In a recent episode of High Signal, we spoke with Dr. Fei-Fei Li about what it really means to build human-centered AI, and where the field might be heading next. Fei-Fei doesn’t describe AI as a feature or even an industry. She calls it a “civilizational technology”—a force as foundational as electricity or computing itself. This has serious implications for how we design, deploy, and govern AI systems across institutions, economies, and everyday life. Our conversation was about more than short-term tactics. It was about how foundational assumptions are shifting, around interface, intelligence, and responsibility, and what that means for […]

Last year, China saw a boom in foundation models, the do-everything large language models that underpin the AI revolution. This year, the focus has shifted to AI agents—systems that are less about responding to users’ queries and more about autonomously accomplishing things for them.  There are now a host of Chinese startups building these general-purpose digital tools, which can answer emails, browse the internet to plan vacations, and even design an interactive website. Many of these have emerged in just the last two months, following in the footsteps of Manus—a general AI agent that sparked weeks of social media frenzy […]

This is the third of four parts in this series. Part 1 can be found here and Part 2 can be found here. 7. Building or Integrating an MCP Server: What It Takes Given these examples, you might wonder: How do I build an MCP server for my own application or integrate one that’s out there? The good news is that the MCP spec comes with a lot of support (SDKs, templates, and a growing knowledge base), but it does require understanding both your application’s API and some MCP basics. Let’s break down the typical steps and components in building an […]