Joy Buolamwini

Joy Adowaa Buolamwini is a Canadian-American computer scientist and digital activist formerly based at the MIT Media Lab. She founded the Algorithmic Justice League (AJL), an organization that works to challenge bias in decision-making software, using art, advocacy, and research to highlight the social implications and harms of artificial intelligence (AI). Early life and education Buolamwini was...

Joy Adowaa Buolamwini is a Canadian-American computer scientist and digital activist formerly based at the MIT Media Lab. She founded the Algorithmic Justice League (AJL), an organization that works to challenge bias in decision-making software, using art, advocacy, and research to highlight the social implications and harms of artificial intelligence (AI). Early life and education Buolamwini was born in Edmonton, Alberta, grew up in Mississippi, and attended Cordova High School in Cordova, Tennessee. At age nine, she was inspired by Kismet, the MIT robot, and taught herself XHTML, JavaScript and PHP. As a student-athlete, she was a competitive pole vaulter and played basketball. In a podcast episode she recorded on Brené Brown's show "Dare to Lead", she recalls completing her AP Physics homework between basketball break times. As an undergraduate, Buolamwini studied computer science at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she researched health informatics. Buolamwini graduated as a Stamps President's Scholar from Georgia Tech in 2012, and was the youngest finalist of the Georgia Tech InVenture Prize in 2009. Buolamwini is a Rhodes Scholar, a Fulbright fellow, a Stamps Scholar, an Astronaut Scholar, and an Anita Borg Institute scholar. As a Rhodes Scholar, she studied learning and technology at the University of Oxford, where she was a student based at Jesus College, Oxford. During her scholarship she took part in the first formal Service Year, working on community focused projects. She was awarded a master's degree in Media Arts & Sciences from MIT in 2017 for research supervised by Ethan Zuckerman. She was awarded a PhD degree in Media Arts & Sciences from the MIT Media Lab in 2022 with a thesis on Facing the Coded Gaze with Evocative Audits and Algorithmic Audits. Impact and Legacy Buolamwini's work has had a profound impact on the field of artificial intelligence and the broader conversation around algorithmic bias. Her research has not only exposed critical flaws in facial recognition technology but has also sparked meaningful policy changes and corporate accountability at the highest levels. Her landmark 2018 study, "Gender Shades," co-authored with Timnit Gebru, revealed that facial recognition systems from major technology companies, including IBM, Microsoft, and Face++, performed significantly worse on darker-skinned faces, particularly women. Error rates for darker-skinned women were found to be as high as 34.7%, compared to an error rate of less than 1% for lighter-skinned men. Following the publication of this research, IBM, Microsoft, and Amazon all announced significant updates to their facial recognition products, with IBM eventually discontinuing its facial recognition software altogether in 2020. Buolamwini has testified before the United States Congress on multiple occasions, advocating for stronger regulation of facial recognition technology and artificial intelligence more broadly. Her testimony has contributed to legislative efforts at both the federal and state levels, including the introduction of the Algorithmic Accountability Act. Her 2020 documentary, Coded Bias, directed by Shalini Kantayya, brought her work to a global audience. The film, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, chronicles Buolamwini's journey from discovering bias in facial recognition software to becoming one of the leading voices in the movement for algorithmic justice. The documentary was nominated for an Emmy Award. Beyond her research and advocacy, Buolamwini has been recognized with numerous prestigious awards. She was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People, received the MIT Media Lab's Disobedience Award, and was awarded the Rhodes Scholarship. Her book, Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What is Human in a World of Machines, published in 2023, further cemented her position as one of the most important voices in the conversation around ethical artificial intelligence. Buolamwini's legacy lies in her ability to bridge the gap between technical research and public policy, ensuring that the voices of marginalized communities are represented in the development of technologies that increasingly shape everyday life. Career and research In 2011, Buolamwini worked with the trachoma program at the Carter Center to develop an Android-based assessment system for use in Ethiopia. As a Fulbright fellow, in 2013 she worked with local computer scientists in Zambia to help Zambian youth become technology creators. On September 14, 2016, Buolamwini appeared at the White House summit on Computer Science for All. Buolamwini is widely recognized for her research on bias in facial recognition systems. While working at the MIT Media Lab, she discovered that many artificial intelligence systems had difficulty accurately identifying darker-skinned individuals, particularly women. In some instances, the systems failed to detect her face unless she wore a white mask. This observation led her to conduct a broader study evaluating commercial facial recognition technologies. Her research, published in Gender Shades: Intersectional Accuracy Disparities in Commercial Gender Classification, found that error rates were significantly higher for darker-skinned women compared to lighter-skinned men. She introduced the term "coded gaze" to describe how algorithmic systems can reflect the biases of their creators. Her work has contributed to increased awareness of the ethical implications of artificial intelligence and the risks of biased data in decision-making systems. Following the publication of her research, major technology companies such as IBM, Microsoft, and Amazon reevaluated their facial recognition technologies, with some pausing or