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‘Master What AI Cannot’: Sachin Shivaram at UW-Green Bay Commencement
Shivaram, whose parents emigrated from South India to the United States, told graduates that empathy and human understanding will remain essential in an AI-driven economy.
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Malvika Choudhary - Mon, 18, May 2026
- 10:48 EDT
- 21
Sachin Shivaram / UW-Green Bay
Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry CEO Sachin Shivaram told University of Wisconsin-Green Bay’s Class of 2026 that success in an AI-driven future will depend on “understanding people” and mastering skills technology cannot replicate.
Addressing graduates during the university’s May 16 commencement ceremony, Shivaram said, “The jobs of the future will revolve around understanding people. To find not just employment but also purpose in this AI age, you must become excellent at what this new technology cannot do.”
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Grounding his address in his liberal arts education and two decades in manufacturing, Shivaram said artificial intelligence may transform industries but cannot replicate lived human experience or empathy. He told graduates that humanities, arts and social sciences remain essential because they teach people “how to sit with a life that is not their own and feel it from the inside.”
Shivaram also spoke about how AI-generated work is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish from human-created content, citing his surprise after discovering music he enjoyed on Spotify had been generated entirely through AI. He added that even coding skills, once considered highly specialized, are becoming more accessible through generative AI tools.
Despite technological advances, Shivaram said his own career in the metals industry was built not on technical expertise but on relationships and listening to people.
“I have worked in the metals industry for the past 20 years with brilliant metallurgists and engineers. I have never had a technical insight in my life. My career pathway has instead been lit by relationships with people, where my contributions are truly nothing more than listening and seeking to understand,” he said.
Shivaram reflected on growing up in Wisconsin after his parents emigrated from Bangalore and Mysore in South India during the Vietnam War era. He said his upbringing in an immigrant household and his parents’ curiosity about people from different backgrounds shaped his worldview and leadership style.
“My parents urged us to study hard. But through example, they gave life to what has become the essential force of my own: curiosity about humanity. What are other lives like?” he said.
Shivaram has led Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry since 2019 and also serves on the boards of Green Bay Packers, GrafTech International Ltd., Broadwind, Inc. and Lodge Cast Iron. He earned a history and literature degree from Harvard University and later received his law degree from Yale Law School.
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