We are pleased to introduce the 2024-25 SCU Community Read!
This year's book is Unmasking AI MY MISSION TO PROTECT WHAT IS HUMAN IN A WORLD OF MACHINES by Joy Buolamwini
Dr. Joy Buolamwini has been on the forefront of AI research since she was a graduate student at MIT (2015). Her 2020 documentary “Coded Bias” is about artificial intelligence and the biases that can be embedded into this technology. As a student she and her team discovered that facial recognition for her own face fails unless she wears a white mask. In her first book Unmasking AI (2023) she proves herself as an experienced critic of AI. Her list of principles for achieving ‘algorithmic justice’ includes the stipulation that ‘people have a voice’ in shaping the algorithms that influence their lives. The current moment seems the perfect time to discuss Unmasking AI questioning its promises and understanding its limitations.
Buolamwini was born in Canada to Ghanaian immigrants. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Buolamwini holds two master's degrees from Oxford University and MIT. She also has a bachelor's degree from Georgia Institute of Technology in Computer Science. In 2019, Fortune Magazine expressed her as "the conscience of the A.I. Revolution." In Zambia, she was a former U.S. Fulbright scholar.
For more information and resources on the book and the upcoming programming, please visit the library's resource guide.