AI Toolkit
The AI Toolkit is a card-based method with which groups who have no technical background design AI applications. In ninety minutes to three hours a concept takes shape that brings together the problem, the data logic, the interaction and the ethical questions.
What it is for
AI development mostly happens in closed expert circles. For everyone else the technology stays a black box: hard to understand and harder still to shape. Anyone who does not understand how a system arrives at its results can neither take part nor object.
The toolkit breaks the black box into components that can be talked about. Where does the data come from? What is the system meant to recognise? How does it communicate with people? What does it produce? This makes AI discussable without anyone needing to program.
Ethical questions do not come at the end. There is a card group of their own for them, and it comes before the pitch, not after.
How it is used
The workshop runs in seven phases. After a short introduction the group defines the problem and the users, gets to know the deck, and combines cards into a core idea. That idea is sketched as a storyboard: how does it work in everyday life? The group then examines risks, acceptance and ethical questions. Finally there is a pitch.
The cards cover eight categories: persona, scenario, mission, data sources, interaction, AI learning objective, reflection and output. There is also an A1 board on which the cards find their place.
What comes out is a concept prototype: a visualised idea describing which problem is being solved, what the system learns from, how people deal with it, and what about it is delicate.
What it does not do
No product and no prototype in the technical sense comes out of it. What the workshop produces is a concept on paper. Whether it can be built is another question and another appointment.
The toolkit replaces no expert review. A group can plan for a data source that is not legally available, or set a learning objective that is technically out of reach. Neither will come to light here.
And it is no use where it is already settled what should be built. The workshop then confirms a decision instead of preparing one. The benefit lies in the understanding, not in the idea. That should be clear beforehand.
Where it comes from
Material and instructions are published under CC BY 4.0. You may use, adapt and pass everything on freely, including commercially, as long as you credit the authorship. Available for download are the card contents, the board, two versions of the card backs and the full instructions with a schedule, each as a print-ready PDF.
You can work with it without me. If you would like a facilitated workshop, I offer that from eight people, in person or remote.