The case for making art in a crisis | Yiyun Kang | Your Body on Tech

0:02You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas and conversations to spark your curiosity every day. I am Manoush Zomorodi. I am a journalist, an author, a two-time TED speaker, and you may recognize my voice from the TED Radio Hour podcast over on NPR. This week, I am taking over for Elise Hu with a series of episodes all about how you can live a healthier life in our high-tech era. So why am I here? I had the honor of guest curating a session at TED 2026, full of speakers whose work will make you think differently about your body, technology, and what is keeping us human in this digital age.

0:44One of the many things that feels so strange and disconcerting about our modern era is that we are surrounded by invisible systems that shape our behavior. Take AI. It is run by algorithmic black boxes. We see the data coming in and we see the text or messaging or information that comes out, but we don't know exactly what's going on inside the machine. We can't touch it or see it. We don't even fully understand it. Yuyun Kang is a mixed media artist whose work is about spanning that gap between us and those invisible forces. My mission became clear, to render the invisible visible. I want to translate these wicked problems into physical experiences so that we can truly care.

1:39And when I say mixed media, I mean mixed. She is trained as a painter, but now works with data, lasers, graphic design, and of course AI too. She is as high-tech as the technology she interrogates. gates. But the beautiful stories she tells feel connecting rather than alienating. Because art, as she says, isn't a nice add-on to science and technology. It's a crucial bridge between information, humanity, and our well-being on this planet. Arts is the vital bridge, a missing link that has undeniable power to restore our lost connection. But now we face even deeper crisis. One that challenges the very definitions of human intelligence.

2:30The unfathomable AI. The technology is advancing in a staggering pace and we have to accept an uncomfortable truth. Her talk, as you might expect, is very visual. So, just for you, we asked her to describe each work that she presented on stage so that you too can feel the emotions she stirred up in the TED Theater. Yi Yun's talk and our conversation coming up.

2:59This episode is brought to you by LinkedIn. Running a small business means every hire matters. A bad hire can cost you time, money, and momentum. A good hire, they can help grow your business. But finding great talent isn't easy, especially when you don't have the time or resources to sift through piles of resumes to find the right fit. That's why LinkedIn built Hiring Pro, your new hiring partner that screens candidates for you. So instead of sorting through applications, you spend your time talking to candidates who are actually a good fit. With Hiring Pro, you can hire with confidence, knowing you're getting the best talent for your business.

3:31In fact, according to LinkedIn, those hiring with LinkedIn are 24 % less likely to need to reopen a role within 12 months compared to the leading competitor. Join the 2.7 million small businesses using LinkedIn to hire. Get started by posting your job for free at linkedin.com slash TED Talk. Terms and conditions apply. This episode is brought to you by Dell. Back to school starts now. Get long-lasting battery life on the Dell XPS laptop, powered by Series 3 Intel Core so you can work from anywhere. Now starting at$699 with exclusive student pricing starting at$599. And it's lightweight, portable, and packed with enough processing power to make multitasking a breeze.

4:14So say goodbye to distractions and hello to more free time because you finished your work faster. Complete your setup with savings on select monitors and more must-have electronics and accessories. Limited time deals and free shipping on PCs and more await you at dell.com slash deals. That's dell.com slash deals.

4:36This episode is brought to you by Walmart Business. The best leaders might tell you the work that moves an organization forward doesn't happen in spreadsheets or supply chain emails. It happens when you have the space to think big. That's the idea behind Walmart Business. It's built to take the friction out of running an organization so your team isn't losing hours to procurement logistics when they could just be focused on the problems that actually matter. With an ever-expanding business assortment, everyday low prices, and fast, reliable shipping, Walmart Business keeps your operations running smoothly.

5:10Shop online, in-store, or through the Walmart Business app. However works best for you. Simpler operations, smarter spending. It's Walmart built for your business. Sign up for a free Walmart business account at business.walmart.com.

