Fei-Fei Li, a prominent figure in the realms of artificial intelligence and computer vision, has left an indelible mark on the landscape of technological advancement. Renowned for her groundbreaking research and influential contributions, Li’s work transcends the boundaries of academia, resonating profoundly in industry and society at large. As a professor at Stanford University and the co-director of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI, Li has spearheaded efforts to imbue AI systems with human-like understanding, empathy, and ethical sensitivity. Her tireless advocacy for inclusive and equitable AI technologies underscores her commitment to harnessing the potential of AI for the betterment of humanity. With a deep-seated belief in the transformative power of AI, Fei-Fei Li continues to inspire and catalyze innovation in the field, shaping the trajectory of AI research and application for generations to come. Below, find a collection of insightful quotes by Fei-Fei Li that encapsulate her vision, wisdom, and unwavering dedication to advancing AI.
I’m a go-getter. It’s in my DNA. If I spend a lot of time lamenting on the difficulties, then it could be distracting. Fei-Fei Li
We need to inject humanism into our AI education and research by injecting all walks of life into the process. Fei-Fei Li
More than 500 million years ago, vision became the primary driving force of evolution’s ‘big bang’, the Cambrian Explosion, which resulted in explosive speciation of the animal kingdom. 500 million years later, AI technology is at the verge of changing the landscape of how humans live, work, communicate,and shape our environment. Fei-Fei Li
As one of the leaders in the world for AI, I feel tremendous excitement and responsibility to create the most awesome and benevolent technology for society and to educate the most awesome and benevolent technologists – that’s my calling. Fei-Fei Li
I don’t know what would happen if the media starts picking up a theme that Google is secretly building AI weapons or AI technologies to enable weapons for the defense industry. Fei-Fei Li
Even a cat has things it can do that AI cannot. Fei-Fei Li
If someone has a fantastic biology background, he or she can contribute in AI and health care. AI has many aspects. Fei-Fei Li
Yes, we have prototyped cars that can drive by themselves, but without smart vision, they cannot really tell the difference between a crumpled paper bag on the road, which can be run over, and a rock that size, which should be avoided. Fei-Fei Li
There’s a great phrase, written in the ’70s: ‘The definition of today’s AI is a machine that can make a perfect chess move while the room is on fire.’ It really speaks to the limitations of AI. In the next wave of AI research, if we want to make more helpful and useful machines, we’ve got to bring back the contextual understanding. Fei-Fei Li
Smart CEOs should be thinking about AI and its impact on their respective business. Fei-Fei Li
AI cloud is just very, very nascent. Fei-Fei Li
Making AI more sensitive to the full scope of human thought is no simple task. The solutions are likely to require insights derived from fields beyond computer science, which means programmers will have to learn to collaborate more often with experts in other domains. Fei-Fei Li
We talk a lot about building benevolent technology. Our technology reflects our values. Fei-Fei Li
If you were a computer and read all the AI articles and extracted out the names that are quoted, I guarantee you that women rarely show up. For every woman who has been quoted about AI technology, there are a hundred more times men were quoted. Fei-Fei Li
Understanding vision and building visual systems is really understanding intelligence. Fei-Fei Li
The cloud is this gigantic computing vehicle that delivers computing services to every single industry. Fei-Fei Li
As for me, I’m an optimist. Fei-Fei Li
For me it’s very important to think about AI’s impact in the world, and one of the most important missions is to democratize this technology. Fei-Fei Li
I believe AI and its benefits have no borders. Whether a breakthrough occurs in Silicon Valley, Beijing, or anywhere else, it has the potential to make everyone’s life better for the entire world. Fei-Fei Li
As a technologist, I see how AI and the fourth industrial revolution will impact every aspect of people’s lives. Fei-Fei Li
I didn’t make a lot of friends in high school. It’s a cruel time, and I was very geeky. Fei-Fei Li
The tools and technologies we’ve developed are really the first few drops of water in the vast ocean of what AI can do. Fei-Fei Li
I really believe there are no borders for science. Fei-Fei Li
The day healthcare can fully embrace AI is the day we have a revolution in terms of cutting costs and improving care. Fei-Fei Li
