SF’s “One City One Book” Author Showcase: AI Pioneer Dr. Fei-Fei Li

San Francisco Public Library

Discover the story behind San Francisco’s 2025 One City One Book selection, The Worlds I See, as Dr. Fei-Fei Li sits down with technology journalist Adam Lashinsky. In this engaging conversation, Li reflects on her journey as an immigrant, scientist, and AI pioneer, sharing insights into her groundbreaking career and vision for a human-centered future of technology. Book sales and signing with Dr. Li will follow the event.

In The Worlds I See, visionary computer scientist Li shares her remarkable journey from a childhood in China to becoming one of the most influential voices in artificial intelligence. As a teenager immigrating to the U.S. with her parents, Li faced the hardships of poverty, cultural displacement, and uncertainty—experiences that instilled in her a profound empathy and determination. Through education and relentless curiosity, she rose to shape the future of AI, becoming a trailblazer in a field often lacking in diversity. Li’s memoir blends her personal story with insights into the scientific process, showing how her life experiences shaped her belief that technology must serve humanity.

Woven throughout the book are powerful themes of immigration, identity, mentorship and the ethical responsibilities of innovation. Li makes a passionate case for building technology with care, inclusion, and compassion, and she warns against the dangers of allowing AI to be driven solely by profit or power. Her reflections are both candid and hopeful, urging readers to consider not just what technology can do, but what it should do. The Worlds I See is a moving, thought-provoking memoir that invites readers to imagine a future where science and human values grow together.

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