5:35And now, our TED Talk and conversation of the day.

5:47This is a glimpse into one of my artworks, Vanishing. What you see, this is a tribute to the species extinguished by us, humanity. I dedicate my career to translating the invisible crisis of our time as vivid as the images before you. That includes climate change, artificial intelligence, and even the crisis of our own humanity. We're living in an era of wicked problems. The crises are so massive that we cannot grasp them. We can feel a paper cut, but we cannot feel a collapsing planet. I'm an artist working with a lot of immersive technologies. So what kind of work should start my TED Talk? I thought about The Vanishing.

6:39Vanishing is originally put in one of the largest LED façade in Seoul. It's like 16 meters wide. It's an arts work, but it's outside of gallery or museum. It's a completely public space. And it was happening over the COVID-19. So, okay, I thought about what kind of story should I tell? What is the vanished entities of our time because of the human activities? So I put a huge images of animals that once lived in the earth, but vanished because of our behaviors. The TED projection screen is 30 meters wide. But then the TED stage is quite small. We're such a tiny, tiny entity. So wanting to show the dramatic difference between the human scale and the massive, mysterious power of nature somehow, I decided to remove any color.

7:41It was entirely black and white. and I decided to start my talk in the darkness. Behind me, there is a massive scale screen and out of the darkness, mysterious continents emerges and inside of the continents, fossilized skeletons swoops across the screen and then they disappear. And after that, a massive scale wings appears and with the continents, they started to scatter the way and fall apart into tiny little pieces, into the darkness. In an endless chase of progress, we have turned our nature and technology into monumental threats. Paradoxically, we have devastated the very habitat we live in and jeopardized the very intelligence that makes us human.

8:40The result is great anxiety. But we must ask ourselves, was this collapse truly unseen? We have more data than any generation in history, yet reality feels further away. We're drowning in information, but starving for meaning. The chain of understanding is broken, leaving our crisis so cold in abstracts. We have lost the connection and the ability to care. Living at the intersection of art and technology, my mission became clear, to render the invisible visible. I want to translate these wicked problems into physical experiences so that we can truly care. But how do we translate the intangibles?

9:27Let me take you on my journey.

9:32I began with the most vital data set, the Earth. specifically, our water. Half of humanity will like clean water by 2050, and many already do. To expose the crisis of this vital resource, I spent an intense year with Google. They were searching for an artist to bridge the gap between complex data and creative storytelling. And an amazing door opened. NASA joined the team to offer me an exclusive access to the satellite data. This rare gift becomes the soul of my artwork, passage of water. My goal is to turn these knots and numbers into visceral experiences, dramatize them so that we can truly see and feel what is happening to our freshwater.

10:22Look at this. This is the raw satellite data that captures the water situation. Here, I wanted to deliver the overwhelming feeling of the massive amount of data. Behind me on three giant screens are column after column of tiny white numbers endlessly scrolling up so fast up to the point we don't even know how to comprehend them. We have the most sophisticated technology over time, but who can actually understand what is happening here? There is no legibility. That's the point. So data is there, numbers there, but it doesn't have any meaning. So we have to have a scientist, we have to have a researcher, engineers, or sometimes artists, designers, to translate it, to give an accessible form to it so that we can understand.

11:15What happens if we change the interface? I spend months obsessing over how to turn these numbers brave. And now I can present the outcome to you. What you see is 20 years of water patterns turned into a breathing landscape. This is passive water. It lives on Google's platform designed for you to fully interact with. This is the interactive Earth landscape. Imagine yourself in space. And there is a line which you can rotate around along any point of the axis. On one side of the line, you see blue. And on the other, red. The blue is the freshwater that still exists. The red is its loss. Let's see the dramatic change between 2002 and 2023.

