"Unmasking AI goes beyond the headlines about existential risks produced by Big Tech. It is the remarkable story of how Buolamwini uncovered what she calls “the coded gaze”—the evidence of encoded discrimination and exclusion in tech products—and how she galvanized the movement to prevent AI harms by founding the Algorithmic Justice League. Applying an intersectional lens to both the tech industry and the research sector, she shows how racism, sexism, colorism, and ableism can overlap and render broad swaths of humanity “excoded” and therefore vulnerable in a world rapidly adopting AI tools. Computers, she reminds us, are reflections of both the aspirations and the limitations of the people who create them.
Encouraging experts and non-experts alike to join this fight, Buolamwini writes, “The rising frontier for civil rights will require algorithmic justice. AI should be for the people and by the people, not just the privileged few.”
Read the Press Release about the book: "A&T to Host “Unmasking AI: A Conversation with Dr. Joy Buolamwini”
North Carolina A&T introduced the TIC program in 2003 to foster meaningful and relevant discussions throughout the campus community. The first selection, The Souls of Black Folk (1903) by W.E.B. Du Bois, sparked conversations surrounding the African American experience – addressing progress, challenges, and future prospects – a century after its original publication. The program is hosted by the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, along with the Division of Student Affairs.
