Last week, World Labs announced its acquisition of SceniX, bringing together two teams working on one of AI's biggest unsolved problems: how to give machines a true understanding of the physical world.
Martin Casado sits down with Fei-Fei Li, co-founder and CEO of World Labs, creator of ImageNet, and pioneer of spatial intelligence, alongside Yunzhu Li, co-founder of SceniX and assistant professor at Columbia University. They discuss why World Labs acquired SceniX, how simulation can unlock the next generation of robotics, and why training robots may require a fundamentally different approach than training language models.
The conversation explores real-to-sim-to-real pipelines, world models, robotics foundation models, evaluation, synthetic data, and why the future of AI depends not just on understanding language—but on understanding and interacting with the physical world.
Resources:
Follow Fei-Fei Li on X: https://x.com/drfeifei
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Erik Brynjolfsson has a challenge for anyone worried about artificial
intelligence: Stop asking what AI will do to us, and start asking what
we will do with AI.
In this episode, the Stanford University economist explains why technology isn’t the biggest barrier to progress — people, organizations, and institutions are. Drawing on new research into AI’s impact on jobs, productivity, and economic growth, he argues that the future isn’t predetermined: It will be shaped by the choices we make today. This is a timely conversation about human agency, shared prosperity, and why the most important AI breakthroughs may have less to do with technology than with how we use it. Read the episode transcript here.
Guest bio: Erik Brynjolfsson is the Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Professor and senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI, and
director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab. He is also the Ralph
Landau Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy
Research, professor by courtesy at the Stanford Graduate School of
Business and Stanford Department of Economics, and a research associate
at the National Bureau of Economic Research.
A best-selling author, Brynjolfsson focuses his research on examining the effects of information technologies on business strategy, productivity and performance, digital commerce, and intangible assets.
Me, Myself, and AI is a podcast produced by MIT Sloan Management Review and hosted by Sam Ransbotham. It is engineered by David Lishansky and produced by Allison Ryder.
We encourage you to rate and review our show. Your comments may be used in Me, Myself, and AI materials.
This week, feuding between some of the biggest tech companies spilled into public view. We discuss Apple’s accusation that OpenAI tried to steal secrets about Apple’s hardware business, as well as share our reactions about OpenAI’s new model, Sol, and Anthropic’s decision to extend access to its model Fable.
Then, we unpack the loudest warning yet about A.I. and jobs. We talk with Erik Brynjolfsson, a Stanford economist, about a statement he helped organize that implores economists and A.I. researchers to “act now” to steer A.I. in a direction that complements humans.
And finally, we play a round of HatGPT.
Guest:
Erik Brynjolfsson, senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered A.I., and director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab.
Additional Reading:
Apple Sues OpenAI, Accusing It of Stealing Company Secrets
OpenAI’s First Device Will Be Movable, Screenless Speaker Built as A.I. Companion
Nearly 200 Economists and Tech Leaders Warn of A.I. Threats
The loudest warning about A.I. and jobs yet
OpenAI Is Showing Kalshi’s World Cup Odds in ChatGPT
New York Enacts Nation’s First Statewide Moratorium on Data Centers
Brown Professor Suspects Majority of His Class Used A.I. to Cheat
MiniMax CEO Vows to Forgo Salary Until Achieving A.G.I.
Lorde Speaks Out — With Expletives — Against A.I. Glasses
Nearly 6 in 10 Young Women Get Health and Wellness Information from Influencers
Meta Removes A.I. Feature on Instagram After Days of Backlash
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Dr. Fei-Fei Li (@drfeifei) is the inaugural Sequoia Professor in the Computer Science Department at Stanford University, a founding co-director of Stanford’s Human-Centered AI Institute, and the co-founder and CEO of World Labs, a generative AI company focusing on Spatial Intelligence. She is the author of The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI, her memoir and one of Barack Obama’s recommended books on AI and a Financial Times best book of 2023.
This episode is brought to you by:
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*
TIMESTAMPS
[00:00:00] Start.
[00:01:22] Why it’s so remarkable this is our first time meeting.
[00:03:21] From a childhood in Chengdu to New Jersey
[00:04:51] Being raised by the opposite of tiger parenting.
[00:07:53] Why Dr. Li’s brave parents left everything behind.
[00:11:17] Bob Sabella: The math teacher who sacrificed lunch hours for an immigrant kid.