The real existential challenge is to live up to your fullest potential, along with living up to your intense sense of responsibility and to be honest to yourself about what you want. Fei-Fei Li
I imagine a world in which AI is going to make us work more productively, live longer, and have cleaner energy. Fei-Fei Li
What makes humans unique is that evolution gave us the most incredible and sophisticated vision system, motor system, and language system, and they all work together. Fei-Fei Li
Besides publishing its own work, the Google AI China Center will also support the AI research community by funding and sponsoring AI conferences and workshops and working closely with the vibrant Chinese AI research community. Fei-Fei Li
We all have a responsibility to make sure everyone – including companies, governments, and researchers – develop AI with diversity in mind. Fei-Fei Li
The only path to build intelligent machines is to enable it with powerful visual intelligence, just like what animals did in evolution. Fei-Fei Li
I believe in the future of AI changing the world. The question is, who is changing AI? It is really important to bring diverse groups of students and future leaders into the development of AI. Fei-Fei Li
When I was a graduate student in computer science in the early 2000s, computers were barely able to detect sharp edges in photographs, let alone recognize something as loosely defined as a human face. Fei-Fei Li
I love Silicon Valley, but there is a dominant voice of, ‘Tech is cool. Tech is geeky. Tech is a guy with a hoodie.’ Fei-Fei Li
If our era is the next Industrial Revolution, as many claim, AI is surely one of its driving forces. Fei-Fei Li
As nature discovered early on, vision is one of the most powerful secret weapons of an intelligent animal to navigate, survive, interact, and change the complex world it lives in. Fei-Fei Li
AI is everywhere. It’s not that big, scary thing in the future. AI is here with us. Fei-Fei Li
Governments can make a greater effort to encourage computer science education, especially among young girls, racial minorities, and other groups whose perspectives have been underrepresented in AI. Fei-Fei Li
No one tells a child how to see, especially in the early years. They learn this through real-world experiences and examples. Fei-Fei Li
AI-assisted driving is a perfect platform for advancing fundamental human-centric artificial intelligence research while also producing practical applications. Fei-Fei Li
I believe in human-centered AI to benefit people in positive and benevolent ways. Fei-Fei Li
The paradigm shift of the ImageNet thinking is that while a lot of people are paying attention to models, let’s pay attention to data. Data will redefine how we think about models. Fei-Fei Li
Autonomous driving provides a scenario where AI can deliver smart tools for assistance in decision-making and planning to human drivers. Fei-Fei Li
From the day an idea is conceptualized to the day the technology is built, carried out, and regulated, it’s important to have that human awareness. Fei-Fei Li
There is great potential to use computer vision technology in a constructive and benevolent way. Fei-Fei Li
Weaponized AI is probably one of the most sensitized topics of AI – if not the most. Fei-Fei Li
AI will impact every industry on Earth, including manufacturing, agriculture, health care, and more. Fei-Fei Li
It is deeply against my principles to work on any project that I think is to weaponize AI. Fei-Fei Li
When eyes were first developed in animals, suddenly animal life becomes proactive. Fei-Fei Li
Technology could benefit or hurt people, so the usage of tech is the responsibility of humanity as a whole, not just the discoverer. I am a person before I’m an AI technologist. Fei-Fei Li
I consider the pixel data in images and video to be the dark matter of the Internet. Fei-Fei Li
One thing ImageNet changed in the field of AI is suddenly people realized the thankless work of making a dataset was at the core of AI research. Fei-Fei Li
Just like the brain consists of billions of highly connected neurons, a basic operating unit in a neural network is a neuron-like node. It takes input from other nodes and sends output to others. Fei-Fei Li
We will not only use the machines for their intelligence, we will also collaborate with them in ways that we cannot even imagine. Fei-Fei Li
I often tell my students not to be misled by the name ‘artificial intelligence’ – there is nothing artificial about it. AI is made by humans, intended to behave by humans, and, ultimately, to impact humans’ lives and human society. Fei-Fei Li
This is the world where our children will live, and technology should reflect that diverse world. With technology and a little love, we can make it a better place for them. Fei-Fei Li
