# Designing for Democratization: Introducing Novices to Artificial Intelligence Via Maker Kits

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.10723 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1805.10723/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 28 May 2018.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Human-Centered AI Product Prototyping with No-Code AutoML: Conceptual Framework, Potentials and Limitations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.07933/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Existing research highlight the myriad of benefits realized when technology is sufficiently democratized and made accessible to non-technical or novice users. However, democratizing complex technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) remains hard. In this work, we draw on theoretical underpinnings from the democratization of innovation, in exploring the design of maker kits that help introduce novice users to complex technologies. We report on our work designing TJBot: an open source cardboard robot that can be programmed using pre-built AI services. We highlight principles we adopted in this process (approachable design, simplicity, extensibility and accessibility), insights we learned from showing the kit at workshops (66 participants) and how users interacted with the project on GitHub over a 12-month period (Nov 2016 - Nov 2017). We find that the project succeeds in attracting novice users (40% of users who forked the project are new to GitHub) and a variety of demographics are interested in prototyping use cases such as home automation, task delegation, teaching and learning.