[00:19:37] Seven years running a dry cleaning shop through Princeton.
[00:20:50] How ImageNet birthed modern AI.
[00:23:21] From fighter jets to physics to the audacious question: What is intelligence?
[00:27:24] The epiphany everyone missed: Big data as the hidden hypothesis.
[00:28:49] Against the single-genius myth: Science as non-linear lineage.
[00:32:18] Amazon Mechanical Turk: When desperation breeds innovation.
[00:39:03] Quality control puzzles: How do you stop people from seeing pandas everywhere?
[00:41:36] The “Godmother of AI” on what everyone’s missing: People.
[00:42:31] Civilizational technology: AI’s fingerprints on GDP, culture, and Japanese taxi screens.
[00:47:45] Pragmatic optimist: Why neither utopians nor doomsayers have it right.
[00:51:30] Why World Labs: Spatial intelligence as the next frontier beyond language.
[00:53:17] Packing sandwiches and painting bedrooms: Breaking down spatial reasoning.
[00:55:16] Medieval French towns on a budget: How World Labs serves high school theater.
[00:59:08] Flight simulators for robots and strawberry field therapy for OCD.
[01:01:42] The scientists who don’t make headlines: Spelke, Gopnik, Brooks, and the cognitive giants.
[01:03:16] What’s underappreciated: Spatial intelligence, AI in education, and the messy middle of labor.
[01:06:21] Hiring at World Labs: Why tool embrace matters more than degrees.
[01:08:50] Rethinking evaluation: Show students AI’s B-minus, then challenge them to beat it.
[01:11:24] Dr. Li’s Billboard.
[01:13:13] The fortuitous naming of Fei-Fei.
[01:14:46] Parting thoughts.
*
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Fei-Fei Li is a Stanford professor, co-director of Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, and co-founder of World Labs. She created ImageNet, the dataset that sparked the deep learning revolution.
Justin Johnson is her former PhD student, ex-professor at Michigan, ex-Meta researcher, and now co-founder of World Labs.
Together, they just launched Marble—the first model that generates explorable 3D worlds from text or images.
In this episode Fei-Fei and Justin explore why spatial intelligence is fundamentally different from language, what's missing from current world models (hint: physics), and the architectural insight that transformers are actually set models, not sequence models.
Resources:
Follow Fei-Fei on X: https://x.com/drfeifei
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Fei-Fei Li and Justin Johnson are cofounders of World Labs, who have recently launched Marble (https://marble.worldlabs.ai/), a new kind of generative “world model” that can create editable 3D environments from text, images, and other spatial inputs. Marble lets creators generate persistent 3D worlds, precisely control cameras, and interactively edit scenes, making it a powerful tool for games, film, VR, robotics simulation, and more. In this episode, Fei-Fei and Justin share how their journey from ImageNet and Stanford research led to World Labs, why spatial intelligence is the next frontier after LLMs, and how world models could change how machines see, understand, and build in 3D.
We discuss:
* The massive compute scaling from AlexNet to today and why world models and spatial data are the most compelling way to “soak up” modern GPU clusters compared to language alone.
* What Marble actually is: a generative model of 3D worlds that turns text and images into editable scenes using Gaussian splats, supports precise camera control and recording, and runs interactively on phones, laptops, and VR headsets.
* Fei-fei’s essay:
on spatial intelligence as a distinct form of intelligence from language: from picking up a mug to inferring the 3D structure of DNA, and why language is a lossy, low-bandwidth channel for describing the rich 3D/4D world we live in.
* Whether current models “understand” physics or just fit patterns: the gap between predicting orbits and discovering F=ma, and how attaching physical properties to splats and distilling physics engines into neural networks could lead to genuine causal reasoning.
* The changing role of academia in AI, why Fei-Fei worries more about under-resourced universities than “open vs closed,” and how initiatives like national AI compute clouds and open benchmarks can rebalance the ecosystem.
* Why transformers are fundamentally set models, not sequence models, and how that perspective opens up new architectures for world models, especially as hardware shifts from single GPUs to massive distributed clusters.
* Real use cases for Marble today: previsualization and VFX, game environments, virtual production, interior and architectural design (including kitchen remodels), and generating synthetic simulation worlds for training embodied agents and robots.
* How spatial intelligence and language intelligence will work together in multimodal systems, and why the goal isn’t to throw away LLMs but to complement them with rich, embodied models of the world.
