Mathieu Van de Catsije
I'm interested in what happens to companies and markets when most of the work inside them is done by AI.
I explore that question as a doctoral researcher at the University of St. Gallen, based in the joint HSG–ETH–Zurich AI Lab, where I work on two sides of the same shift: how people actually collaborate with AI when the stakes are real, and what a firm becomes when most of its work is done by software rather than staff.
Before the PhD I spent two years in strategy at Zurich Insurance, most recently leading a group strategy programme across Asia-Pacific from Singapore. I trained first in mathematics and physics, then in innovation and technology management at Mines Paris PSL and Paris-Dauphine, and I've kept an early habit of not doing things the way everyone else does them.
I also publish The AI Strategy Brief, a fortnightly newsletter that cuts AI down to what matters for business and finance. Away from the desk I run long distances in the mountains and read more manga and bande dessinée than is strictly reasonable.
Writing
- AI after the hype: what 2025 changed
A year-end reckoning with AI — which of the year's shifts actually mattered for business and finance, and which were noise.
- Who builds tomorrow?
On who actually gets to shape the next decade of technology — and who only believes they do.
- Charting the course of AI: from myth to reality
Cutting through the mythology around AI to what the technology can — and can't — actually do.
Updates
- Started the PhD at the HSG–ETH–Zurich AI Lab
Otherwise
Ultra-trail running and long walks; manga and bande dessinée (a habit that once turned into a job at a comics startup); and a standing interest in Asia, in markets, and in explaining complicated things simply.
Contact
For research, writing or collaboration, email is best. I read everything, and reply to most.