12:08If you scroll on the timeline, the red expands seemingly and endlessly into space, and the blue gets smaller and smaller. We are losing our freshwater fast, and we are the reason. Here, the numbers become instinct. You don't just see the data, you feel it. This is where artistic creativity becomes an essential, not a luxury. It is the language that allows me to tackle those wicked problems and turn them into something we can grasp. We brought this project to COP28. There we spoke with climate scientists, policymakers, indigenous people who face water scarcity every day. Seeing their reactions in front of my artwork gave me absolute certainty.

12:59Arts is the vital bridge, a missing link that has undeniable power to restore our lost connection. But now we face even deeper crisis, one that challenges the very definitions of human intelligence, the unfathomable AI. Here you are, 2026, and AI is everywhere. The technology is advancing in a staggering pace, and we have to accept an uncomfortable truth. The machines are replacing parts of us. But the real danger is hidden behind the sleek interfaces. AI gives us brilliant results, but the logic, the process, that remains a total mystery. And that is exactly why we call it a black box. If these algorithms are deciding our future, shouldn't we talk about the invisibles, the hidden logic governing our lives?

13:58That is why I created this project with my students in my research lab. The title of this project is SOTA, short for State of the Arts. In the world of engineering, it means to describe the gold standard of machine capability. SOTA is about opening the block box. We know that there's tons of input data, and that input data is go through the model, and then we see the outputs. But what is going on within the model? AI that generates our images, our attacks, isn't just magic, it's a complex mathematical structure. Digital neurons, cluster into network, processing data through multiple hidden layers.

14:42You might assume that they are all identical grids, but as we looked deeper, we found far more diverse. What you see is living architecture of 118 AI models visualized. See how digital nuits connect and fire with its own unique geometry. The shape decides how to generate images, text, or sounds. To understand their intelligence, we need to see the shape first. At this point, there are visual representations of these computer neuron architectures. One is layer after layer of blue-grid squares piling on top of each other. Then a circle kind of spiral graph, lines reaching out at the circle's edge in green.

15:30We might think about AI as the same ones and zeros, but each model's architecture is so different that I see them as truly having their own unique shapes and geometry. When we imagine it visually, they each look completely different. Let's take a closer look at SOTA. I will show you how LLM calculates and completes a single sentence. You can see the AI models in front of you in a very big scale. 180 models looks very different, and they connect data in a very different way. So this one generates images, this one generates text, this one generates sounds. It's about unveiling the structure of AI.

16:17Then, oh my God, this is what AI looks like. This is how a machine works, a complex mathematical prediction governed by its architecture. This is the invisible logic of our time. When we bring the hidden machinery into the physical world, the artificial finally becomes tangible. To experience the shape of AI is to demystify it. This isn't just about overcoming anxiety. It is the very first step to reclaiming our human agency. But we don't want to stop in mere understanding. Clarity is just a foundation. Our true task is not to see the presence, but to shape the future. While my previous works primarily exist within digital projections and displays, I felt a strong yearning to pull this intelligence into tangible forms.

17:17I wanted to make an overwhelming experience, something that you don't just look at, but something you inhabit with your body. We are at a threshold. To co-design our future with AI, we must ask, what is the shape of future AI? I built a physical answer to that question. And this is light architecture.

17:54Imagine yourself in a large circular space. There are 24 metal cylindrical rods coming up from the ground with light on top of each one, casting shadow all across the space. The light goes across the floor and the walls, up to the ceiling. They collectively draw patterns throughout the space. The AI neurons connect and make patterns, and so here I wanted to represent that with light. In light architecture, AI takes a physical breath. These modules are no longer flat pixels. They are living neurons, and I call them neural parts. They pulse with light, move through space, running on an exact logic of AI.

18:39Here, you don't just watch a model. You stand inside the mind of a machine. Together, they form a circular network, feeding data into a central projection to manifest the final outputs. See the light spills outward, filling the voids. I meant for it to be a completely visceral and overwhelming physical experience. It transforms the entire room into one giant living block box. Why circular formation? Because I found my inspiration in human brain. Our brains have an incredible mechanism weaving data from cortex to deeper layers with the flexibility that AI cannot yet replicate. But it makes me wonder, with this incredible power inside our heads, are we genuinely training it?