* Fei-Fei and Justin’s long-term vision for spatial intelligence: from creative tools for artists and game devs to broader applications in science, medicine, and real-world decision-making.
—
Fei-Fei Li
* X: https://x.com/drfeifei
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fei-fei-li-4541247
Justin Johnson
* X: https://x.com/jcjohnss
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-johnson-41b43664
Where to find Latent Space
* X: https://x.com/latentspacepod
Full Video Episode
Timestamps
00:00:00 Introduction and the Fei-Fei Li & Justin Johnson Partnership00:02:00 From ImageNet to World Models: The Evolution of Computer Vision00:12:42 Dense Captioning and Early Vision-Language Work00:19:57 Spatial Intelligence: Beyond Language Models00:28:46 Introducing Marble: World Labs' First Spatial Intelligence Model00:33:21 Gaussian Splats and the Technical Architecture of Marble00:22:10 Physics, Dynamics, and the Future of World Models00:41:09 Multimodality and the Interplay of Language and Space00:37:37 Use Cases: From Creative Industries to Robotics and Embodied AI00:56:58 Hiring, Research Directions, and the Future of World Labs
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Visit https://agntcy.org/ and add your support.
How will AI evolve once it can understand and reason about the 3D world, not just text on a screen?
In this episode of Eye on AI, host Craig Smith speaks with Fei Fei Li about the rise of spatial intelligence and the world models that could transform how machines perceive, imagine, and interact with reality.
We explore how spatial intelligence goes beyond language to connect perception, action, and reasoning in physical environments. You will hear how models like Marble build consistent and persistent 3D spaces, why multimodal inputs matter, and what it takes to create digital worlds that are useful for robotics, simulation, design, and creative workflows. Fei Fei also explains the challenges of long term memory, continuous learning, and the search for training objectives that mirror the role next token prediction plays in language models.
Learn how spatial reasoning unlocks new possibilities in robotics and telepresence, why classical physics engines still matter, and how future AI systems may merge perception, planning, and imagination. You will also hear Fei Fei's perspective on the limits of current architectures, why true understanding is different from human understanding, and how world models could shape the next generation of intelligent systems.
Stay Updated: Craig Smith on X: https://x.com/craigss Eye on A.I. on X: https://x.com/EyeOn_AI
The brilliant computer scientist Fei-Fei Li is often called the Godmother of AI. She talks with host Reid Hoffman about why scientists and entrepreneurs need to be fearless in the face of an uncertain future.
Li was a founding director of the Human-Centered AI Institute at Stanford and is now an innovator in the area of spatial intelligence as co-founder and CEO of World Labs.
This conversation was recorded live at the Presidio Theatre as part of the 2025 Masters of Scale Summit.
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Dr. Fei-Fei Li is known as the “godmother of AI.” She’s been at the center of AI’s biggest breakthroughs for over two decades. She spearheaded ImageNet, the dataset that sparked the deep-learning revolution we’re living right now, served as Google Cloud’s Chief AI Scientist, directed Stanford’s Artificial Intelligence Lab, and co-founded Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered AI. In this conversation, Fei-Fei shares the rarely told history of how we got here—including the wild fact that just nine years ago, calling yourself an AI company was basically a death sentence.
We discuss:
1. How ImageNet helped spark the AI explosion we’re living through
2. Why world models and spatial intelligence represent the next frontier in AI, beyond large language models
3. Why Fei-Fei believes AI won’t replace humans but will require us to take responsibility for ourselves
4. The surprising applications of Marble, from movie production to psychological research
5. Why robotics faces unique challenges compared with language models and what’s needed to overcome them
6. How to participate in AI regardless of your role
—
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—
Transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-godmother-of-ai
—
My biggest takeaways (for paid newsletter subscribers):
https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/i/178223233/my-biggest-takeaways-from-this-conversation
—
Where to find Dr. Fei-Fei Li
• X: https://x.com/drfeifei
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fei-fei-li-4541247
• World Labs: https://www.worldlabs.ai
—
Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
—
In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Introduction to Dr. Fei-Fei Li
(05:31) The evolution of AI
(09:37) The birth of ImageNet
(17:25) The rise of deep learning
(23:53) The future of AI and AGI
(29:51) Introduction to world models
(40:45) The bitter lesson in AI and robotics
(48:02) Introducing Marble, a revolutionary product
(51:00) Applications and use cases of Marble
(01:01:01) The founder’s journey and insights
(01:10:05) Human-centered AI at Stanford
(01:14:24) The role of AI in various professions
(01:18:16) Conclusion and final thoughts
—
References: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-godmother-of-ai
—
Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.
