21 Powerful Living Women: Joy Buolamwini, PhD

Computer Scientist, Data Poet
Joy earned a Master's Degree in Media Arts & Sciences from MIT, and a PhD in 2022. She founded the Algorithmic Justice League, an org. that challenges bias in decision-making software and research to social implications and harms of artificial intelligence (AI). Her research at MIT Media Lab identified bias in algorithms and developed practices for accountability. Her project, Gender Shades, prompted IBM, Google, and Microsoft, to improve their software by addressing gender and race bias in their products. In 2019, Fortune magazine listed Joy as one of the "World's 50 Greatest Leaders." Dr. B created two films, Code4Rights and Algorithmic Justice League: Unmasking Bias. The Coded Gaze documentary is on YouTube. She won the PepsiCo - 21st Century Fox grand prize in the Search for Hidden Figures contest which "helps to uncover the next generation of female leaders in science, technology, engineering and math." And, she has a TedX talk.