Fei‑Fei Li, a leading AI researcher and startup founder, is increasingly advising governments and shaping industry‑academic partnerships as institutions race to integrate advanced AI into research and teaching. Li traced her path from immigrant student to AI pioneer and stresses resilience and cross‑disciplinary thinking as essential for academia’s role in AI development. At the same time, colleges nationwide continue to struggle with policy: faculty, administrators and IT leaders report that AI tools like ChatGPT have become pervasive in classrooms without consistent academic policies. Campus leaders are still debating assessment changes, academic integrity protocols and professional development for faculty as generative AI shifts both pedagogy and research practices.