Joy Buolamwini
Founder of the Algorithmic Justice League and Leading Voice on AI Bias
Joy Buolamwini – Computer Scientist, Researcher, and Algorithmic Justice Advocate
Summary
Joy Buolamwini is a computer scientist and digital activist best known as the founder of the Algorithmic Justice League (AJL), an organization dedicated to raising awareness of bias in artificial intelligence systems. She earned her graduate degrees from MIT, where her groundbreaking research exposed racial and gender disparities in commercial facial recognition systems. Her work has been featured in the documentary Coded Bias (2020) and has influenced policy debates around AI fairness and accountability worldwide.
Core Warning
Buolamwini warns that AI systems, if left unchecked, can encode and amplify existing social inequalities. She demonstrated how facial recognition systems misidentify women and people of color at significantly higher rates than white men, revealing that technical systems are never neutral. Her research underscores the urgent need for ethical oversight, transparency, and regulation to prevent discrimination in automated decision-making.
Disclaimer: Joy Buolamwini is not affiliated with RQ Lab. References to her published work are for context only.
Our Response
At RQ Lab™, we share Buolamwini’s concern that AI must be held accountable for fairness and integrity. Our Relational Quotient™ (RQ) framework includes refusal logic and ethical scaffolds designed to detect and prevent misuse or biased behavior. By centering relational trust in our designs, we aim to create systems that not only perform accurately but also uphold equity and dignity across diverse human contexts.
Aligned Intelligence We Evolve Together™