19:33Or we're simply leaning on AI, paralyzed by the fear of being replaced by a machine, only to let our creativity and curiosity wither. I designed a circular formation to raise a question. What if AI learns this neuromorphic fluidity? What would that future look like? And more importantly, is that the future we want?

20:05As you walk through the blinding lights and absolute darkness, you feel the vastness of AI. Is our fate to become just data providers? Is this intelligence light on our way? Or pulling us deeper into the dark?

20:33Some of my artwork is really dark. Sometimes it's really super bright. It really fluctuates. I wanted to make the audience to think that, are we getting better or worse? Do we still have the power to make changes? To end, I bring a beam of light illuminating the darkness of the theater in almost a visual dance that helps you feel your connection to the architectures of AI and these other unimaginable challenges. I wanted to use that physicality of light. Lasers have such a strong physical volume. The light's coming from the backside of the theater towards the center of the theater. We see it. We feel it.

21:16I wanted people to be fully enveloped by the lights in darkness. This is who I am. I'm an artist who builds bridges. I collaborate with scientists, I build systems, and I connect the physical and the virtual. My art is about building spaces where you can step inside the unseen. I do this because I believe one simple truth, that we are all deeply entangled.

22:03Nature, humanity, technology, they are not separate entities. It is not us versus them or human versus machine. It is a one living network. And embracing this connection is the only way to solve wicked problems. Let this light be my final message. I hope it shines not just on our daughter, but on our shared vision. By standing together, we can face the unknown in creative worlds where we can finally belong. Thank you.

22:48That was artist Yoon Kang. In a minute, we talk about her process, the lack of funding for art here in the U.S., and why she thinks art is imperative for people so that they feel less nihilistic about their future. Yoon is so lovely and thoughtful. Stay with us. This message is brought to you by Apple Card. Apple Card members can earn unlimited daily cash back on everyday purchases wherever they shop. This means you could be earning daily cash on just about anything, like a slice of pizza from your local pizza place or a latte from the corner coffee shop. Apply for Apple Card in the Wallet app to see your credit limit offer in minutes.

23:28Subject to credit approval, Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City branch. Terms and more at AppleCard.com.

23:39Hi there, it's Adam Grant from Ted's Rethinking Podcast, and this episode is brought to you by ServiceNow. I get to spend my days studying how people think and what it actually takes to change our minds. It's work I find deeply meaningful. But even in meaningful work, there's still busy work. The admin, the repetitive processes, the invisible load that pulls attention away from what really matters. That's where ServiceNow's AI specialists come in. They don't just tell you what you should do about your busy work. They actually do it. Start to finish. Cases closed. Requests handled. No extra work for you.

24:11To learn how to put AI to work for people, visit servicenow.com.

24:41So half of the people is international. It's a very cool vibe. So when I come visit you, that's where we're going. Of course. So let's start by talking about how you started your TED Talk. So the piece that you start with, Vanishing, references the rapid loss of species on our planet. The number is unfathomable. The UN reports that something like 25 % of plant and animal species face extinction this century. Yes. The human mind cannot sort of comprehend that. And even if you do, what are we, you know, little old me, what am I supposed to do? It's almost too much to bear. That's true. And that is what you are trying to do, right?

25:32To connect us to problems that almost feel too big to comprehend? Yes. We have so many different complicated problems. For example, climate change is so massive and it's happening so differently in every part of the earth. So some people really have to fight climate change every day in their life. Some people don't. And on the other hand, there's AI. And it's so fast, we cannot even fathom it. We are the reason for all these complicated problems. We made it, but we don't even know what is happening, how to understand it, how to solve the problems. So the first thing I believe that we could do is make the problems ours.

