What will Google CEO Sundar Pichai say next month when he gives the commencement speech at Stanford University?

Under normal circumstances, it wouldn’t be a terribly interesting question. But if you’ve been paying attention to the headlines the past few weeks, it’s been an absolute massacre out there on the frontlines of college graduations for any speaker who dares mention AI. Students explode in boos and jeers, leaving some speakers stunned and others indignant. 

Given that Pichai leads the titan that many now see as at the tip of the AI boom, how he addresses AI at his speech — since it’d be too big an elephant not to talk about — will be intriguing, and we suspect dramatic. It’s strange to think of a commencement speaker’s visit in the same way you might view a rival away team’s, but that’s the intense atmosphere we’re dealing with.

In a recent interview on The New York Times’s “Hard Fork” podcast, the hosts asked what Pichai planned to say about AI during his speech, and if he had a “boo strategy” in case the Stanford students are upset about his AI comments.

Pichai didn’t sound particularly worried, though his response was more a series of truisms and corporate-speak than a coherent rejoinder. (Maybe he just plans to word anything he says in such a vague and circumspect way that the kids can’t figure out the right moment to heckle him.)

“In some ways, these graduates are actually both going to be a big part of driving that progress and also dealing with the impact of that technology,” Pichai said, framing AI backlash as part of a healthy dialogue. “I’ve always been extraordinarily optimistic about the next generation.”

As to what he actually plans to say, Pichai was even vaguer.

“My goal will be to share my experiences and share that with them, and that’s what I’m looking to do,” Pichai said.

There’s still a few weeks before Pichai’s speech, so he — or his speechwriter, or his AI speechwriter — have plenty of time to think it over.

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