In a world where artificial intelligence is reshaping our future, one woman stands out as a trailblazer—and she's not afraid to embrace her uniqueness. Meet Professor Fei-Fei Li, the 'godmother' of AI, who boldly declares, 'I'm proud to be different.' But here's where it gets intriguing: as the only woman among seven pioneers of AI receiving the prestigious 2025 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering from the King, her journey is both inspiring and thought-provoking.
Today, at St James's Palace, Prof. Li joins an elite group of honorees, including Prof. Yoshua Bengio, Dr. Bill Dally, Dr. Geoffrey Hinton, Prof. John Hopfield, Nvidia founder Jensen Huang, and Meta's Chief AI Scientist Dr. Yann LeCun. Together, they are celebrated for their groundbreaking contributions to modern machine learning, the backbone of AI's rapid evolution. While Dr. Hinton, Prof. Bengio, and Dr. LeCun are widely hailed as the 'Godfathers of AI'—a title cemented by their 2018 Turing Award—Prof. Li stands alone as the field's 'godmother.'
And this is the part most people miss: Prof. Li initially hesitated to embrace this title. 'I wouldn't call myself the godmother of anything,' she admitted to the BBC. Yet, she realized rejecting it would mean missing an opportunity to spotlight women in science and technology. 'Men are easily called godfathers or founding fathers,' she noted. 'For the young women I mentor and future generations, I now accept this title with pride.'
Born in China and later excelling in computer science in the U.S., Prof. Li is a co-director at Stanford's Computer Science Department and the CEO of World Labs. Her work on ImageNet—a project that revolutionized computer vision by enabling machines to 'see'—has been pivotal. By creating large-scale image recognition datasets, she laid the foundation for much of today's AI technology. 'That dataset opened the floodgate of data-driven AI,' she reflects.
Looking ahead, Prof. Li believes the next AI milestone will be its ability to interact with the physical world—a skill innate to humans and animals. 'If AI can master this, it could supercharge human capabilities in creativity, robotic learning, design, and more,' she explains.
But here's where it gets controversial: the 'godfathers' of AI don't see eye to eye on its risks. Dr. Hinton warns of an 'extinction-level threat,' while Dr. LeCun dismisses such apocalyptic views as exaggerated. Prof. Li, however, takes a 'pragmatic approach,' viewing their disagreements as healthy. 'AI is too profound and impactful not to debate,' she says. 'Extreme rhetoric worries me. We need science-based, factual communication, not sensationalism.'
As these seven laureates gather for the first time, their collective work underscores the Queen Elizabeth Prize's mission: honoring engineers whose innovations benefit humanity. Past recipients include Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web. Lord Vallance, chair of the prize foundation, praises the winners for 'demonstrating how engineering sustains our planet and transforms our lives.'
Now, here's a question for you: As AI continues to evolve, should we focus more on its potential dangers or its transformative possibilities? Do you agree with Prof. Li's call for moderation in AI discourse, or do you think bold warnings are necessary? Share your thoughts below—let’s spark a conversation!
