CEOInterviews.AI
Start App
Try: AI strategy tariffs earnings guidance layoffs interest rates growth

Fei-fei Li

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer; incoming Executive Vice President and Chief Scientist, AMD, World Labs

Search every verified Fei-fei Li interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Fei-Fei Li, co-director of Stanford's Institute for Human-Centered AI and CEO of World Labs, has been promoting the concept of spatial intelligence and world models as the next frontier in artificial intelligence. In recent appearances, she described world models as having three functional layers — rendering, simulation, and planning — and discussed World Labs' latest model, Atlas, which she said generates 3D-consistent environments with precise camera control and applications in robotics, design, and science. She also discussed the company's acquisition of SceniX, a robotics-focused simulation startup, and emphasized that data scarcity is a major challenge in robotics, arguing that simulation can provide counterfactual reasoning and systematic coverage that real-world data cannot. Li has also spoken extensively about AI governance, safety, and human agency. She argued that AI safety is a shared responsibility across industry, academia, government, and independent benchmarking bodies, and that humans must remain in control of technology. She described AI as a double-edged sword and said she is an optimist about humanity's ability to use it benevolently. In conversations about AI and healthcare, she highlighted opportunities for human-machine collaboration, such as robot-assisted surgery, while noting limitations when training data is scarce. She also advocated for public education about AI, saying that learning about the technology helps people retain agency and dignity, and expressed concern that teachers and parents are not being adequately supported in adapting to AI.

Recent appearances

  • AMD Acquires Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs for $8.2 Billion

    September 28, 2026 · 📺 Bloomberg Television

    AMD is acquiring World Labs, an AI startup founded by industry pioneer and researcher Fei-Fei Li, in an all-stock transaction valuing World Labs at about $8.2 billion. AMD CEO Lisa Su and World Labs co-founder and CEO Fei-Fei Li sit down with Bloomberg Tech's Ed Ludlow to discuss why AMD is purchasing World Labs, the two companies' shared vision for AI's future encompassing all layers of the stack, and how the industry needs to come together for shared responsibility in developing a safe technology that benefits all of society. -------- More on Bloomberg Television and Markets Like this…

    Read the verified transcript → Watch on YouTube ↗

  • Fei-Fei Li on World Labs and AI as a ‘Shared Responsibility’

    September 22, 2026 · 📺 Bloomberg Tech

    AI pioneer and World Labs CEO Fei-Fei Li discusses Atlas, the company’s latest world model designed to understand and generate 3D environments for applications spanning robotics, design and science. Li explains why spatial intelligence could become a major frontier beyond language models, and weighs in on the broader AI safety debate, arguing that humans must remain in control and that independent benchmarks, academia, government and industry all have a role in evaluating increasingly powerful systems. She joins Ed Ludlow on "Bloomberg Tech." -------- Like this video? Subscribe to Bloomberg T…

    Read the verified transcript → Watch on YouTube ↗

  • Fei-Fei Li: The Godmother of AI and the Race to Build World Models

    September 10, 2026 · 📺 Moconomy

    Fei-Fei Li: The Godmother of AI and the Race to Build World Models Fei-Fei Li helped teach machines how to see. Now, the scientist behind ImageNet is betting that the next revolution in artificial intelligence will be about teaching machines how to understand the physical world. This Moconomy documentary follows Li from her early work in computer vision to the creation of World Labs, where she is developing world models capable of generating, simulating and navigating realistic 3D environments. The goal goes far beyond chatbots: AI that can understand space, predict what happens next and e…

    Read the verified transcript → Watch on YouTube ↗

  • Why Fei-Fei Li Is Betting on Spatial Intelligence

    September 04, 2026 · 📺 a16z

    World Labs co-founders Fei-Fei Li, Justin Johnson, and Ben Mildenhall join a16z General Partner Martin Casado to discuss Atlas, their latest world model, and what it reveals about the pursuit of spatial intelligence. At the center of Atlas is what the team calls “new view prediction”: given images or views of a scene, the model predicts what that environment should look like from a different position in space and time. This brings generation and 3D reconstruction into the same model, and raises a broader question about whether predicting views could become a useful primitive for understanding…

    Read the verified transcript → Watch on YouTube ↗

  • Dr. Fei-Fei Li: The Godmother of AI on What Comes Next

    August 31, 2026 · 📺 HumanX

    ... Whereas Dr Fei as a as a researcher is more a curiositydriven thinker and more advisor working with graduate students That's a ...

    Read the verified transcript → Watch on YouTube ↗

  • Fei Fei Li | 2026 Frontier & Pioneer Symposium

    August 21, 2026 · 📺 Asian American Scholar Forum

    In this keynote fireside chat, Fei-Fei Li, Founder and CEO of World Labs and Sequoia Professor at Stanford University, discusses ...

