The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI
It suggested that even the most complex ideas were something to share, graciously, rather than secrets to hoard.
Fei-Fei Li • The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI
I was captivated by the idea of exploring the world through a more organic lens. After years of following the trail of physics to the outermost reaches of the universe, it was suddenly doubling back on itself, leading me to look inward for the first time—toward living bodies, beating hearts, and restless minds.
Fei-Fei Li • The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI
Like any adolescent prone to seeing life as a melodrama, I might have found it easy to convince myself I was alone in my struggle against China’s gender norms.
Fei-Fei Li • The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI
The highest compliment I can pay my father doubles as the most damning critique: that he’s exactly what would result if a child could design their ideal parent in the total absence of adult supervision.
Fei-Fei Li • The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI
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
As time passed, I began to realize that the incident wasn’t the first sign that my family’s inclusivity wasn’t a given outside the home.
Fei-Fei Li • The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI
Admittedly, my mother and her two sisters were my grandparents’ only children—three uniformly headstrong daughters and not a son in sight—so opportunities for chauvinism were limited long before I showed up. But their affection endured with the birth of my cousin—a boy, at last—and I never second-guessed it. It was only as I grew up that I realized
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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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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.