Twitter (TWTR) has appointed Fei-Fei Li, the former Alphabet’s (GOOG -0.67%) (GOOGL -0.79%) Google executive, and artificial intelligence expert, to its board of directors.
Li, who is also a Stanford professor, is coming on as Twitter’s new independent director effective immediately. The tech stock said in a press release Li’s “unparalleled expertise in engineering, computer science, and artificial intelligence,” will help Twitter improve its service.
IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.
Twitter has been stepping up its focus on AI, adding it to its algorithms to serve up more relevant tweets, using it to better organize content that shows up in users' feeds, and to weed out and limit questionable content on its platform. That has helped boost its user base in the fourth quarter with monthly daily active users up 21% year-over-year.
Despite those efforts, Twitter is still far behind Facebook (META -1.16%) and Google when it comes to AI and machine learning. Twitter is hoping Li provides it with a way to close that gap. Twitter said appointing Li to the board aligns with its commitment to add a director with deep tech know-how and AI expertise.
Prior to becoming a professor at Stanford Li served as Google’s chief scientists for AI and machine learning for its cloud unit. Last year she started the Standford University Human-Centered AI Institute. The institute is tasked with advancing AI research, education, and policies.
"Twitter is an incredible example of how technology can connect the world in powerful ways and I am honored to join the board at such an important time in the company's history," said Li in the press release. "AI and machine learning can have an enormous impact on technology and the people who use it. I look forward to leveraging my experience for Twitter as it harnesses this technology to benefit everyone who uses the service."