—
Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com
Fei-Fei Li and Justin Johnson are pioneers in AI. While the world has only recently witnessed a surge in consumer AI, they have long been laying the groundwork for the innovations transforming industries today.
With the recent launch of Marble, the first product from their company World Labs, we are revisiting this conversation to explore the ideas that started it all. World Labs is focused on spatial intelligence, building Large World Models that can perceive, generate, and interact with the 3D world. Marble brings that vision to life, allowing anyone, from individual creators to major platforms, to generate 3D scenes directly from text or image prompts and turn complex 3D creation into a simple, creative process.
In this episode, a16z general partner Martin Casado talks with Fei-Fei and Justin about the journey from early AI winters to the rise of deep learning and multimodal AI. From foundational breakthroughs like ImageNet to the cutting-edge realm of spatial intelligence, they discuss the evolution of the field and what is next for innovation at World Labs.
Timecode:
0:00 – The Next Decade of AI
2:45 – Origins: Backgrounds of the Founders
6:50 – The Rise of Deep Learning & ImageNet
8:00 – Algorithmic Unlocks: Compute, Data, and Supervised Learning
12:00 – From Predictive to Generative AI
16:20 – The Journey to Spatial Intelligence
18:35 – Defining Spatial Intelligence
21:15 – 3D Data, Computer Vision, and Breakthroughs
23:15 – Reconstruction vs. Generation in Computer Vision
24:45 – Spatial Intelligence vs. Language Models
29:00 – Applications: Virtual, Augmented, and Physical Worlds
39:55 – Building World Labs: Team and Vision
41:55 – The North Star: Measuring Success in Spatial Intelligence
Resources:
Learn more about World Labs: https://www.worldlabs.ai
Learn more about Marble: https://Marble.WorldLabs.ai
Find Fei-Fei on Twitter: https://x.com/drfeifei
Find Justin on Twitter: https://x.com/jcjohnss
Find Martin on Twitter: https://x.com/martin_casado
Stay Updated:
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2025 has thus far been a year of great leaps and advances in AI technology. And Sarah and Elad have spoken with some of the most enterprising founders and scientific minds in the field of AI today. So we’re revisiting a few of our favorite conversations on No Priors so far in 2025 – Winston Weinberg (Harvey), Dr. Fei-Fei Li (World Labs), Brendan Foody (Mercor), Dan Hendrycks (Center for AI Safety), Noubar Afeyan (Flagship Pioneering), Brandon McKinzie and Eric Mitchell (OpenAI o3), Isa Fulford (OpenAI), Arvind Jain (Glen), and Dr. Shiv Rao (Abridge).
Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com
Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil
Chapters:
00:00 – Episode Introduction
0:21 – Winston Weinberg on Leaning into New Capabilities
02:01 – Dr. Fei-Fei Li on Spatial Intelligence
04:13 – Brendan Foody on AI Disruption in the Workforce
06:10 – Dan Hendrycks on the Geopolitics of Superintelligence
08:06 – Noubar Afeyan on Entrepreneurship
10:38 – Brandon McKinzie and Eric Mitchell on Reasoning Models
12:41 – Isa Fulford on Training Deep Research
13:49 – Arvind Jain on Innovating Enterprise Search
16:21 – Dr. Shiv Rao on AI’s Human Impact
18:58 – Conclusion
In this episode of No Priors, Sarah and Elad are joined by Dr. Fei-Fei Li, AI pioneer, co-director of Stanford’s Human-Centered AI Institute, and founder of World Labs. Fei-Fei shares why she’s building at the intersection of embodiment and intelligence, and what today’s AI systems are still missing. From the early days of ImageNet to her vision for the next generation of robotics, she unpacks the human and technical motivations behind World Labs. They also discuss the challenges of 3D world modeling, her approach to building exceptional teams, and the special qualities that have led her students like Andrej Karpathy to make major breakthroughs.
