Tunisian researcher Maha Jouini wins She Shapes AI Global Award 2025/2026

Friday 01 May 2026 - 10:42

By: Dakir Madiha

Tunisian researcher Maha Jouini wins She Shapes AI Global Award 2025/2026

Maha Jouini, a Tunisian researcher based in Johannesburg, has won the She Shapes AI Global Award for 2025/2026. The award recognizes women leaders in responsible artificial intelligence. Jouini specializes in AI governance. She focuses on algorithmic biases that harm women, minorities, and rural populations. Her work exposes how incomplete training data leads systems to replicate existing inequalities.

Jouini serves as an AI and Gender Fellow Researcher at the Global Center on AI Governance. She analyzes how AI models, often built on skewed datasets, marginalize underrepresented groups. In hiring tools, for instance, gaps in a woman's career due to medical leave signal unreliability to algorithms. This creates hidden discrimination in employment, healthcare, and public services. Her research labels such issues as "silent digital conditions." She argues that these flaws reduce AI reliability across sectors like diagnostics and credit scoring.

Africa faces acute challenges in this area. Women make up just 10 to 20 percent of AI professionals on the continent. Male-dominated development teams produce generative models with embedded gender biases. These not only undermine equity but also limit technological performance and economic gains. Jouini stresses that fixing biases serves practical needs, not just ethics. Recent reports show that inclusive AI boosts outcomes in agriculture and rural services, key priorities for African development.

Jouini draws on non-Western ethical frameworks to challenge dominant paradigms. She applies Ubuntu, the Zulu principle of communal humanity, to advocate community-centered AI over Western individualism. Islamic philosophy's Hikma, or practical wisdom, helps her question algorithmic foundations and push for intellectual decolonization in tech. The award ceremony took place in London on April 16, 2026, hosted by LSE Generate. It drew over 100 entries from 60 countries, with 55 percent of finalists women of color and all winners from outside Silicon Valley. Six African women reached the finals, signaling the continent's rising influence in ethical AI.

Her contributions extend to practical applications. Jouini co-authored a 2026 Elon University report, "Building a Human Resilience Infrastructure for the AI Age." It outlines strategies to counter biases through diverse data and mixed teams. In Africa, culturally adapted chatbots aid mental health for rural girls. Partnerships with UNESCO and AUDA-NEPAD amplify her impact. Previously honored by UNESCO in 2022 as a MENA digital pioneer, Jouini exemplifies a shift. AI evolves from a Western monopoly to a tool for global equity. As Europe advances gender bias audits, her victory underscores the need for ethical design from the start.