The Moms Running AI (Yes, Really)

Is this really happening?

If you're anything like me, AI news lately feels like falling down the rabbit hole. New tools every week. Headlines that sound made up. And somewhere between school pickup and dinner, a little voice asking whether the world you had figured out just got rearranged overnight.

Here's what pulled me out of the spiral. The future isn't being built only by guys in hoodies. Some of the people running AI right now are moms. They pack lunches, miss the permission slip, and still go change the world before lunch.

Meet three of them.

Fei-Fei Li, the "godmother of AI"

Before AI could recognize a photo, someone had to teach it what a cat, a car, and a cup of coffee look like. That someone was Fei-Fei. Her giant image project helped kick off modern AI as we know it. Now she's building what comes next at World Labs and co-leading Stanford's institute for human-centered AI. And she's a mom of two. Follow her on X or LinkedIn.

Daniela Amodei, the one who starts with her son

She co-founded Anthropic, the company behind Claude, and runs it as president. Some of the biggest decisions in AI cross her desk. But her morning starts the way yours does: time with her son first, then the rest of the world gets a turn. Find her on X or LinkedIn.

Rana el Kaliouby, the one who brought the baby

Rana taught AI to read human emotion and co-founded the company Affectiva. When she was raising money, she brought her six-month-old son to the investor pitch meetings. Today she invests in new AI companies, hosts the podcast Pioneers of AI, and wrote a memoir called Girl Decoded. Follow her on X.

The real takeaway

The future isn't being built by robots in hoodies. It's being built by women with car seats in the back and a to-do list on the fridge. If they can run AI, we can absolutely use it.