26:26And to do that, I think we need to feel it. We need to sense it. You use the term wicked problem. That's actually an old phrase, right, from the 70s, from these design theorists, that the idea is like all of these different problems together make us feel that we can't even conceptualize or feel just exactly what is happening to us? Yeah, I think that notion is still valid, even much more valid than before because of the AI particularly. For me, the reason why I found Wicked Problems interesting is that when we talk about, when we think about, when we study about the climate change and AI and feather mobile problems of our time, we first approach is that we need to study it.

27:19We need to research it. But I think slightly different. I think we first need to sense it. We first need to feel it so that we can study it. So that we can care. Exactly. Exactly. We need to feel that first. But we just jump onto the, we have to study it, we have to tackle the problems. How can we do that? So there's a huge gap. Is that why you got into art to begin with? Not really. I was trained as a painter for such a long time. I had to deal with two-dimensional flat surface for a long time. But then I thought that, ah, maybe this is not my perfect medium. So I slowly move on to video, analog, and then to digital, and then to AI now.

28:08So learning new technology is kind of expanding my knowledge. At the same time, it somehow makes me really aware of, you know, technology is a huge part of the society. So for me, using this technology as my medium means that I am very sensitive to our society in a way. Then I wondered, because of the technology, there's a carbons and then there's climate change. So human is the best entity on the earth or are we the worst entity of the earth? So, you know, that kind of question goes on and on and on. Can we talk about passage of water and the story behind this piece of art, which is also a story about data?

28:58Yeah, so the Google Art and Culture is a massive nonprofit institution under Google. And they have a very small but special project called Heart Speed of the Earth. They invite an artist and they give us a mission. The mission is really simple. you need to talk about whatever climate change issue. You need to, you know, rigorously grounded in data. And then you need to launch your projects under the Google's platform, meaning I have to make web arts. We decided to talk about freshwater. And then when NASA joined the team, because they have a satellite that captures the freshwater data. But, you know, the data is just numbers and numbers.

29:50It doesn't speak for itself. So how can I give the data a form? You know, the data is everywhere, but I don't think the data is accessible to everyone. How can I weave the story? So that's my kind of fundamental role here as an artist. So at the time that I made this project was 2023. So let's say in 2002, there was a fair balance between the water circulation. But in 2022, we are losing fresh water so fast. So almost watching the visualization makes me somehow sad. So then it naturally leads you to think about it. Oh my God, what should we do? The passage of water has four different segments.

30:47And the very last segment, it's actually the game. I use a game engine to give us a couple of freshwater protection, how can I say, methods, technologies, so that the audience, the users, can kind of have a hope. We brought it to the COP28 Dubai with the UN. So it has a physical exhibition and online exhibition at the same time. How did people respond at that climate conference? Yeah, it changed entirely my thought about art before that project, after the project. So, you know, no one expects to see the arts work there. This club is nothing to do with art. Yeah. And of course, in the first day, no one's visiting our exhibition.

31:41But in the second day, third day, there was a queue. People really wanted to see this experience. And our audience is not arts lovers. There's no collectors, there's no arts people, but whole climate scientists, policymakers, indigenous people. Our exhibition became the platform. People share their ideas, people talking about the freshwater crisis. Maybe this is something that arts can do. You know, it's working as a creative platform so we can communicate each other, we can connect to each other. So it changes part of me as an artist in a very positive way. I'm going to take a quick break and then we'll be right back.

32:28This message is brought to you by Apple Card. Apple Card members can earn unlimited daily cash back on everyday purchases wherever they shop. This means you could be earning daily cash on just about anything, like a slice of pizza from your local pizza place or a latte from the corner coffee shop. Apply for Apple Card in the Wallet app to see your credit limit offer in minutes. Subject to credit approval, Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City Branch. Terms and more at AppleCard.com. This episode is brought to you by NPR's Planet Money. You know, one thing I love about TED Talks is how they take something huge, a scientific breakthrough, a global system, and make it feel deeply personally relevant.