Show Notes:
0:00 Why and what Dr. Fei-Fei Li is building
3:00 World models at World Labs
6:44 Missing gaps in the AI future
9:16 Robotics and physical intelligence
16:15 Greatest challenges of 3D
19:08 Fei-Fei’s work in PhD in ImageNet
23:05 Special moments in Dr. Li's career
29:33 Building teams
32:05 Human-centered AI
What if the next leap in artificial intelligence isn’t about better language—but better understanding of space?
In this episode, a16z General Partner Erik Torenberg moderates a conversation with Fei-Fei Li, cofounder and CEO of World Labs, and a16z General Partner Martin Casado, an early investor in the company. Together, they dive into the concept of world models—AI systems that can understand and reason about the 3D, physical world, not just generate text.
Often called the “godmother of AI,” Fei-Fei explains why spatial intelligence is a fundamental and still-missing piece of today’s AI—and why she’s building an entire company to solve it. Martin shares how he and Fei-Fei aligned on this vision long before it became fashionable, and why it could reshape the future of robotics, creativity, and computational interfaces.
From the limits of LLMs to the promise of embodied intelligence, this conversation blends personal stories with deep technical insights—exploring what it really means to build AI that understands the real (and virtual) world.
Resources:
Find Fei-Fei on X: https://x.com/drfeifei
Find Martin on X: https://x.com/martin_casado
Learn more about World Labs: https://www.worldlabs.ai/
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When the computer scientist Ben Zhao learned that artists were having their work stolen by A.I. models, he invented a tool to thwart the machines. He also knows how to foil an eavesdropping Alexa and how to guard your online footprint. The big news, he says, is that the A.I. bubble is bursting.
SOURCES:Erik Brynjolfsson, professor of economics at Stanford University
Ben Zhao, professor of computer science at the University of Chicago
RESOURCES:"The AI lab waging a guerrilla war over exploitative AI," by Melissa Heikkilä (MIT Technology Review, 2024)
"Glaze: Protecting Artists from Style Mimicry by Text-to-Image Models," by Shawn Shan, Jenna Cryan, Emily Wenger, Haitao Zheng, Rana Hanocka, and Ben Y. Zhao (Cornell University, 2023)
"Nightshade: Prompt-Specific Poisoning Attacks on Text-to-Image Generative Models," by Shawn Shan, Wenxin Ding, Josephine Passananti, Stanley Wu, Haitao Zheng, and Ben Y. Zhao (Cornell University, 2023)
"A Brief History of Artificial Intelligence: What It Is, Where We Are, and Where We Are Going," by Michael Woodridge (2021)
EXTRAS:"Nuclear Power Isn’t Perfect. Is It Good Enough?" by Freakonomics Radio (2022)
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Stephen Dubner, live on stage, mixes it up with outbound mayor London Breed, and asks economists whether A.I. can be “human-centered” and if Tang is a gateway drug.
SOURCES:London Breed, former mayor of San Francisco.
Erik Brynjolfsson, professor of economics at Stanford University
Koleman Strumpf, professor of economics at Wake Forest University
RESOURCES:"SF crime rate at lowest point in more than 20 years, mayor says," by George Kelly (The San Francisco Standard, 2025)
"How the Trump Whale and Prediction Markets Beat the Pollsters in 2024," by Niall Ferguson and Manny Rincon-Cruz (Wall Street Journal, 2024)
"Artificial Intelligence, Scientific Discovery, and Product Innovation," by Aidan Toner-Rodgers (MIT Department of Economics, 2024)
EXTRAS:"Why Are Cities (Still) So Expensive?" by Freakonomics Radio (2020)
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Fei Fei Li (The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI) is a computer scientist, co-director of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, and is considered by many to be the godmother of AI. Fei Fei joins the Armchair Expert to discuss her initial reluctance to tell her personal story as a part of her book on AI, starting a laundromat with her parents to support themselves, and the high school teacher that changed the course of her life. Fei Fei and Dax talk about how math is the closest thing there is to magic, why being fearlessly stupid is sometimes the best asset you can have, and the reason her north star is asking the audacious question. Fei Fei explains her perspective on the tech-lash, why there is so much humanness in everything we do in technology, and how essential it is to put dignity into how we both create and govern AI.
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Fei-Fei Li and Justin Johnson are pioneers in AI. While the world has only recently witnessed a surge in consumer AI, our guests have long been laying the groundwork for innovations that are transforming industries today.
