As graduates push back on AI, UW’s Nobel-winning commencement speaker takes different approach

Brunkow, Nobel Prize-winning scientist and the UW’s 2026 commencement speaker. (Institute for Systems Biology Photo) This year’s University of Washington commencement speaker has decades of experience in a field that increasingly benefits from AI and machine learning — but unlike some of her counterparts this graduation season, she almost certainly won’t get booed off the stage. Brunkow is a UW alum and scientist whose research in immune system regulation helped scientists better