From Poet to Pioneer: The Journey of Dr. Joy Buolamwini

Dr. Joy Buolamwini is a renowned researcher, artist and founder of the Algorithmic Justice League. She is widely recognized for her work on AI ethics and her book Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What Is Human in a World of Machines. Dr. Joy has advised world leaders on preventing AI harms and has made significant contributions to the field of AI auditing with her transformative research on facial recognition technologies. Her “Gender Shades” paper is considered one of the most cited peer-reviewed AI ethics publications to date, and her TED Talk on algorithmic bias has garnered over 1.7 million views.

In addition to her work as an AI expert, Dr. Joy is also an accomplished poet and artist known as the Poet of Code. Her artwork has been displayed across four continents and her writing and work have been featured in various reputable publications such as TIME, New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Rolling Stone, and The Atlantic. She is the central figure in the Emmy-nominated documentary Coded Bias, which has been translated into 30 languages and reached over 100 million viewers.

Dr. Joy’s accomplishments are numerous: she is a Rhodes Scholar and Fulbright fellow, and has received multiple accolades including the Technological Innovation Award from the Martin Luther King Jr. Center and the 2024 NAACP-Archewell Foundation Digital Civil Rights Award. Fortune magazine has labeled her the “conscience of the AI revolution,” while Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in AI