Nov 20, 2025 The Mishal Husain Show
Stanford University Professor Fei-Fei Li has been at the forefront of artificial intelligence research for 25 years, which is why she’s been called the “godmother of AI.”

In this conversation she tells Mishal Husain how she arrived in the US as a teenager after her parents decided to emigrate from China. She also talks about the high school teacher who inspired her, and her deep love of physics, leading her to ask what she calls “audacious” questions.

These days, amid her excitement about AI and its potential, she also is focused on what humans must do to build safeguards, and has a message for parents too.

00:00 Introduction from Mishal Husain
01:38 AI is a “civilizational technology”
03:15 “Technology is a double-edged sword”
05:15 Being a tech CEO and an academic
06:22 Falling in love with physics
07:58 What is intelligence?
09:31 Finding my first North Star
10:17 Fei-Fei Li’s two key breakthroughs
14:52 Moving from China to the US at 15
16:48 Running the family shop taught me resilience
19:48 “I wasn’t curious about nightclubs”
20:45 My inspirational teacher
25:00 “China is a powerhouse in AI”
26:16 Creating 3D worlds with AI
31:28 AI and the jobs market
33:20 Are humans going to be replaced?
37:33 “The machine overlord”
38:15 What should parents tell their children?
39:38 The AI bubble
41:41 Powering the big datacenter AI needs
43:03 “I’m not a tech utopian nor a dystopian”
44:15 “My one worry is our teachers”
45:20 “I’m conscious of my responsibility”
46:51 Fei-Fei Li believes in timeless human values
48:20 “My favorite book these days is Harry Potter”