What's Your Problem: "Teaching Computers to See"

What's Your Problem: "Teaching Computers to See"

From If/Then by Stanford GSB

October 29, 2025 · 27 min · Season 2 · Episode 42

About this episode

Fei-Fei Li discusses her pioneering work in computer vision and the development of ImageNet with host Jacob Goldstein.

This week on If/Then, we’re sharing an episode of What’s Your Problem? , a show from Pushkin Industries where entrepreneurs, engineers, and scientists talk about the future they’re trying to build—and the problems they must solve to get there. Hosted by former Planet Money co-host Jacob Goldstein, each conversation explores the challenges and breakthroughs shaping the next wave of innovation. In this episode, Goldstein speaks with Fei-Fei Li, Stanford computer scientist, former Chief Scientist of AI and Machine Learning at Google, and one of the most influential figures in the field of computer vision. Li reflects on her pioneering work developing ImageNet, the massive dataset that helped spark the modern AI revolution, and the “north star” questions that have guided her research from neuroscience to machine learning. Together, they trace how a single insight about how humans see the world led to a paradigm shift in artificial intelligence—and how Li’s vision continues to shape the way we teach machines to see, learn, and collaborate with us. More Resources:     •   Fei Fei Li    •   Stanford Institute for Human-Centered…

People in this episode

Host: Jacob Goldstein

Guest: Fei-Fei Li

Topics covered

  • artificial intelligence
  • computer vision
  • innovation
  • machine learning
  • entrepreneurship

Keywords

  • AI
  • ImageNet
  • Fei-Fei Li
  • computer vision
  • machine learning
  • innovation
  • neuroscience

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Stanford, Google, Pushkin Industries, Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI)

Books & works: ImageNet, What’s Your Problem?

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