News & Trends

Courage is clarity in uncertain times

29.04.2026 2 min

Between Beijing and Zurich, Yuan Martschnig-Wei searches for what makes us human. At the intersection of AI and society, she poses an urgent question: what does it mean to be human in the age of intelligent machines?

“Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going? I’ve been asking these questions since I was young. In the age of AI, they feel more urgent than ever. Technology speeds things up and helps structure decisions – but it cannot tell us who we are at our core.

I grew up in China in the 1980s and 1990s, a time of rapid change. My father often said: if we don’t know how to do something yet, we’ll learn. That pragmatic mindset has stayed with me. Today, my mother, now in her seventies, uses AI quite naturally – to look up health information or follow economic news. In China, technology is mostly seen as a practical tool. In Europe, the first question is often where its limits should be.

«Trust will matter more than ever.»

How art sparked a solution

At an exhibition in Paris, I once stood for a long time in front of a monumental painting by Joan Mitchell. I wasn’t sure what I was looking at – I only knew it triggered something in me. About a week later, the insight came. I suddenly saw the solution to a complex IT problem we had been working on for months. Art can open up ways of thinking that pure logic sometimes cannot reach.

Many debates about AI swing between fascination and fear. What’s often missing is a space for thoughtful discussion: How do we want to use these tools? What responsibilities come with them? With the Creative AI Foundation, I try to create exactly those kinds of conversations – places where technology and culture meet.

For me, courage means finding clarity in uncertainty. I explore possibilities, test ideas, and adjust the course when needed. That’s how I move forward.

Right now, we are living through a break in rhythm: technology scales in seconds, while social reflection takes time. In a world shaped by AI, trust may become the scarcest resource. For me, the future is about conscious progress – and the deliberate choice to remain human.”

Yuan Martschnig-Wei founded the Creative AI Foundation (CAIF) in Zurich in 2025. The interdisciplinary platform brings together technology and culture and aims to position Zurich as a global hub for digital integrity. She currently leads IT at a consulting firm and studied philosophy, art history, and psychology in Germany.