Publishers Weekly
10/02/2023
Stanford University computer scientist Li debuts with an affecting memoir about immigrating to the U.S. and her cutting-edge work creating the ImageNet database that has proved critical to training visual recognition in artificial intelligence. She recounts living in poverty after moving with her parents from China to New Jersey when she was a teen in the early 1990s, but she excelled in school and eventually earned a PhD in computer science from the California Institute of Technology. The years after her graduation were filled with challenges, including her mother’s declining health and her long-distance marriage (her husband was a fellow professor employed in a different state), but professionally she made a name for herself studying artificial intelligence. She recalls her Stanford University lab’s race against Google to create software capable of describing images and, during her tenure as chief scientist of AI at Google Cloud while on sabbatical from Stanford, navigating the controversy that roiled the company after it accepted a Department of Defense contract for developing AI-powered facial recognition technology. Li’s insider perspective sheds light on how Silicon Valley is handling the ethical questions posed by AI, as when she remembers feeling “awkward” trying to reconcile her Google colleagues’ “good intentions” with her worry that AI could lead to “digital authoritarianism,” and her story of overcoming adversity inspires. This brings new dimension and humanity to discussions of AI. (Nov.)
From the Publisher
Praise for The Worlds I See
“An affecting memoir … Her story of overcoming adversity inspires. This brings new dimension and humanity to discussions of AI.”
—Publishers Weekly
"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
"Readers looking for a portal into a science that is not often illuminated or connected back to the human experience may especially enjoy this memoir." ―Booklist
APRIL 2024 - AudioFile
Cindy Kay narrates Dr. Fei-Fei Li's memoir of her life at the vanguard of artificial intelligence (AI) with an emotionally attuned ear. As a teenager, Li's family emigrated from China to the United States, a move that led to both opportunities and challenges. Kay sensitively conveys the author's confidence and vulnerability; her expansive delivery allows listeners to experience Li's story in its incredible fullness. Listeners are introduced to myriad issues surrounding AI as the author thoughtfully reflects upon her research for the image dataset ImageNet and the interdisciplinary collaboration that was necessary to create responsive, adaptive, and ethical technology. This thought-provoking production will inspire listeners to view their world and the technology they use through a fresh lens. J.R.T. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2023-09-05
A leading AI scientist looks back at her decades of research and its personal impact.
Li’s path to the “epicenter” of artificial intelligence began with an insatiable curiosity and stoic defiance inherited from her parents, who came of age during China’s Cultural Revolution. Moving to the U.S. with her family in 1992, when she was 15, the author was drawn into the digital revolution, especially the false starts and stalled progress of AI—a discipline that, Li clarifies, goes back further than today’s headlines suggest. With the support and encouragement of mentors and collaborators, she attended Princeton, participated in breakthrough work at Caltech, and built a dazzling, boundary-crossing career merging physics with neuroscience and human evolution. Ultimately, she became the chief scientist of AI at Google Cloud and director of Stanford’s storied AI Lab. Li attempts to translate the scientific details of some of her work, but many of these sections are murky and tedious for readers without a tech background. The author is strongest in her broader observations about the primacy of human sensory interpretation and the rise in the importance of data for AI, or the similarities between the immigrant experience and scientific discovery. The author chronicles how she helped shepherd AI from its most recent “winter,” as well as the opening of the floodgates between academia and the tech firms of Silicon Valley. Li’s personal and professional experience position her to illuminate the looming challenges in this accelerating trajectory, along with its ethical tensions and inherent tendency to promulgate a privileged perspective. Unfortunately, she short-circuits the power of her insights and calls for a human-centered approach to AI by relying on technical detail, professional jargon, and personal anecdotes, conveyed with a distance that muffles their impact.
Li is a pioneer, but she misses an opportunity to meaningfully weigh in on a pressing current issue.
