The American Muslim Podcast · El-Amin Communications

Yusuf Jones: The Algorithmic Abolitionist

·1 hr 3 min·4 clips

Yusuf Jones says an AI model trained on AAVE reduced bias and performed better than standard English.

1. The American Muslim Podcast episode features Yusuf Jones, also called the Algorithmic Abolitionist, talking about AI, language, and Black Muslim history. 2. Imam Tariq El-Amin hosts Yusuf Jones, who is presented as a writer, a creator of human-centered AI models, the creator of the TNA and TNC frameworks, and the founder of the Dajale Institute. 3. Yusuf Jones uses the conversation to argue that Black communities should understand AI before corporations define how it works and who it serves. 4. He starts with his father at Kenwood Academy in Chicago, where his father taught drafting and bought three Macintosh computers out of his own money. 5. He says that effort led to the first computer-aided drafting program in a Chicago high school and showed him that early adoption mattered. 6. Yusuf Jones then traces his own path through Tandy, Oracle databases, computer repair, and Java development. 7. He credits Dean Harris and Toorac with connecting him to the Zip Code program in Philadelphia, where students ranged from age 16 to 70. 8. He says that program proved he had both the talent and the responsibility to pivot into technology as service. 9. Yusuf Jones argues that Black people and Black Muslims were often discussed in technology rooms only as consumers. 10. He says U.S. culture and education rewarded consumerism while discouraging broad invention and early technical literacy. 11. He describes AI as the first technology that can teach people about itself and says that makes it different from the web. 12. He says every computer system from cell phones to smart TVs rests on code written in standard American English. 13. He then describes a model trained with African-American Vernacular English, or AAVE, as the base. 14. Yusuf Jones says the AAVE-based model reduced bias against Black people, other non-English speakers, African people, and Malaysian people. 15. He also says that same model performed better on tasks than the standard-English version. 16. He says he cried when the first results came in because the outcome connected directly to his own stuttering and speech struggles. 17. The interview style is expansive, sermon-like, and highly interactive, with Imam Tariq interrupting at key points to press for clarity. 18. Yusuf Jones speaks in a long-form, improvisational cadence that moves from family history to code, Qur'an, and education without pausing for short answers. 19. People interested in Black Muslims, AI ethics, and community tech independence would get the most from this episode. 20. People looking for a short, tightly edited technical interview or a light discussion may skip it.

As heard by us

A serious conversation about AI, moral agency, and Muslim responsibility.

Yusuf Jones and Imam Tariq El-Amin meet Muslim ethics, Black experience, and anxiety around AI in a way that keeps the focus on agency: power sits inside the tools as much as in the people who use them.

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Why you'd press play

You want a faith-first take on AI that treats evidence seriously.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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