Fei Fei Li AI godmother has been officially honored with one of the world’s most prestigious recognitions — the 2025 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering — for her pioneering contributions to artificial intelligence and computer vision.
Updated by FFRNews on November 5, 2025
1. Fei Fei Li’s Historic Recognition
At a ceremony held at St James’s Palace, King Charles III presented the award to Professor Fei-Fei Li and six other leading figures in the field of machine learning.
The group includes Prof Yoshua Bengio, Dr Geoffrey Hinton, Dr Bill Dally, Prof John Hopfield, Jensen Huang (founder of Nvidia), and Dr Yann LeCun of Meta — all recognized for revolutionizing the science behind modern artificial intelligence.
Speaking to the BBC, Prof Li said being the only woman among the seven honorees made her “proud to be different,” emphasizing that representation matters in the world of technology and engineering.
2. The Woman Behind ImageNet
Born in China and raised in the United States, Fei-Fei Li’s groundbreaking work began with ImageNet, a large-scale visual database that helped machines learn to recognize and categorize objects — a foundation for today’s computer vision systems.
She and her students at Stanford University, where she now co-directs the Human-Centered AI Institute, built the datasets that transformed how artificial intelligence processes visual data.
Fei-Fei Li described ImageNet as the project that “opened the floodgates of data-driven AI,” enabling breakthroughs in robotics, healthcare, and digital creativity.
3. Proud to Be the “Godmother of AI”
Although she was initially hesitant about being labeled the “godmother of AI,” Li said she has embraced the title because it sends a positive message to women in science and technology.
“If I rejected this,” she told the BBC, “it would miss an opportunity for women scientists to be recognized this way. Men are easily called godfathers or founding fathers.”
Li explained that accepting the title was not about ego but empowerment — a symbol of inclusivity in a field historically dominated by men.
4. A Pragmatic Voice in the AI Debate
While AI’s “godfathers” — such as Geoffrey Hinton, Yann LeCun, and Yoshua Bengio — have publicly disagreed about whether artificial intelligence could become dangerous to humanity, Fei-Fei Li has taken a pragmatic and science-based stance.
“A topic as profound as AI requires healthy debate,” she said. “Extreme rhetoric on either side concerns me. We need communication that is grounded in science and facts.”
Li believes that the next major milestone in AI will come when machines gain the ability to interact naturally with the world around them, unlocking new frontiers in robotic learning, creativity, and design.
5. Engineering Excellence Recognized Globally
The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering celebrates innovations that benefit humanity on a global scale. Past recipients include Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web.
Lord Vallance, chair of the prize foundation, said the winners “represent the very best of engineering,” highlighting how their work continues to “sustain our planet and transform the way we live and learn.”
This marks the first time all seven laureates — the so-called “godparents of AI” — have gathered in one place, signifying a milestone moment for the technology shaping the future.
6. A Symbol of Hope for Future Innovators
Fei-Fei Li’s recognition stands as a message to future generations that diversity fuels innovation. Her journey from immigrant student to global AI leader is now inspiring countless young women to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).
As Li put it best: “For all the young women I work with, and for generations of girls to come — I am proud to be different.”
To explore related stories, visit FFRNews Technology for more updates on artificial intelligence breakthroughs and scientific innovation. You can also read BBC’s original report for the full coverage of Fei-Fei Li’s award and the achievements of the 2025 laureates.
