What is stakeholders and power — explained for kids?

Stakeholders are everyone an AI system touches, not just its builders. How to find them all. For Class 7.

What's the most common mistake children make about this concept?

Only the users who interact with the AI interface count as stakeholders.

How does Dhee Learning teach this in a Class 7 session?

Dhee opens with a question — for example: "A ride-hailing app is switching on surge pricing. Beyond the company and riders, who else does this feature affect?" — listens to your child's answer, then probes the reasoning behind it. The session ends when the child can apply the idea to a brand-new situation, not just recall it.

Stakeholders in AI — who's affected, who decides?

What this concept actually says

Stakeholders are all people or groups affected by or able to influence a system — not only those who build it
Power and impact are two separate dimensions: some stakeholders have high impact but low power
Ethical AI design requires deliberately including the voices of low-power, high-impact stakeholders

An analogy your child will recognise

Village panchayat water project

When a panchayat decides where to lay water pipes, the sarpanch and engineers make the decision, but the person who walks 3 km to the well every morning is affected most. If that person isn't consulted, the pipes might be built where it's easiest to dig — not where the need is greatest. Stakeholder mapping is about finding that person and making sure their reality is part of the plan.

Cricket team selection

A selectors' committee chooses the national cricket team. The selectors have all the power. But the young fast bowler from a small town who gets dropped has the highest stake in the outcome. State-level coaches, sponsors, and fans are all stakeholders too — yet few of them sit in the selection room.

Common misconceptions to watch for

Only the users who interact with the AI interface count as stakeholders.
Stakeholders with little power over the system don't need to be considered in the design process.

Key facts in one breath

A stakeholder is anyone who affects or is affected by a system — not only those who design or operate it.
Power-impact matrices map stakeholders on two axes: their influence over decisions and the degree to which decisions affect them.
Marginalised or low-power stakeholders are consistently underrepresented in AI design — this is a documented source of AI harm.
Participatory design is the practice of including affected communities in the design process itself, not just consulting them afterwards.

How Dhee Learning teaches this — the 3-stage question loop

Every Dhee Learning session for this concept follows three stages. We share the questions Dhee actually asks, so you can hear what a session sounds like.

Stage 1 — Surface

A ride-hailing app is switching on surge pricing. Beyond the company and riders, who else does this feature affect?

Rote answer

"Riders are affected because they pay more."

Understood

"Drivers are affected most — surge decides their nightly earnings yet they set no price; the auto-union outside the app, and regular commuters priced out on a busy evening, are affected too — not just the company and riders who were the only ones asked."

Stage 2 — Reasoning

In that surge system, which stakeholders had the most power over the feature, and which had almost none — and why does the gap matter?

Follow-up Dhee may use: If you were on the design team, what is one concrete way to bring the drivers' voice in before surge ships?

Stage 3 — Application

A school is designing an AI face-scanner to mark attendance. Make a stakeholder map: list every stakeholder, rate each one's power over the design (high/medium/low), and rate how much the scanner's decisions affect them (high/medium/low).

Misconception Dhee watches for: Child only lists people who directly touch the scanner and misses indirect stakeholders like parents, or fails to see the students as high-impact but low-power.