergraduates in 2021, AI chatbots were still a year away from being a reality for most Americans. The arrival of OpenAI's ChatGPT changed everything, for better or worse.

Students expressed concern about the rise of so-called "cognitive offloading," the practice of relying on AI to carry out problem solving and other mental tasks.

"I think it's really impacted how people are learning," said Lucy Zimmerman, a computer science major who served as a teaching assistant.

She's noticed a difference between the take-home work people turned in - often with the aid of AI, she suspects - and their exam results.

Some classes have started reintroducing proctoring - the supervision of candidates during an examination - and spoken-word tests to avoid cheating, she said.

"I'm worried about future generations," said Zimmerman, before adding "and for my generation".

Despite these misgivings, she's looking forward to working as a software engineer at a tech startup in nearby San Francisco.

"I'm right in the thick of it."

Stanford is not just any school.

The university opened in 1891, long before the stretch of peninsula where the campus is located became known as "Silicon Valley". Although it is not a part of the Ivy League, it is considered by many to be on par with schools like Harvard University, founded in 1636, or Columbia University, founded in 1754.

In the latter half of the 20th Century, the school's prominent leaders and researchers helped develop the area into the tech hub that it is known as today.

The headquarters of Google, Meta, and Apple are all located within a 25km (15-mile) radius of the university.

Stanford has laid claim to innovations ranging from computer time-sharing to the synthesis of biologically active DNA.

It's home to the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory where the first website in North America went online in 1991.

Alums include Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the co-founders of Google, which began as a research project while both were PhD students at the university. Brin could be spotted strolling around the campus in track pants years after he started the search giant here.

Over many decades, researchers at Stanford have played a pioneering role in the development of AI. The term "artificial intelligence" was coined here by computer scientist John McCarthy, according to the university.

Several members of the present-day AI illuminati have ties to the university. Renowned computer scientist Fei-Fei Li, known as the "Godmother of AI," serves as a professor here. OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman dropped out of Stanford in 2005.

A four-year undergraduate degree from Stanford can run to almost $400,000 when expenses are included. But for students who land a seat here, it can be a golden ticket to a successful career in tech.

There was a time when lecturers with day jobs at nearby tech companies would reportedly include offer letters beneath graded exams as they returned them to those who showed the most potential.

While that practice appears to have been phased out, Stanford's reputation as a hunting ground for the next generation of tech talent remains intact, with prominent industry leaders - alums and otherwise - regularly appearing on campus.

"Stanford is the centre of ingenuity in the entire country and in the world," said Harry Kaplan, a graduate in the Management Science and Engineering programme. "A lot of knowledge, research and innovation comes from here. And it's a proud legacy for all of us to be a part of."

Kaplan said the impact that artificial intelligence would have on his future remained unclear.

"It's too early to tell," he said, clutching an inflatable palm tree as students prepared for the Stanford graduation tradition known as the "Wacky Walk".

"It's an exciting place to be. It feels like we're at the edge of something," Kaplan added.

Psychology major Colbey Harlan sees it as a helpful tool. He has used it for creative writing, and said it helped him get projects started despite his ADHD. But like many of his generation, he worries about the societal impacts.

"I'm not a fan of how it's destroying the environment. Data centres are taking a lot of resources, a lot of energy," Harlan said. "I'm kind of at a point where it's like – 'Okay, AI is cool, but can we just stop progressing it?' because if we continue, things are going to get out of control."

When Google CEO Sundar Pichai - who got his master's degree at Stanford - took the stage last weekend, he made only a passing reference to AI.

"People have been giving me a lot of advice on what to say. Actually, it's been the same advice – and it's about what not to say," he said early in his remarks. "People thought it would be really difficult for me; it is the last two letters of my last name, after all."

But his words were partially drowned out amid "free Palestine" and other chants by a group of at least 200 students who stood up and walked out of Stanford Stadium as Pichai took the podium.

Some carried signs critical of Google's so-called Nimbus contract to provide artificial intelligence tools to the Israeli military.

Pichai walked in silence when the BBC asked him for a response to the walkout following the graduation.

"His presence represents what this political climate is empowering, and who is benefiting from the AI race," said one graduate who walked out but asked not to be identified. "We cannot relate to him at all."

Some students who walked out headed to another location on campus to participate in an alternative ceremony attended by pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil.

Khalil was a key figure in the 2024 Gaza war protests at Columbia University, from which he has graduated. He drew global attention after ICE agents tried to deport him despite his status as a legal permanent resident.

Stanford students also staged protests at the university's graduation ceremonies in 2024 and 2025.

While scepticism abounds among this generation of students, some believe AI may be able to solve some of the very problems it's exacerbating.

Atash Heil, the Earth Systems major, plans to move to New Orleans to work on climate resilience. He believes AI can actually help with that mission.

"I think AI can be useful in training models – like, for example, climate models that predict how the climate will change," Heil said.

Heil said he felt privileged to have grown up without AI because he was able to "actually use my brain". But he is bracing for a future that will be heavily defined by it.

"I'm young," Heil said. "It's going to take up most of my lifetime."

Video by Katy Bailes, photographs by Seeger Gray and design by Jez Frazer