Taiwan's former president Tsai Ing-wen spent a relaxed afternoon with Taiwanese founders in Palo Alto, striking an upbeat note about technology that stays grounded in human relationships.

• Tsai visited the Startup Island TAIWAN hub in Silicon Valley, sipping bubble tea while taking questions from young entrepreneurs.
• Asked how she uses AI, she joked that she never asked AI for help while running the country, drawing laughs from the room.
• Her point: AI tools were not good enough to handle matters of state, and politics does not always follow logic, so it is hard to hand off to a machine.
• She urged founders to stay in control of the tools rather than be managed by them, and to spend real time with people instead of sitting alone typing all day.
• On Taiwan's long-running fights over national identity, she said the gap is narrowing over time and is best handled gently — make a friend, have a beer, rather than give long speeches in a public square.

Outlook: Tsai's Bay Area trip keeps Taiwan's startup scene visible to US investors, with founders in biotech, AI software, and semiconductors among those courting attention.