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 even more 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. And this is the part most people miss—her acceptance of this title wasn’t just about personal recognition; it was a strategic move to spotlight women in science and technology.
The ceremony at St James's Palace will honor Prof Li alongside six other luminaries: 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. These visionaries 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 famously known as the 'Godfathers of AI'—a title cemented by their 2018 Turing Award—Prof Li’s role as the sole 'godmother' is equally transformative, particularly through her work on ImageNet.
But here’s the controversial part: Prof Li initially hesitated to embrace the 'godmother' label. 'I would not call myself godmother of anything,' she admitted. Yet, she realized rejecting it would mean missing an opportunity to elevate women in STEM. 'Men are pretty easily called godfathers or founding fathers,' she noted, adding, 'For the young women I mentor and future generations, I’m now okay with this title.' Born in China and later excelling in computer science in the U.S., Prof Li’s impact is undeniable. As co-director of Stanford’s Computer Science Department and CEO of World Labs, her ImageNet project revolutionized computer vision, enabling machines to 'see' by creating large-scale image recognition datasets.
Her work didn’t just advance AI—it 'opened the floodgate of data-driven AI,' she says. Looking ahead, Prof Li believes the next AI milestone lies in its ability to interact with the physical world, a capability she calls 'innately important' for both humans and animals. If achieved, this could 'superpower' humanity in creativity, robotics, design, and more.
But here’s where it gets controversial: while the 'godfathers' of AI publicly debate its risks—with Dr Hinton warning of an 'extinction-level threat' and Dr LeCun dismissing such claims as overblown—Prof Li takes a pragmatic stance. 'Disagreement is healthy,' she asserts, advocating for science-based, moderated discourse over extreme rhetoric. 'Both extremes concern me,' she adds, urging a fact-driven approach to AI communication.
As the Queen Elizabeth Prize celebrates engineers whose innovations benefit humanity—past winners include Sir Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web—Lord Vallance, chair of the foundation, hails this year’s laureates as 'the very best of engineering.' Their work, he says, 'sustains our planet and transforms how we live and learn.'
Now, here’s a question to spark debate: Is Prof Li’s pragmatic approach to AI’s risks the right path, or should we heed the apocalyptic warnings of figures like Dr Hinton? Share your thoughts in the comments—let’s keep the conversation grounded in facts but open to all perspectives.