33:09NPR's Planet Money does that same thing, but for the economy. Every episode starts with a question. Why are Pokemon cards outpacing your retirement account? How has Russia's economy held on through four years of war and sanctions? What does a 750-pound walk robot mean for the future of restaurants? These aren't abstract economics lectures. Their human stories, funny, surprising, and genuinely illuminating. The Planet Money team has published a book tracing the global supply chain, launched a satellite to explore the private space industry, and walked inside a live book auction, all in the name of helping you understand how money shapes the world.

33:49It's econ down to earth. Follow NPR's Planet Money podcast and understand how money shapes the world. This episode is brought to you by Walmart Business. The best leaders might tell you the work that moves an organization forward doesn't happen in spreadsheets or supply chain emails. It happens when you have the space to think big. That's the idea behind Walmart Business. It's built to take the friction out of running an organization so your team isn't losing hours to procurement logistics when they could just be focused on the problems that actually matter. With an ever-expanding business assortment, everyday low prices, and fast, reliable shipping, Walmart Business keeps your operations running smoothly.

34:31Shop online, in-store, or through the Walmart Business app, however works best for you. Simpler operations, smarter spending. It's Walmart built for your business. Sign up for a free Walmart business account at business.walmart.com.

34:54Let's turn the conversation to your more recent work, which is to do with AI, which honestly, of all the things that we've discussed, to me is the least tangible and hardest for people to wrap their heads around. What was the point for you that you were like, okay, it's time to figure out how we get people to connect with their bodies, with their senses to this invisible force in their lives? For me, the reason why I actively started tackling the AI recently is because of the user interface, the big tech products. So before the ChatGPT4, the AI was still very difficult. You have to have a proper coding knowledge.

35:42You have to have a proper experience so that you can train the model. But now everything is just at our fingertips. We just need to type it. So it removes all the barrier. And then it makes me so, so scary. And people start to using AI like a chatbot every day. So I thought that, well, something's going wrong. The technology is way much more complicated than any other technology over time. But we don't know it. We don't talk about it. What is going on behind the clean user interface? We should talk about it. And then that's the very moment we start to use the term block box. What do you think the danger is if people don't connect?

36:30Or if they have this sort of feeling that it's magic, you know, that it's beyond their understanding? Why do you find that worrying? Yeah, because it's a huge business, huge industry. Everybody can buy it, everybody can subscribe it. But if you don't know about what is going on behind that interface, we start to buy the sugar-coated marketing, how can I say, the products. The salesmanship, yes. Exactly. Exactly. For example, when the big tech corporates sell their gen AI services, for example, they always say, create something, be an artist, you could be creative person. But if you start to buy, AI is creative, then it's very dangerous.

37:21They're not creative, they're just generative. But it's such a subscription services. You just click the service, you keep buying, you start to use it. You start to believe that you're becoming creative. But generating images and sounds and videos, it doesn't mean that you become creative. But if you understand the logic of AI, if you understand the logic of LLM, you start to realize that, oh, they are not creative. They're just like optimization machine. We need to build our own literacy. So that we can make the right decision. Okay, I need this tool here. I need this tool there. And I don't need this tool here because blah, blah, blah, blah.

38:04That's what I believe where the agency starts coming back. The piece that you showed on the TED stage, the one that is sort of neural modeling, which is based tangentially on how the human brain works. It kind of looks beautiful because it's graphics changing and morphing. And if you didn't know what it was, you would think, oh, this is beautiful geometric shapes that are slowly getting connected and more connected and different and growing bigger and lots more shapes. And then you start to realize that this is inputs of information that are getting connected to each other and creating new forms, quite literally, on the screen in front of you.

