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Algorithmic Justice League
The Algorithmic Justice League (AJL) is a digital advocacy non-profit organization based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 2016 by computer scientist Joy Buolamwini, the AJL uses research, artwork, and policy advocacy to increase societal awareness regarding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in society and the harms and biases that AI can pose to society. The AJL has engaged in a variety of open online seminars, media appearances, and tech advocacy initiatives to communicate information about bias in AI systems and promote industry and government action to mitigate against the creation and deployment of biased AI systems. In 2021, Fast Company named AJL as one of the 10 most innovative AI companies in the world.

History
Buolamwini founded the Algorithmic Justice League in 2016 as a graduate student in the MIT Media Lab. While experimenting with facial detection software in her research, she found that the software could not detect her "highly melanated" face until she donned a white mask. After this incident, Buolamwini became inspired to found AJL to draw public attention to the existence of bias in artificial intelligence and the threat it can poses to civil rights. Early AJL campaigns focused primarily on bias in face recognition software; recent campaigns have dealt more broadly with questions of equitability and accountability in AI, including algorithmic bias, algorithmic decision-making, algorithmic governance, and algorithmic auditing.

Additionally there is a community of other organizations working towards similar goals, including Data and Society, Data for Black Lives, the Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (DAIR), and Fight for the Future.

Facial Recognition
AJL founder Buolamwini collaborated with AI ethicist Timnit Gebru to release a 2018 study on racial and gender bias in facial recognition algorithms used by commercial systems from Microsoft, IBM, and Face++. Their research, entitled “Gender Shades,” determined that machine learning models released by IBM and Microsoft were less accurate when analyzing dark-skinned and feminine faces compared to performance on light-skinned and masculine faces. This work has been cited by advocates and researchers since its publication, with over 2,500 academic citations as of April 2022. This publication was accompanied by the launch of the Safe Face Pledge, an initiative designed with the Georgetown Center on Privacy & Technology that urged technology organizations and governments to prohibit lethal use of facial recognition technologies. The Gender Shades project and subsequent advocacy undertaken by AJL and similar groups led multiple tech companies, including Amazon and IBM, to address biases in the development of their algorithms and even temporarily ban the use of their products by police in 2020.

Buolamwini and AJL were featured in the 2020 Netflix documentary Coded Bias, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. This documentary focused on the AJL’s research and advocacy efforts to spread awareness of algorithmic bias in facial recognition systems, among other areas.

A research collaboration involving AJL released a white paper in May 2020 calling for the creation of a new United States federal office to regulate the development and deployment of facial recognition technologies. The white paper proposed that creating a new federal office for this area would help reduce the risks of mass surveillance and bias posed by facial recognition technologies towards vulnerable populations.

Bias in Speech and Language Models
The AJL has run initiatives to increase public awareness of algorithmic bias and inequities in the performance of AI systems for speech and language modeling. The AJL’s work in this space centers on highlighting gender and racial disparities in the performance of commercial speech recognition and natural language processing systems, which have historically underperformed on racial minorities and reinforced gender stereotypes.

In March 2020, AJL released a spoken word artistic piece, titled Voicing Erasure, that increased public awareness of racial bias in automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems. The piece was performed by numerous female and non-binary researchers in the field, including Ruha Benjamin, Sasha Costanza-Chock, Safiya Noble, and Kimberlé Crenshaw. AJL based their development of “Voicing Erasure” on a 2020 PNAS paper, titled, “Racial disparities in automated speech recognition” that identified racial disparities in performance of five commercial ASR systems.

Algorithmic Governance
In 2019, Buolamwini represented AJL at a congressional hearing of the US House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, discussing the applications of facial recognition technologies commercially and in the government. Buolamwini served as a witness at the hearing and spoke on the inefficiencies of the technology when identifying people with darker skin and feminine features and supported her position with research from the AJL project “Gender Shades.”

In January 2022, the AJL collaborated with Fight for the Future and the Electronic Privacy Information Center to release an online petition called DumpID.me, calling for the IRS to halt their use of ID.me, a facial recognition technology they were using on users when they log in. The AJL and other organizations sent letters to legislators and requested them to encourage the IRS to stop the program. In February 2022, the IRS agreed to halt the program and stop using facial recognition technology. AJL has now shifted efforts to convince other government agencies to stop using facial recognition technology; as of March 2022, the DumpID.me petition has pivoted to stop the use of ID.me in all government agencies.

Olay Decode the Bias Campaign
In September 2021, Olay collaborated with AJL and O’Neil Risk Consulting & Algorithmic Auditing (ORCAA) to conduct an audit that explored whether the Olay Skin Advisor (OSA)  System included bias against women of color. The AJL chose to collaborate with Olay due to Olay’s commitment to obtaining customer consent for their selfies and skin data to be used in this audit. The AJL and ORCAA audit revealed that the OSA system contained bias in its performance across participants’ skin color and age. The OSA system demonstrated higher accuracy for participants with lighter skin tones, per the Fitzpatrick Skin Type and individual typology angle skin classification scales. The OSA system also demonstrated higher accuracy for participants aged 30–39. Olay has, since, taken steps to internally audit and mitigate against the bias of the OSA system. Olay has also funded 1,000 girls to attend the Black Girls Code camp, to encourage African-American girls to pursue STEM careers.

CRASH Project
In July 2020, the Community Reporting of Algorithmic System Harms (CRASH) Project was launched by AJL. This project began in 2019 when Buolamwini and digital security researcher Camille François met at the Bellagio Center Residency Program, hosted by The Rockefeller Foundation. Since then, the project has also been co-lead by MIT professor and AJL research director Sasha Costanza-Chock. The CRASH project focused on creating the framework for the development of bug-bounty programs (BBPs) that would incentivize individuals to uncover and report instances of algorithmic bias in AI technologies. After conducting interviews with BBP participants and a case study of Twitter’s BBP program, AJL researchers developed and proposed a conceptual framework for designing BBP programs that compensate and encourage individuals to locate and disclose the existence of bias in AI systems. AJL intends for the CRASH framework to give individuals the ability to report algorithmic harms and stimulate change in AI technologies deployed by companies, especially individuals who have traditionally been excluded from the design of these AI technologies [20, DataSociety report].

Support and Media Appearances
AJL initiatives have been funded by the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Mozilla Foundation and individual private donors. Additionally, venues such as Time Magazine, the New York Times, NPR, and CNN have featured Buolamwini’s work with the AJL in several interviews and articles.

Opposition
The AJL has encountered opposition by the comic book company D.C. Comics, pertaining to the similarity of AJL’s name to the D.C. superhero group of Justice League characters. In 2017, Buolamwini applied for an AJL trademark for the name “Algorithmic Justice League” and the D.C. comics filed in opposition of AJL’s trademark. The US Patent and Trademark Office did not approve Buolamwini’s initial application; as of 2019, negotiations are ongoing.

Notable People
Joy Buolamwini - Wikipedia, Founder

Sasha Costanza-Chock, Director of Research and Design

Timnit Gebru, Research Collaborator

Margaret Mitchell (scientist) - Wikipedia, Research Collaborator

Emily M. Bender - Wikipedia, Research Collaborator