Fei-Fei Li

AI pioneer

Fei-Fei Li is a computer science professor at Stanford University and founding director of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI, an organization that aims to advance AI research, education, policy and practice to improve the human condition.

Why you should listen

With experiences as chief scientist of AI at Google Cloud and board member at Twitter (now known as X), Fei-Fei Li is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Li is one of the most cited computer scientists in the field of AI and is widely known as "the godmother of AI" for her work that has contributed to the birth of modern AI. Her book The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI was published in 2023.

Fei-Fei Li’s TED Talks

Fei-Fei Li
How we're teaching computers to understand pictures
17 minutes 48 seconds
When a very young child looks at a picture, she can identify simple elements: "cat," "book," "chair." Now, computers are getting smart enough to do that too. What's next? In a thrilling talk, computer vision expert Fei-Fei Li describes the state of the art -- including the database of 15 million photos her team built to "teach" a computer to understand pictures -- and the key insights yet to come.
Posted Mar 2015
Fei-Fei Li
With spatial intelligence, AI will understand the real world
15 minutes 11 seconds
In the beginning of the universe, all was darkness — until the first organisms developed sight, which ushered in an explosion of life, learning and progress. AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li says a similar moment is about to happen for computers and robots. She shows how machines are gaining "spatial intelligence" — the ability to process visual data, make predictions and act upon those predictions — and shares how this could enable AI to interact with humans in the real world.
Posted May 2024

More news and ideas from Fei-Fei Li

Live from TED2024
Mind Expanders: Notes on Session 2 of TED2024
April 16, 2024
AI is reshaping how we interact with the world around us and within us, expanding creative possibilities and bringing us closer together by dissolving barriers of all kinds. But anyone who’s paying attention can spot its obvious flaws and potential pitfalls. From trailblazing platforms making software accessible to micro-robotics revolutionizing health care (including a mind-blowing […]
Continue reading
Live from TED
Machines that learn: A recap of Session 3 at TED2015
March 17, 2015
Chris Anderson introduces Session 3 with a compelling idea: “Most of the new things happening right now that feel like magic — whether it’s self-driving cars or online translations suddenly getting much better — there’s machine learning behind it.” In this session we look at the issues around machines that learn. The challenge of teaching […]
Continue reading
Live from TED
Building an AI with the intelligence of a toddler: Fei-Fei Li at TED2015
March 17, 2015
A cat. A house. A plane. Most 3-year-old children can point at these and identify them by sight. Fei-Fei Li, the director of Stanford’s Artificial Intelligence Lab and Vision Lab, has spent the past 15 years teaching machines how to see. Our most advanced machines are like toddlers when it comes to sight, Li says; […]
Continue reading

Fei-Fei Li

Why you should listen

Fei-Fei Li’s TED Talks

More news and ideas from Fei-Fei Li

Mind Expanders: Notes on Session 2 of TED2024

Machines that learn: A recap of Session 3 at TED2015

Building an AI with the intelligence of a toddler: Fei-Fei Li at TED2015