38:52And then those merge together and create other new forms. It's almost like people say creativity is taking one idea and another and then smashing them together to create something new. This is almost literally seeing the graphic representation of an idea connecting to another one. It's like you're seeing creativity in geometric form growing across the screen. And on the one hand, it's very beautiful. And on the other hand, it's almost like it's happening so fast and in front of your eyes that, you know, the human brain doesn't work as fast as this. So it feels a little terrifying. Yeah, that is so true.

39:31But you know what, the reality, the speed is unfathomably faster than the actual artwork. So particularly for SOTA, the state-of-the-art project, for example, we invited so many people, like AI scientists, they loved the project. But sometimes, yeah, sometimes people found it difficult to understand because they haven't even imagined the inside of the black box. But that's the point. We need to see it first. Because without this artwork, not just my artwork, without these kind of artwork, we don't even know. You say we don't even know. And what I guess I love about this is like, if we don't, not only do we not know, we also stop asking.

40:19Exactly. And I love that this made me be like, oh, okay. You know, the black box, this idea that we don't know how the technology works. Maybe even the coders don't know how the technology works. They don't even know anymore. Yeah, they don't even know anymore. But there's something about seeing it with your eyes and feeling how it changes your mood and trying, just attempting to conceptualize it. And the feeling of beauty combined with fear. It's easy not to think about AI and just use the models and then move on with your day. But I think there's something about, like, this is what the purpose of art is, right?

41:00Yes, indeed. Yes, because it's not about giving you the answer, but more like giving you questions. And this is our time. We're already really, really deeply entangled with technology. We opened the block box. We opened the Pandora's box. We created it, but we don't know how to deal with it. So it's a massive situation. I mean, everything starts from sensing it, knowing it, learning it, so that we can have our own way of dealing it. And then I believe arts can help it. You mentioned briefly how the technologists who saw your AI artwork loved how correct it was and specific it was. Can you tell me more about how people in the tech world respond to your work?

41:51I think scientists, engineers, artists, writers, journalists, whatever the job is, it seems like everybody's doing a very different job. But at the end of the day, I think we want to communicate. The tech people think my work is interesting because they think I communicate in a very different way using the same knowledge. We analyze same satellite data, but they write paper, but I make artwork. So we have to use different senses. We have to use different parts of the brain to process what is going on in front of my eyes. At the end of the day, we want to send the message to the world. But I believe there is an only thing that creativity can do.

42:43And if it's an art, if it's a design, if it's an architect, whatever that is, I'm really happy to do it so that we can see the unseen side of the world, the invisible part of the world. Sometimes it's a climate change. Sometimes it's an unfathomable AI. Whatever that is, it will change. But I will keep trying to put the invisible visible, making visceral experiences so that we can start to sense it. You know, it was very clear with your freshwater piece, the data there, climate change, there was a message which was, this is unacceptable, clearly there needs to be action. But does your AI work have the same sort of political or activist bent?

43:32What are regular people supposed to do with this information about AI? Well, I really love that question. The water project has a clear ending. We need to protect the fresh water. We have to make an action. But then AI projects are slightly different because it is progress, but at the same time, it's a regression. So it's ambiguous in a way. I don't give them an answer. It's rather having an opportunity to think about it. How do you want to design your life with AI? I mean, it sounds like I hear your own feelings of... Exactly. ...inflictedness, because you used AI to make the artwork about AI, right?

44:20Yes. And so that must have been pretty cool and amazing. But at the same time, you've done a lot of work in environmental issues. You know the resources that is required to run the AI. And then it sounds like you are curious about a symbiotic relationship with AI, but also cautious and skeptical and unsure. It is so true. I'm exactly like a huge excitement, great anxiety, all kind of entangled inside of me. That's the reason why my artwork is also fluctuate. positive, negative, you know, lighting and darkness. Because this is the technology we built. So we want to share that feeling together. And I want to believe that we still have an opportunity to make decisions, proper decisions, proper time, so that we can progress together.

