JOY BUOLAMWINI

THE POET OF CODE
Computer Scientist, Digital Activist, Founder of the Algorithmic Justice League

THE STUDY THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
In 2018, Joy co-authored the Gender Shades study with Timnit Gebru, evaluating commercial facial recognition systems. Their findings revealed a shocking disparity:

Error rates were under 1% for lighter-skinned men

Error rates for darker-skinned women were up to 35%

These systems were already deployed in policing, hiring, and security. Gender Shades demonstrated that bias in AI systems wasn’t accidental - it was deeply embedded in data, design, and testing practices.

THE ALGORITHMIC JUSTICE LEAGUE
In 2016, Joy founded the Algorithmic Justice League (AJL) to turn research into action. AJL works across:

Research — auditing AI systems

Advocacy — pressuring companies & governments

Art & storytelling — translating bias into public understanding

Policy — shaping debates on biometric surveillance

AJL’s work helped companies pause deployments and prompted policymakers to question widespread facial recognition.

THE HARD TRUTH
"AI will not solve poverty, because the conditions that lead to societies that pursue profit over people are not technical. AI will not solve discrimination, because the cultural patterns that say one group of people is better than another because of their gender, their skin color, the way they speak, their height, or their wealth are not technical."

— Joy Buolamwini, Unmasking AI

FROM LAB TO LIFE
In Unmasking AI, Joy Buolamwini traces her journey from MIT graduate student - where a facial recognition algorithm couldn’t detect her face until she wore a white mask - to world-renowned AI activist. She introduces the Coded Gaze, showing how the personal assumptions and structural biases of predominantly white, male developers get baked into technology. This "excoding" of humanity has real-world consequences: being denied loans, jobs, housing, or even being wrongfully arrested.

Buolamwini shifts the focus from abstract fears of AI taking over to the harms happening today - in social media, finance, and criminal justice - and calls for accountability from companies, policymakers, and technologists alike. Her book is a guide for all of us, showing how AI can reinforce inequality and how diverse voices, thoughtful policy, and ethical design can build a future where technology serves everyone.