Joy Buolamwini
Computer scientist who exposed bias in facial recognition and founded the Algorithmic Justice League
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Joy Buolamwini is a Canadian-American computer scientist and digital activist who discovered that facial-analysis software failed to see her face until she wore a white mask. Her research at the MIT Media Lab showed racial and gender bias in commercial systems, and she founded the Algorithmic Justice League.
Biography
Background
Buolamwini was born in Canada to Ghanaian parents and grew up in Mississippi. She studied computer science at Georgia Tech, was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford and a Fulbright fellow in Zambia.
The white mask
As a graduate student at the MIT Media Lab she found that face-tracking software only detected her when she wore a white mask. This led to her research.
Gender Shades
In 2018 she and Timnit Gebru showed that systems from IBM, Microsoft and Face++ misclassified darker-skinned women far more often than lighter-skinned men. Companies changed their products, and several later paused selling face recognition to police.
Advocacy
She founded the Algorithmic Justice League, featured in the 2020 documentary Coded Bias, and wrote Unmasking AI (2023). She calls herself a “poet of code”.
Timeline
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2016
Founds the Algorithmic Justice League
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2018
Gender Shades
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2019
Testifies to the US Congress
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2020
Coded Bias documentary
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2022
PhD from MIT
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2023
Unmasking AI
Notable works
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2018
Gender Shades Paper
With Timnit Gebru.
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2023
Unmasking AI Book
Did you know?
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1
Her spoken-word poem “AI, Ain’t I A Woman?” highlights bias.
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2
She was a Rhodes Scholar.
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3
Time named her to its first 100 most influential people in AI list in 2023.
Connections
Frequently asked
Who is Joy Buolamwini?
Joy Buolamwini is a Canadian-American computer scientist and digital activist who discovered that facial-analysis software failed to see her face until she wore a white mask. Her research at the MIT Media Lab showed racial and gender bias in commercial systems, and she founded the Algorithmic Justice League.
Where is Joy Buolamwini from?
Joy Buolamwini was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
What is Joy Buolamwini known for?
Joy Buolamwini is best known for Gender Shades study; Algorithmic Justice League; Coded Bias documentary; Unmasking AI.
References
- Joy Buolamwini — Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Official website. www.poetofcode.com. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Joy Buolamwini (Q31359093) — structured data. Wikidata. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
Includes material from the Wikipedia article “Joy Buolamwini”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. That text is available under the same licence. Learn more
External links
About this profile
- Researched by the TrackFame editorial team; reviewed by Sanjay Sokal under our editorial policy
- First published 4 November 2026
- Last updated
Cite this page
“Joy Buolamwini.” TrackFame, last updated 5 November 2026. https://trackfame.com/person/joy-buolamwini
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