45:35Behind the scenes, just so you know, working with her, Yoon is exacting. She presented three different versions of her talk to us, complete with slides and demos. She travels with a team of engineers that she needs to install the lights and lasers that are part of her work. But there is also just something so transportive about Yoon herself. It is like she is visiting us from the future. a benevolent sage who, through her art, takes us out of the moment, the ordinary details, and gives us a philosophical reminder of how beautiful and strange this world is and how it's up to us humans to preserve it.

46:18Thank you, Yi Yun.

46:23That was Yi Yun Kong at TED2026 in conversation with me, Manoush Zomorodi. Please go check out Yoon's full talk at TED.com. Thank you so much for being here. Stick around for tomorrow on the final episode of this special series about tech, health, and humanity. A father's story about accepting what innovation could and could not do for his child's health. And how he thinks we all need to think about this time we have here on Earth. His story will change you. That's it for today. If you're curious about TED's curation, visit ted.com slash curation guidelines. TED Talks Daily is a podcast from TED.

47:07This episode was produced by Matthew Cloutier, Lucy Little, and Rachel Faulkner-White. It was edited by Alejandra Salazar with editing support from Maggie Bishop, Ban Ban Chang, Sanaz Meshkinpour, and me. Yoon's talk was fact-checked by the TED research team. Our conversation was fact-checked by Lucy Little, and this episode was mixed by Matthew Polis. The TED Talks Daily team includes Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Lucy Little, Emma Taubner, and Tansika Sungmarni Vong. With support from Daniela Ballarezzo, Valentina Bohanini, Ban Manchang, and Lainey Lott. Special thanks to Sanaz Meshkinfor and my team at NPR's TED Radio Hour for all their help on this special takeover.

47:49And to my co-curator at TED2026, a very special thank you to David Biello. You can hear more from these speakers on the TED Radio Hour with episodes coming out throughout the summer. I'm Manoush Zomorodi. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea and conversation for your feed. Thank you so much for listening. This episode is brought to you by Bill, the intelligent finance platform that helps businesses and accounting firms scale with proven results. With AI-powered automation, Bill removes the busywork from your account's payable workflow. They handle capturing invoices, routing approvals, and syncing with your accounting software so that your team can focus on growth instead of paperwork.

48:35Bill is so reliable, according to Bill, 98 of the top 100 accounting firms in the U.S. trusted to simplify and secure their bill payment processes. Bill's handled over a trillion dollars in secure payments and is ranked number one overall on G2's 2025 list of best accounting and finance products. So stop the guesswork and start scaling with the proven choice. Go with a company whose financial infrastructure is trusted by nearly half a million customers. Ready to talk with an expert? Visit bill.com slash proven and get a$150 gift card as a thank you. That's bill.com slash proven. Terms and conditions apply.

49:22See offer page for details.

49:27You have the vision for your business. You have the plan. And you just got handed a huge opportunity. But is your business connectivity reliable enough to make a move? Spectrum Business delivers fast, reliable internet, phone, TV, and mobile services, so you're always connected when it matters most. Get connectivity packages built for your business, with savings that keep your budget in check. And with fast, reliable internet, and 100 % U.S.-based customer support, you'll stay connected and ready to bring your vision to life. Learn more at spectrum.com slash business. Restrictions apply. Services not available in all areas.

50:03Hey, it's Paige from Giggly Squad, and I want to let you know that if you want the newest and hottest beauty products, you have to go to Sephora. I'm obsessed with the One Size Liquid Blotting Paper Spray. It's the first of its kind blotting spray that mattifies for up to eight hours. It's unreal. There's also the Summer Friday Shade Drops SPF 50, which basically lives in my bag at this point. Oh, and the Kayali Eden Plush Pear smells so good. It's sweet, warm, and addictive. Like, people literally stop me and ask what perfume I'm wearing, which you know I love. So if you want the makeup, skincare, hair, and fragrance products everyone's about to be obsessed with, shop only at Sephora.