Wizard of Oz

A research and prototyping technique in which a human operator (the "wizard") secretly performs functions that participants believe are being handled by the system. This allows researchers to study user reactions to capabilities that have not yet been fully implemented. In accessibility research, Wizard of Oz methods are commonly used to prototype AI-powered features, such as having a researcher manually apply image filters or run object segmentation models behind the scenes while the participant interacts with an apparently automated interface.