    Read the verified transcript → Watch on YouTube ↗

  • How to Enhance Your Brain with AI | Dr. Fei-Fei Li & Dr. Andrew Huberman

    August 20, 2026 · 📺 Huberman Lab Clips

    Dr. Fei-Fei Li and Dr. Andrew Huberman discuss how artificial intelligence and non-invasive brain-monitoring technologies can be used to augment human agency and self-understanding, emphasizing the importance of public education and personal choice in leveraging emerging technology to optimize individual potential. Dr. Fei-Fei Li, PhD, is a professor of computer science at Stanford University and a pioneer and expert in artificial intelligence (AI). Dr. Andrew Huberman is a tenured professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford University School of Medicine and host of the Huberman L…

    Watch on YouTube ↗

  • How AI Is Changing Healthcare for Patients & Doctors | Dr. Fei-Fei Li & Dr. Andrew Huberman

    August 19, 2026 · 📺 Huberman Lab Clips

    Dr. Fei-Fei Li and Dr. Andrew Huberman discuss how artificial intelligence is transforming scientific discovery and healthcare, focusing on AI's ability to synthesize complex biomedical knowledge, assist in medical diagnoses, and enhance surgical precision through human-machine collaboration. Dr. Fei-Fei Li, PhD, is a professor of computer science at Stanford University and a pioneer and expert in artificial intelligence (AI). Dr. Andrew Huberman is a tenured professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford University School of Medicine and host of the Huberman Lab podcast. Watch the…

    Read the verified transcript → Watch on YouTube ↗

  • Why AI Can't Reproduce Human Thought | Dr. Fei-Fei Li & Dr. Andrew Huberman

    August 17, 2026 · 📺 Huberman Lab Clips

    Dr. Andrew Huberman and Dr. Fei-Fei Li discuss the limitations of artificial intelligence compared to human cognition, focusing on why AI cannot replicate abstract creativity, personalized emotional memories, and unique neural experiences that have never been uploaded to the internet. Dr. Fei-Fei Li, PhD, is a professor of computer science at Stanford University and a pioneer and expert in artificial intelligence (AI). Dr. Andrew Huberman is a tenured professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford University School of Medicine and host of the Huberman Lab podcast. Watch the full epi…

    Read the verified transcript → Watch on YouTube ↗

  • Using AI to Increase Your Intelligence & Enrich Humanity | Dr. Fei-Fei Li

    August 10, 2026 · 📺 Andrew Huberman

    Dr. Fei-Fei Li, PhD, is a professor of computer science at Stanford University and a pioneer and expert in artificial intelligence (AI).

    Read the verified transcript → Watch on YouTube ↗

  • Fei-Fei Li Explains World Models in 3 Minutes

    August 09, 2026 · 📺 Bay Area Founders Club

    Today at Stanford, Fei-Fei Li gave one of the clearest explanations I’ve heard of what a World Model really is. She broke it down into three layers: 1️⃣ Rendering — What does the world look like? This is where most of today’s video generation models operate: generating increasingly realistic and beautiful pixels. The question is: Can AI generate what the world looks like? The primary consumer is humans. 2️⃣ Simulation — How does the world actually work? Fei-Fei gave a simple example: “How will this bottle move? If I pour the water out, how will the water flow?” This goes far beyond generatin…

    Watch on YouTube ↗

  • The Next Frontier of AI Is Spatial Intelligence | Fei-Fei Li on a16z

    July 28, 2026 · 📺 a16z

    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…

    Read the verified transcript → Watch on YouTube ↗

Verified interview transcripts

Notable quotes

“So just to echo Lisa, this relationship has been going for many, many years. It started with mutual respect and really a genuine friendship at the personal and professional level. We're very grateful when AMD was an early believer and supporter of World Labs, but really was most fundamental and important and exciting about this merger is the shared vision for the future of AI. World labs has been a frontier model bui”

“I think as an educator and a scientist, the ending threat to human society, including existential, is within ourselves. Is that how we humans wield the power of technology, how we humans collectively work together, and government, and how we humans use these powerful tools to make our lives better? Are we humans in control of that? We must be in control. I've been advocating for years that it's not about AI. It's abo”

“First and foremost, root that in science, not science fiction. A lot of the AI policy world conversation with people from Silicon Valley talk about the extinction of humanity, the the the AGI machine overlord that distracts the real policy work. The second recommendation is ensure a healthy ecosystem, resource the public sector, resource STEM education in K to2 or K to 16. Human capital at the end of the day is the m”

“I did pause and realize if I refused that or rejected that I might be shutting a door to many women and girls of many fields. The reality is there are so many godfathers of many things, including a lot of self-appointed godfathers, and there are many brilliant women in history, in the future, and now.”

“I think one of the most important application in robotics in my opinion is healthcare. First of all, I don't think there is a single country in this world that has excessive nurses. If you look at nursing and caregiving, health care, caregiving profession, this is a highly critical yet highly desired population and American nurses at least I know are very fatigued. There is way too much work and there is every shift ”

“I think we need to recognize that we need to think about AI as a tool that helps us in our agency. It does it should not take away our agency and people who lead in today's AI should not try to talk like that this this work will take away agency from people.”

The summary and quote tags on this profile are produced with AI assistance from verified, first-person interview transcripts, then checked by our team to confirm the speaker's identity and the accuracy of every quote. See how we verify →