Renowned Artificial Intelligence Expert & Bestselling Author Shares Foundational Insights in South Dakota

Augustana University is a private university in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), intertwining faith with learning and service. For the third consecutive year, they are putting on their Critical Inquiry & Citizenship Colloquium. The event taking place on Saturday, October 25, in the Elmen Center was created in 2023 to inspire critical thinking, persuasive reasoning, and thoughtful discussion among engaged citizens.

They have invited Joy Buolamwini, a Canadian-American computer scientist, digital activist, and founder of the Algorithmic Justice League, to deliver the program’s keynote.  Her research has been groundbreaking in architecting the future of artificial intelligence (A.I.), where she works to combat biases in decision-making software, advocating for equitable A.I. through research, art, and policy.

“A.I. is the most powerful and disruptive technology of our time, so we’re very excited to bring Dr. Buolamwini to Sioux Falls.  She’s an engaging and dynamic speaker whose research and life experience have given her deep insight into how we can ensure that A.I. is used to promote the flourishing of all,” said Dr. Stephen Minister, Stanley L. Olsen Chair of Moral Values and professor of philosophy at Augustana.

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Raised in Mississippi, Buolamwini taught herself coding at nine years old, inspired by MIT’s Kismet robot. Her MIT thesis, Gender Shades (2018), exposed racial and gender biases in facial recognition systems from companies like Microsoft and IBM, revealing error rates up to 34.7% for darker-skinned women versus 0.8% for lighter-skinned men.

This spurred tech companies to refine algorithms and pause facial recognition sales to police. Her concept of the “coded gaze” critiques how A.I. reflects creators’ biases. Buolamwini’s book, “Unmasking AI” (2023), details her mission to protect humanity from biased A.I.

Her TED Talk on algorithmic bias has 1.7 million views, and her story features in “Coded Bias” on Netflix. A Rhodes Scholar and Fulbright Fellow, she holds degrees from Georgia Tech, Oxford, and MIT.

For more information and tickets to experience her keynote, please go here.

Unlock your event’s potential by bringing in Joy Buolamwini as your keynote speaker! Don’t miss the opportunity to inspire your audience—Contact Speaker Booking Agency today for more information, or fill out our Online Booking Request Form. Let us leverage our 25 years of industry-leading experience to secure the perfect talent for your next event!