지난 졸업시즌, 스탠퍼드 대학교 학생 100여 명이 구글 CEO 순다르 피차이의 졸업 축사 도중 집단 퇴장하는 시위를 벌였습니다. 이들은 빅테크 기업의 영향력과 구글이 미국 이민세관단속국(ICE) 및 이스라엘 정부와 맺고 있는 논란이 된 계약에 항의하기 위해 이 같은 행동을 주도했습니다. 최근 AI 기술에 대한 대학생들의 불안감과 불신이 커지고 있는 가운데, 실리쿨밸과 깊은 유대를 가진 명문대 학생들이 거대 기업의 윤리적 책임을 묻고 나선 것에 의미가 있습니다.
번역된 본문
이 이야기를 저장합니다. 이 이야기를 저장합니다. 요즘 청년들은 괜찮은 걸까요? 이 질문에 대한 대답은 무엇을 기준으로 삼느냐에 따라 다를 것입니다. 적어도 확실히 말할 수 있는 것은, 그들 중 일부는 현재 매우 화가 나 있다는 사실입니다.
미국 청년층 사이에 끓어오르는 분노는 이번 졸업 시즌에 고스란히 드러났습니다. 전국의 대학생들은 인공지능(AI)의 이점을 논하기는커녕, 감히 AI 기술에 대해 언급하기까지 한 여러 유명 졸업 연설자들을 향해 야유를 보냈습니다. 대학생들 사이에서 AI의 활용도가 널리 퍼져 있지만, 이 기술이 미래에 어떤 의미를 갖게 될지에 대한 두려움과 불신 역시 마찬가지로 깊습니다. 최근 갤럽 여론조사에 따르면 Z세대의 AI에 대한 감정은 크게 하락하여 단 22%만이 이 기술에 흥미를 표했으며, 반면 42%는 AI로 인한 불안감을 느끼는 것으로 나타났습니다.
하지만 이번 졸업 연설 난립 속에서 단연 눈에 띄는 학교가 하나 있었으니, 바로 스탠퍼드 대학교입니다. 실리콘밸리 리크루팅의 핵심 허브이자 엘리트 테크 직종으로 가는 관문인 캘리포니아의 이 명문대는 올해 졸업생들을 향한 구글 CEO 순다르 피차이의 연설 도중 100명 이상의 학생들이 자리를 떠나는 모습을 목격했습니다. 아이러니하게도 피차이는 연설에서 AI를 명시적으로 언급조차 하지 않았습니다. 하지만 스탠퍼드 퇴장 시위 주최 측에게 AI는 부차적인 우려사항일 뿐이었습니다. 특정 기술보다 그들의 시위는 구글이 미국 및 이스라엘 정부, 그리고 미국 이민세관단속국(ICE)과 맺고 있는 계약에 대한 인식을 높이기 위해 기획되었습니다.
시위 주최자들이 구글의 행동을 바꾸도록 설득하지는 못했을지 몰라도, 그들은 국제적인 뉴스 이벤트를 만들어내는 데는 성공했습니다. CNN과 BBC를 비롯한 언론 매체들이 이 사건을 보도했고, 시위 영상은 온라인에서 수백만 회의 조회수를 기록했습니다.
나는 이 조율된 퇴장 시위가 어떻게 시작되었는지, 학생 조직자들이 무엇을 이루고자 했는지, 그리고 스탠퍼드만큼 실리콘밸리와 밀접한 학교를 졸업하여 말하자면 현재 거대 기술 기업(빅테크)이 지배하는 세상으로 진입하는 것이 어떤 기분인지 더 깊이 알고 싶었습니다. 스탠퍼드 퇴장 시위를 주도한 두 학생, 에바 존스(Eva Jones)와 아만다 캄포스(Amanda Campos)는 이달 초 뉴욕으로 날아와 나와 직접 마주 앉았습니다. 대화 내용은 아래와 같습니다. 이 인터뷰는 길이와 명확성을 위해 편집되었습니다.
케이티 드럼몬드(KATIE DRUMMOND): 에바 존스, 아만다 캄포스, 두 분 모두 환영합니다.
아만다 캄포스(AMANDA CAMPOS): 정말 감사합니다, 케이티. 불러주셔서 감사합니다. 이 자리에 있게 되어 기쁩니다. 먼 길 와주셔서 감사합니다.
케이티: 무엇보다도, 우선 졸업을 축하드립니다. 학교에서 무엇을 전공하셨나요? 4년 전 학부 진학을 고민할 때 왜 스탠퍼드를 선택하셨나요?
캄포스: 저는 스탠퍼드에서 환경 정책을 공부했으며, 현재 캘리포니아에서 환경 정의 운동 및 옹호 분야에서 일하고 있습니다. 제가 스탠퍼드에 온 이유는 말 그대로 환경 위기를 해결하기 위해 행동하고 싶었기 때문입니다. 저는 브라질에서 자랐고, 어릴 때부터 이 문제가 행동에 옮길 수 있는 거대한 과제라고 생각했습니다. 하지만 스탠퍼드에 도착하자마자 이 학교에 화석 연료 관련 자본과 편향이 너무 많다는 것을 빨리 깨달았고, 그 결과 빠르게 시위 조직자가 되었습니다. 2학년이었던 2023년 10월이 되었을 때, 저는 환경 정의 운동과 팔레스타인 해방 운동이 얼마나 얽혀 있는지를 깨달았습니다. 이는 스탠퍼드가 가진 기업과의 유착 관계로 거슬러 올라가며, 구글 CEO를 연설자로 선택한 것 자체가 바로 그러한 유착과 편향을 보여주는 지표입니다. 저는 '팔레스타인 정의를 위한 학생들(Stanford SJP, Students for Justice in Palestine)'의 주요 조직자로 활동했고, 순다르 피차이가 졸업 연설자로 선택되었다는 소식을 듣자마자 우리가 무언가를 해야 한다는 것을 깨달았습니다.
케이티: 에바, 본인은 어떤가요? 스탠퍼드에서 무엇을 공부하러 오셨나요?
에바 존스(EVA JONES): 저는 석사 학교과로 수문학 및 수자원을 공부한 졸업생이며, 학사 과정에서는 여성주의 철학과 담수 공학을 전공했습니다. 저는 오리곤의 시골 마을에서, 스탠퍼드 같은 곳이 진정으로 (세상을 바꿀 수 있는 곳이라 믿고) 5년 전에 이곳에 왔습니다.
Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Comment Loader Save Story Save this story 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, t