The Godmother of AI says young talent is 'overfocusing' on every detail of their career (www.businessinsider.com)

Fei-Fei Li, the Stanford professor famed for creating ImageNet and now CEO of AI startup World Labs, told Lenny's Podcast that young AI professionals are “overfocusing” on minute career details instead of core questions about passion and mission. Li—whose company builds models that perceive, generate and interact with 3D environments—said she often finds herself mentoring candidates to prioritize impact, team fit and long-term alignment over spreadsheet-style calculations about every job choice. Her advice echoes a broader industry shift: leaders from China’s DeepSeek to LinkedIn argue creativity, adaptability and initiative will outvalue narrow credentials as AI reshapes work. Practically, this signals hiring and career-development changes for the AI/ML community—teams will favor candidates who can learn across disciplines, think creatively about problems, and embrace evolving tools, rather than those who only check experience boxes. For researchers and engineers, Li’s message implies that mission fit, demonstrated curiosity and soft skills may better predict long-term influence in AI than optimized short-term resume moves.