Founder and artist-in-chief, Algorithmic Justice League
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Buolamwini is the founder of the Algorithmic Justice League, an organization dedicated to exposing the potential harms of artificial intelligence through original research and art. A computer scientist and activist, Buolamwini conducted research that exposed the bias present in the facial recognition algorithms of several leading tech companies, and has warned of such bias for years before the current AI boom. In 2016, Buolamwini gave a TED Talk called “How I’m fighting bias in algorithms”—which has over 1.7 million views—where she warned about the dangers of algorithmic bias, including in areas like policing or personnel decisions in organizations.
“We have entered the age of automation overconfident, yet underprepared,” argues Buolamwini. “If we fail to make ethical and inclusive artificial intelligence, we risk losing gains made in civil rights and gender equity under the guise of machine neutrality.”