In this episode, a16z General Partner Martin Casado joins Fei-Fei and Justin to explore the journey from early AI winters to the rise of deep learning and the rapid expansion of multimodal AI. From foundational advancements like ImageNet to the cutting-edge realm of spatial intelligence, Fei-Fei and Justin share the breakthroughs that have shaped the AI landscape and reveal what's next for innovation at World Labs.
If you're curious about how AI is evolving beyond language models and into a new realm of 3D, generative worlds, this episode is a must-listen.
Resources:
Learn more about World Labs: https://www.worldlabs.ai
Find Fei-Fei on Twitter: https://x.com/drfeifei
Find Justin on Twitter: https://x.com/jcjohnss
Find Martin on Twitter: https://x.com/martin_casado
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
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We’ve had representatives from Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) on the show in the past, but we were super excited to talk through their 2024 AI Index Report after such a crazy year in AI! Nestor from HAI joins us in this episode to talk about some of the main takeaways including how AI makes workers more productive, the US is increasing regulations sharply, and industry continues to dominate frontier AI research.
Sponsors:
Plumb – Low-code AI pipeline builder that helps you build complex AI pipelines fast. Easily create AI pipelines using their node-based editor. Iterate and deploy faster and more reliably than coding by hand, without sacrificing control.
Featuring:
Nestor Maslej – LinkedIn, X
Daniel Whitenack – Website, GitHub, X
Show Notes:
Stanford HAI
2024 AI Index Report
Upcoming Events:
Register for upcoming webinars here!
In the beginning of the universe, all was darkness — until the first organisms developed sight, which ushered in an explosion of life, learning and progress. AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li says a similar moment is about to happen for computers and robots. She shows how machines are gaining "spatial intelligence" — the ability to process visual data, make predictions and act upon those predictions — and shares how this could enable AI to interact with humans in the real world.
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Before the OpenAI Drama which pit AI enthusiasts (accelerationists) against doomers (decelerationists) we had a conversation with Stanford computer scientist and pioneering AI researcher, Dr. Fei-Fei Li. While cognizant of the challenges AI poses — including disinformation, polarization, biases, a loss of privacy and job losses that could lead to unrest — Li is a fierce advocate for the humane development of artificial intelligence and for increased diversity in the field. We taped this episode October 10, 2023 but wanted to re-air it in light of the ongoing debate about AI.
Questions or comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on social media. We’re on Instagram/Threads as @karaswisher and @nayeemaraza
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It’s time for our annual predictions episode! Kara and Scott share their 2024 predictions on politics, stocks, China, Google and more. Plus, some Friend of Pivot predictions from Jen Psaki, Mike Birbiglia, Fei-Fei Li, Bill Cohan, Dr. Joy Buolamwini, and Matt Belloni.
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Send us your questions by calling us at 855-51-PIVOT, or at nymag.com/pivot.
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Fei-Fei Li, PhD, Professor in the Computer Science Department at Stanford University, and Co-Director of Stanford’s Human-Centered AI Institute, joins Bio + Health founding partner Vijay Pande.
In this candid conversation, Li unfolds her transformation from a young immigrant to an influential figure in AI. The conversation explores the birth of ImageNet, a pivotal step that bridged the gap between visual intelligence and accessible AI technology. They delve into the notion of a 'Dignity Economy,' hinting at a future where technology serves to elevate human experience rather than undermine it. Li also touches on the delicate balance between relentless innovation and life's humble pursuits. This episode peels back the layers on the human side of AI, offering a rare glimpse into the personal and professional realms of a pioneer shaping the AI landscape.
Check out her new book, The Worlds I See, here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250897930/theworldsisee
Check out other episodes form our sister podcast, Bio Eats World: https://a16z.com/podcasts/bio-eats-world/
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
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In this installment of our series, AI + You, we dissect the ethical concerns that builders and users of AI must keep in focus. As the AI rollout continues at dizzying pace, we all have a part to play in ensuring human wellbeing is the bedrock principle. To guide you, host Reid Hoffman speaks with Stanford HAI’s Fei-Fei Li, Inflection’s Mustafa Suleyman, Adept’s David Luan and more AI pioneers. Rather than be intimidated by these ethical issues, we’ll leave you inspired to play a part in shaping a bright future in which humanity is elevated by AI.
