The Worlds I See, Dr. FeiFei Li
The Worlds I See, Dr. FeiFei Li
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The Worlds I See
Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI

Author: Dr. Fei-Fei Li

Narrator: Cindy Kay

Unabridged: 12 hr 11 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/07/2023


Synopsis

The moving memoir of a scientist coming of age as an immigrant in America who finds her calling at the forefront of the AI revolution.

Wired called Dr. Fei-Fei Li “one of a tiny group of scientists—a group perhaps small enough to fit around a kitchen table—who are responsible for AI’s recent remarkable advances.”

Known to the world as the creator of ImageNet, a key catalyst of modern artificial intelligence, Dr. Li has spent more than two decades at the forefront of the field. But her career in science was improbable from the start. As immigrants, her family faced a difficult transition from China’s middle class to American poverty. And their lives were made all the harder as they struggled to care for her ailing mother, who was working tirelessly to help them all gain a foothold in their new land.

Fei-Fei’s adolescent knack for physics endured, however, and positioned her to make a crucial contribution to the breakthrough we now call AI, placing her at the center of a global transformation. Over the last decades, her work has brought her face-to-face with the extraordinary possibilities—and the extraordinary dangers—of the technology she loves.

The Worlds I See is a story of science in the first person, documenting one of the century’s defining moments from the inside. It provides a riveting story of a scientist at work and a thrillingly clear explanation of what artificial intelligence actually is—and how it came to be. Emotionally raw and intellectually uncompromising, this audiobook is a testament not only to the passion required for even the most technical scholarship but also to the curiosity forever at its heart.

A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books.

About Dr. Fei-Fei Li

Fei-Fei Li is a computer science professor at Stanford University and founding director of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI as well as a founder and chairperson of the board of the nonprofit AI4ALL. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Melinda on November 03, 2023

"How can AI, above all else, respect human dignity?” That’s the question Dr. Fei-Fei Li asked her students at Stanford and one she challenges us to consider in her powerful memoir, The Worlds I See. Dr. Li is a renowned computer scientist who played a pivotal role in the development of modern artifi......more

Goodreads review by Laura on December 12, 2023

Favorite non-fiction of 2023. Her high school math teacher! Her parents’ sacrifices. And that she would return from Princeton on the weekends to work in the dry cleaning shop. Absolutely devoid of any feelings of entitlement. Her calculator that her dad got at a garage sale, and her math teacher fina......more

Goodreads review by Bharath on September 23, 2024

This is a very powerful memoir of an achiever who has had a significant role in getting AI to where it is today. I watched videos featuring her on Youtube (including the book release function at Stanford) and TED, all of which were very interesting. This is more of her life journey and not an explan......more

Goodreads review by Michelle on December 31, 2023

I was never interested in pursuing the vast field of AI as a student but this book makes me want to dip my toes in a little. Dr. Fei-Fei Li is SO PHENOMENAL I COULD CRY. I was like this many times while reading: 🥹. I love the format. Like fiction would switch between multiple character's POVs, Dr. Li......more

Goodreads review by Nelson on May 10, 2024

"The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI" (2023) by Fei-Fei Li has been sold as a memoir of recent developments in AI but has very little to say. Li has made a mark on recent developments in AI. Still, neither these discoveries nor her personal life story, her emigr......more


Quotes

Praise for The Worlds I See

"An inspiring personal journey from immigrant childhood to trailblazing scientist, The Worlds I See advocates for overcoming societal barriers and makes a compelling case for a human-centric, ethical approach to AI."
Jennifer Doudna, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, CRISPR pioneer, and coauthor of A Crack in Creation

"Fei-Fei Li is one of the scientists responsible for the birth of today's most widely discussed science, Artificial Intelligence. In The Worlds I See she gives the best explanation of AI that I've ever read while telling the story of her own profoundly American journey as a young immigrant who finds herself through education. This is a must-read."
―Condoleezza Rice, Director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford and 66th Secretary of State of the United States.

“A remarkable book from one of the leading scientists in the field of artificial intelligence. It’s both a moving and personal coming of age story of a young scientist and a riveting narrative that brings the reader into the earliest days of one of the most consequential scientific developments of our time. The Worlds I See is a deeply human story that is ultimately about Fei-Fei Li’s lifelong passion for learning and deep love of science.”
Ed Catmull, cofounder Pixar, bestselling author of Creativity Inc.

"A fascinating and galvanizing memoir, The Worlds I See is a testament to the power and possibility of humanity—one told through Fei-Fei Li’s own remarkable trajectory from humble origins to becoming one of AI’s key visionaries, and in her essential work to develop and use that technology to improve the human condition."
―Reid Hoffman, co-founder of Linkedin and Inflection.AI, bestselling author of Impromptu

"Fei-Fei Li was the first computer vision researcher to truly understand the power of big data and her work opened the floodgates for deep learning. She delivers an urgent, clear-eyed account of the awesome potential—and danger—of the AI technology that she helped to unleash and her call for action and collective responsibility is desperately needed at this pivotal moment in history."
―Geoff Hinton, Turing Award winner, and Professor of Computer Science, University of Toronto