Google CEO Sundar Pichai delivered a message to the class of 2020: Be open, be impatient, and be hopeful

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Google CEO Sundar Pichai delivered a message to the class of 2020: Be open, be impatient, and be hopeful
Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai.Denis Balibouse/Reuters
  • Sundar Pichai has a message for 2020 graduates: Be open, be impatient, and be hopeful.
  • The Google and Alphabet CEO took part on Sunday in a graduation ceremony hosted by YouTube called Dear Class of 2020, which also included former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, Beyoncé, BTS, and Lady Gaga.
  • "In bleak moments like these, it can be difficult to find hope. So let me skip right to the end and tell you what happens: You will prevail," Pichai said during his address.
  • Pichai used graduating classes from decades past as an example: The class of 1920 also graduated during a deadly pandemic, the class of 1970 graduated in the midst of the Vietnam War, and the class of 2001 gradated months before 9/11.
  • "The long arc of history tells us we have every reason to be hopeful," Pichai said.
  • Pichai also evoked his own history as an example of the power of the next generation. He grew up with very little access to technology, with his family getting its first telephone when he was 10. He didn't have regular access to a computer until coming to the US in the early '90s for graduate school. Now, he runs one of the biggest tech companies on the planet.
  • The class of 2020 has had a different experience, Pichai said: It sees computers as the norm. That gives Pichai hope for what's possible in the next generation.
  • "There are probably things about technology that frustrate you and make you impatient. Don't lose that impatience — it'll create the next technology revolution and enable you to build things my generation could never dream of," he said.
  • You can watch Pichai's full speech below.
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