Read a transcript of this episode: https://mastersofscale.com/
Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter: https://mastersofscale.com/subscribe
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In part two of our 3-part series on AI + You, we offer an actionable playbook on how AI can help us scale ourselves personally. Personal scale is all about broadening your skill set and strengthening your human relationships. To guide you, host Reid Hoffman speaks to Stanford HAI’s Fei-Fei Li, Inflection’s Mustafa Suleyman, tech-centric artist Holly Herndon and more AI pioneers. You’ll discover how AI can amplify your ability as a leader, coworker, collaborator and friend.
Read a transcript of this episode: https://mastersofscale.com/
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What are the most immediate, and potentially catastrophic, risks posed by AI? According to pioneering AI researcher, Dr. Fei-Fei Li, they include disinformation, polarization, biases, a loss of privacy and job losses that could lead to unrest.
The Stanford computer scientist is a fierce advocate for the humane development of artificial intelligence and for increased diversity in the field. She and Kara discuss AI’s problems and possibilities, the need for increased public sector investment and her brief stint on Twitter’s board.
Questions or comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on social media. We’re on Instagram/Threads as @karaswisher and @nayeemaraza
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AI can be overwhelming. In this 3-part series, we offer business leaders an actionable playbook to best implement AI. Part one: To unleash AI’s true power of scale, you must dive headfirst into ongoing experimentation. To guide you, host Reid Hoffman speaks to Stanford HAI’s Fei-Fei Li, Inflection’s Mustafa Suleyman, Adept’s David Luan, and more AI pioneers. Their experiences with AI provide a perfect lens for any leader to better understand and navigate this new era, even in industries far from the leading edge of tech trailblazers. So channel your inner mad scientist and embrace this new revolutionary tool with us.
Read a transcript of this episode: https://mastersofscale.com/
Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter: https://mastersofscale.com/subscribe
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Erik Brynjolfsson is the director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab and professor at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI. He joins Big Technology Podcast for a discussion of why our fears that artificial intelligence would take human jobs haven't yet come to fruition. We also cover how humans and AI can work together and how AI is changing work already. Stay tuned for the second half where we discuss the latest on robotic process automation and address why we're working at all in the age of machines.
Check out Prof. Brynjolfsson's paper: The Turing Trap: The Promise & Peril of Human-Like Artificial Intelligence
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Daniel Ho, associate director of Stanford's Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence talks about the proposed National AI Research Resource, an effort to expand the data and compute available to academic researchers, leveling the playing field with researchers in private companies.
On Ep.20 of The Robot Brains Podcast, Pieter Abbeel is joined by Fei-Fei Li. Her legendary status in the field of AI precedes her on our podcast because she's been discussed frequently by many of our previous guests - many of whom are her former students. She is the Sequoia Capital Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, Co-Director of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centred Artificial Intelligence (Stanford HAI). She was also the leading scientist and instigator of ImageNet, arguably the most momentous episode in the history of AI which allowed vision systems and neural nets to break out of academia and into real industries all over the world. On the show we talk to Fei-Fei about her illustrious career in academia, her involvement in the ImageNet and AlexNet breakthroughs, and her new, deeply personal reasons for focusing her latest work on transforming healthcare with AI. | SUBSCRIBE TO THE ROBOT BRAINS PODCAST TODAY | Visit therobotbrains.ai and follow us on Twitter @therobotbrains, Instagram @therobotbrains and YouTube TheRobotBrainsPodcast | Host: Pieter Abbeel | Executive Producers: Ricardo Reyes & Henry Tobias Jones | Audio Production: Kieron Matthew Banerji | Title Music: Alejandro Del Pozo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Erik Brynjolfsson is an economist at Stanford. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(08:23) – Exponential growth
(12:51) – Elon Musk exponential thinking
(15:08) – Moore’s law is a series of revolutions
(20:31) – GPT-3
(22:09) – Autonomous vehicles
(29:11) – Electricity
(33:40) – Productivity
(38:47) – Why is Twitter and Facebook free?
(49:03) – Dismantling the nature of truth
(52:24) – Nutpicking and Cancel Culture
(58:39) – How will AI change our world
(1:04:40) – Existential threats
(1:06:33) – AI and the nature of work
(1:12:39) – Thoughts on Andrew Yang and UBI
(1:18:30) – Economics of innovation
(1:24:37) – Effect of COVID on the economy
(1:33:50) – MIT and Stanford
(1:38:23) – Book recommendations
(1:41:28) – Meaning of life
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