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:Seed’s DS-01® Daily Synbiotic broad spectrum 24-strain probiotic + prebiotic: https://seed.com/timHelix Sleep premium mattresses: https://helixsleep.com/timCoyote the card game​, which I co-created with Exploding Kittens: https://coyotegame.com/Wealthfront high-yield cash account: https://wealthfront.com/timNew clients get 3.25% base APY from program banks + additional 0.65% boost for 3 months on your uninvested cash (max $150k balance). Terms apply. The Cash Account offered by Wealthfront Brokerage LLC (“WFB”) member FINRA/SIPC, not a bank. The base APY as of 12/19/2025 is representative, can change, and requires no minimum. Tim Ferriss, a non-client, receives compensation from WFB for advertising and holds a non-controlling equity interest in the corporate parent of WFB. Experiences will vary. Outcomes not guaranteed. Instant withdrawals may be limited by your receiving firm and other factors. Investment advisory services provided by Wealthfront Advisers LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Securities investments: not bank deposits, bank-guaranteed or FDIC-insured, and may lose value.*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