Photo credit: Vinexpress international
Leaving behind a comfortable life in China to the US with her family, Fei Fei Li overcame hardships to become one of the world’s leading scientists in artificial intelligence.
VN Express International reports that the 48-year-old Stanford University professor, dubbed the “Godmother of AI”, was honoured with the US$3 million VinFuture Grand Prize on December 6. Along with four other pioneering scientists in AI and deep learning – Yoshua Bengio, Geoffrey E. Hinton, Jensen Huang, and Yann Lecun-Li was recognized for her transformative contributions to the field.
The prize honoured her groundbreaking work in computer vision and the creation of ImageNet, a revolutionary dataset that has had a profound impact on the development of AI.
Her research has underscored the critical role of data in training AI systems and influencing its applications across various fields. By expanding the boundaries of machine perception and interpretation, her work has catalyzed innovation in computer vision, delivering remarkable benefits to society.
Born in Beijing and raised in Sichuan Province, Li grew up in a well-off family. Her father, Li Shun, worked in the computer department of a chemical factory, and her mother, Kuang Ying, was a high school teacher.
In 1992, the family moved to the US, hoping to secure better educational opportunities for her. However, life in America presented immense challenges. With their limited English skills, her father found work repairing cameras, and her mother became a cashier at a supermarket. The family lived in a small one-bedroom apartment, which contrasted with their comfortable life in China.
Li said, “We had no money. So, apart from studying, I worked various odd jobs. I did not feel sorry for myself because my parents worked just as hard. Together, we strived to survive as a family. I learned English from scratch but excelled academically, particularly in math and science.”
In high school, she worked as a waitress and cleaner. Her talent for math and physics caught the attention of her teacher, Bob Sabella, who became a guiding force in her life. His encouragement and support instilled confidence in Li, helping her feel included and valued beyond her identity as a Chinese immigrant.
She obtained a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in 2004. In 2006, she conceived the idea of ImageNet, often described as the “eyes of AI,” which laid the groundwork for generative AI. The database pairs millions of images with detailed textual descriptions, serving as a benchmark for developing advanced AI systems. By 2009, Li and her team had labelled 3.2 million images.
In November 2923, Li published a memoir titled “The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI.”
