Mercer Times

Fei-Fei Li, a pioneering computer scientist and Princeton alumna, addressed incoming transfer students and the Class of 2028 at Princeton University’s Pre-read Assembly on Sunday. The event took place at Jadwin Gymnasium.

“Your generation, the AI native generation, will have to face these questions," Li said. "Some of you will become the actual developers of AI. Some of you will become the users of AI. Some of you will become the policymakers of AI. No matter what, your generation needs to figure out what are we going to do with this powerful technology.”

Li is the author of this year’s Pre-read book, “The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI." She immigrated to the U.S. from China during high school and flourished as an undergraduate at Princeton while also helping run her family’s dry-cleaning business in Parsippany, New Jersey.

Named last year to Time's list of the 100 most influential people in artificial intelligence, Li is a leading advocate for human-centered AI. This spring, she received Princeton's Woodrow Wilson Award.

Li spoke with President Christopher L. Eisgruber, who selects a different Pre-read book each year to introduce incoming students to university life. Past topics have included freedom of speech and how to live a meaningful life. Students received a special edition of "The Worlds I See" over the summer.

After graduating from Princeton, Li completed a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Caltech. She joined Princeton’s computer science faculty in 2007 before moving to Stanford University in 2009. At Stanford, she is now the Sequoia Capital Professor in Computer Science and co-director of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence.

While at Princeton, Li began work on ImageNet—a groundbreaking online database that trained computers how to see—widely considered foundational for modern artificial intelligence. Other members of ImageNet's senior research team include Princeton computer scientists Jia Deng, Kai Li and Olga Russakovsky.

“Your work laid the foundation for this revolution in artificial intelligence that we are now living with,” Eisgruber said during their conversation.

“AI is progressing at astonishing speed,” Li remarked. “Anywhere there’s a chip...there’s computing...and it’ll be changed by AI.” She emphasized that AI already impacts every part of our lives and compared its significance to scientific tools like microscopes and telescopes.

Li highlighted the importance of establishing norms and regulations for AI use: “Today every single car company has the ability to create a killer car...but it doesn’t happen because human society has laws [and] industry norms.”

Students from Forbes College cheered as first-year student Yuchen Shi asked about AI's intersection with creative arts.

Li encouraged students to take full advantage of their time at Princeton: “This is a magical moment...Soak it in.” She noted that her liberal arts education informed her approach to computer vision and categorizing visual data for technology development.

Eisgruber added: “That is a liberal arts idea but pursued by a computer scientist trying to understand how we make technology function in our world.”

Responding to student questions about balancing personal and academic commitments, Li shared insights from her own experiences juggling studies with family responsibilities: “Believing that there are people willing to help you really did help me."

Transfer student Amelia Melendez resonated with Li's experiences as an immigrant studying at Princeton: “As a first-generation student...I completely understand how hard it is.”

Following the session, students gathered around Li for selfies and book signings. Many identified with her journey as immigrants or economically fragile individuals supporting their families while pursuing interdisciplinary interests.

The dialogue between Li, Eisgruber and students will continue throughout fall during smaller roundtable discussions within residential colleges.