HAI Executive Director Russell Wald talks about the AI competition between the U.S. and China, and the advent of “world models” that predict what might happen in real-world environments.

HAI Executive Director Russell Wald and AI Index Lead Sha Sajadieh discuss the trends in the 2026 AI Index regarding the stark contrast between American public sentiment and Chinese public sentiment when asked their excitement levels for AI adoption.

"Countries pursue AI sovereignty with four main objectives in mind: cultural autonomy, national security, economic competitiveness, and regulatory oversight," says Juan N. Pava, Stanford HAI Research Fellow.

Stanford HAI Executive Director Russell Wald discusses world models, saying many policymakers or government officials need to better understand the technologies and their implications.

"The 2026 Stanford AI Index Report, released this month, highlights a sharp increase in AI adoption in medicine. It notes a significant rise in AI uses for clinical documentation, medical imaging, and diagnostic reasoning. That growth may improve efficiency. But it also expands the attack surface for public health if mis-deployed."

"Stanford University on Monday released its annual AI Index Report, showing AI experts and the U.S. public have drastically different views on AI’s societal impact, while nervousness on AI products increased slightly."

Sha Sajadieh, AI Index Lead, comments on HAI's 2026 AI Index findings.

"If you’re following AI news, you’re probably getting whiplash. AI is a gold rush. AI is a bubble. AI is taking your job. AI can’t even read a clock. The 2026 AI Index from Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, AI’s annual report card, comes out today and cuts through some of that noise."

HAI Senior Fellow and Director of the Digital Economy Lab, Erik Brynjolfsson, speaks about the rapid speed of AI impacts on the economy.

HAI Director James Landay addresses using chatbots for medical advice.

Stanford University President Jon Levin highlights Stanford’s pivotal role in shaping the future of AI, pointing to Stanford HAI as a leader in advancing its ethical development and deployment.

"The ultimate problem is that you just can't control where the information goes, and it could leak out in ways that you just don't anticipate," says HAI Privacy and Data Policy Fellow Jennifer King.

Fei-Fei Li, Co-Founder of Stanford HAI, speaks about the importance of learning about new technologies.

HAI Co-Founder Fei-Fei Li is nominated as one of the USA Today's 2026 Women of the Year.

HAI Co-Director Fei-Fei Li named one of America's top 250 greatest innovators, alongside fellow Stanford affiliates Rodney Brooks, Carolyn Bertozzi, Daphne Koller, and Andrew Ng.

HAI Co-Director James Landay urges people to think about what "AI for good" means today. He argues, "we need to move beyond just thinking about the user. We’ve got to think about broader communities who are impacted by AI systems if we actually want them to be good.”

HAI Senior Fellow Yejin Choi discussed responsible AI model training at Davos, asking, “What if there could be an alternative form of intelligence that really learns … morals, human values from the get-go, as opposed to just training LLMs on the entirety of the internet, which actually includes the worst part of humanity, and then we then try to patch things up by doing ‘alignment’?” 

Axios chief technology correspondent Ina Fried speaks to HAI Senior Fellow Yejin Choi at Axios House in Davos during the World Economic Forum.