modifying their systems in response to concerns about bias. Buolamwini was a researcher at the MIT Media Lab, where she worked to identify bias in algorithms and to develop practices for accountability during their design. She would refer the lab as the "Future Factory", a cocoon for dreamers like herself to be immersed in fantasy to build technology. At the lab, Buolamwini was a member of Ethan Zuckerman's Center for Civic Media group. During her research, Buolamwini showed 1,000 faces to facial recognition systems and asked the systems to identify whether faces were female or male, and found that the software found it hard to identify dark-skinned women. Her project, Gender Shades, became part of her MIT thesis. Her 2018 paper Gender Shades: Intersectional Accuracy Disparities in Commercial Gender Classification prompted responses from IBM and Microsoft to take corrective actions to improve the accuracy of their algorithms, swiftly improved their software demonstrating her influence on the industry. She also created the Aspire Mirror, a device that lets users see a reflection of themselves based on what inspires them. Her program, Algorithmic Justice League, aims to highlight the bias in code that can lead to discrimination against underrepresented groups. She has created two films, Code4Rights and Algorithmic Justice League: Unmasking Bias. Still the director, Code4rights is an advocacy organization started in 2012 intended to use technology to spread awareness of human rights. She served as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Techturized Inc., a hair-care technology company. Buolamwini's research was cited in 2020 as an influence for Google and Microsoft in addressing gender and race bias in their products and processes. She also served as an advisor to President Biden ahead of his administration's Executive Order 14110, released October 30, 2023. The order is also known as the Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence (sometimes referred to as "Executive Order on Artificial Intelligence"). In 2023, she published her first book, Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines, which chronicles her research. Through her book: Buolamwini delves into the social implications of AI and warns of the biases in facial analysis systems, as well as their potential harm to millions of people - especially if they reinforce existing stereotypes. She advocates for the development of inclusive datasets, transparent auditing, and ethical policies to mitigate the discriminatory impact of AI. In 2025, Buolamwini was elected to the Board of Directors of the Legal Defense Fund, a nonprofit civil rights law organization. AI bias and gender equity Dr. Joy Buolamwini's research on AI bias has been pivotal in advancing gender equity within engineering and technology. Her research found that AI-powered facial-recognition systems showed higher error rates when identifying darker-skinned women, with rates reaching 34.7%, compared to 0.8% for lighter-skinned men. These disparities indicated potential biases in algorithmic design, where biased training data and incomplete evaluation processes led to unequal technological outcomes based on both gender and skin tone. Buolamwini's personal experience with AI performance limitations motivated her research into algorithmic bias. While working on a facial-recognition-based art project at the MIT Media Lab, she discovered that commercial AI systems could not consistently detect her face due to her darker skin. This frustration inspired her landmark research project Gender Shades, which rigorously evaluated facial analysis systems from IBM, Microsoft, and Face++. Her study revealed that these systems were most accurate for lighter-skinned men, with error rates as low as 1%, while their accuracy plummeted for darker-skinned women, with misclassification rates as high as 47%. Realizing that these failures stemmed from data imbalances, Buolamwini introduced the Pilot Parliaments Benchmark, a diverse dataset designed to address the lack of representation in typical AI training sets, which were composed of over 75% male and 80% lighter-skinned faces. This new benchmark set a critical precedent for evaluating and improving AI performance by ensuring more equitable testing standards. Her findings contributed to significant changes in the tech industry. Following the publication of her research, companies such as IBM and Microsoft took steps to improve their algorithms, reducing bias and enhancing accuracy. However, Buolamwini has noted that improved technical accuracy alone does not eliminate risks of potential misuse in areas such as racial profiling, surveillance, and hiring decisions. To address these concerns, Buolamwini co-founded the Safe Face Pledge, encouraging tech companies to adopt ethical AI practices. The pledge prohibits weaponizing facial recognition, bans lawless police use, and demands transparency in government surveillance applications. Her advocacy emphasizes that achieving fairness in AI development requires a multi-faceted approach, including regulatory frameworks and collaborative efforts. Activism Buolamwini founded the Algorithmic Justice League (AJL) in 2016 to promote equitable and accountable artificial intelligence (AI). The AJL organization integrates art and research to examine societal implications and reduce AI-related harms. The company works to raise public awareness of AI's impact while advancing research on bias mitigation. It also addresses issues at the intersection of equity and technology, promoting more inclusive and accessible engineering systems. AJL has also encouraged public engagement through interactive campaigns, exhibitions, and educational initiatives, ensuring a broad audience is informed about the impact of biased algorithms on gender equity. To broaden its outreach, AJL has partnered with organizations such as Black Girls Code to encourage African-American girls to pursue STEM careers, thereby fostering more diversity in the tech industry. AJL conducts workshops and provides resources aimed at educating the public and tech community about AI biases, with a focus on empowering underre