The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI
The life of a scientist, like the life of an immigrant—the life of an adventurer—is one in which “home” is never a clear concept. The best work always happens on the borders, where ideas are forever trapped between coming and going, explored by strangers in strange lands, insiders and outsiders at the same time. But that’s what makes us so powerful
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It was a reminder that the best work is often done in the shared spaces of science as a whole—global collaborations that dance over boundaries without hesitation—rather than within the bubbles of our own fields.
Fei-Fei Li • The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI
Among science’s greatest virtues, however, is its ability to recast a lesson in humility as a moment of possibility.
Fei-Fei Li • The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI
Where we once sought to give our algorithms a kind of encyclopedic awareness—all categories and things—we now aim for something richer. A more intimate understanding of the spaces and moments and even meaning in which those things are embedded. An expansion of not just quantity, but detail and nuance. New approaches to data that go beyond simple cu
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I’d dedicated my career to trying to understand the nature of the mind; among the greatest honors of my life was the chance to better know the nature of his.
Fei-Fei Li • The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI
The private life I’d worked so hard to separate from my journey as a scientist had burst through the dam, washing over everything in its path. It was long overdue.
Fei-Fei Li • The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI
As a scientist, however, the decision was much simpler. I was part of a young, fast-evolving field poised to change the world, maybe within my lifetime, and the people I met at Stanford believed that as sincerely as I did. Princeton felt like home, but I couldn’t deny that Stanford seemed like an even more hospitable backdrop for my research. In fa
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My work with Arnie taught me two essential lessons: that the greatest triumphs of AI wouldn’t merely be scientific, but humanistic as well, and that achieving them would be impossible without help.
Fei-Fei Li • The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI
The details of the work were, of course, immaterial; it was just the latest testament to the lab’s central values: an abiding respect for the complexity of the world and a hunger to explore it, no matter the cost. We felt like art lovers on a guided museum tour, each new exhibit challenging us while stirring the awe we felt for the boundless detail
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