Randi Williams

Dr. Randi
Williams

empowers communities to shape technology

AI and Education Researcher | Cambridge, MA

Day of AI

Day of AI is a non-profit bringing AI literacy to millions of schools around the world through free curriculum and robust professional development.

Day of AI Rwanda

Day of AI

In collaboration with Rwanda's Ministry of Education and REB we conducted a cascading, large-scale deployment of AI literacy workshops for school teachers.

Dissertation: The Impact AI Framework

Personal Robots Group

The Impact.AI literacy framework covers the AI knowledge and perspectives that align with a technosocial change agent identity.

How to Train Your Robot

Personal Robots Group & I2 Learning

How to Train Your Robot is a curriculum for middle school students to explore AI and ethics, then build projects with real-world impact.

AI for Wellbeing (Dr. R.O. Bott)

Personal Robots Group

AI for Wellbeing is a middle school curriculum exploring conversational AI, equity in healthcare, and design justice through hands-on activities.

Course: MAS.S65

MIT Media Lab, Spring 2019 & 2020

MAS.S65 was a project-based course that explored “how we might empower middle-school students to learn about AI through hands-on lessons?"

A is for Artificial Intelligence

Personal Robots Group

We explored young children's (ages 4-7) perceptions of AI, and how learning about AI influenced their beliefs.

PopBots

Personal Robots Group

The Preschool-Oriented Programming (POP) Platform is a social robot platform that introduces young children to programming, robotics, and artificial intelligence.

The RAISE AI Playground

Personal Robots Group & MIT RAISE

The Raise AI Playground suite of block-based programming tools allows anyone to use and create machine learning, robotics, and AI projects.

ML Blocks

Microsoft Research

ML Blocks are a block-based user interface for creating TinyML models. With ML BLocks users can train and deploy microcontroller models.

LevelUp

Personal Robots Group, UROP Project

LevelUp is an automatic code analysis tool built into a block-based programming platform that gives users continuous feedback on their machine learning projects.

S.P.A.R.K.I

Personal Robots Group & AppInventor

S.P.A.R.K.I. is a GPT-powered chatbot that provides programming assistance, gives students feedback on their ideas, and socially mediates creative thinking.

Child-AI Interaction

Personal Robots Group

We studied how children (3-10 years old) interacted with voice personal assistants and smart toys.

Relational AI

Personal Robots Group

We adapted and created assessments to measure young children's long-term relationships with social robots.

leadership & Outreach

Advancing the field of AI through outreach and interdisciplinary collaborations.

AI Education in Africa, 2019 - Present

I first visited Africa during the Year of Return in 2019. In Accra, Ghana, I conducted AI workshops at Ashesi University and the Practical Education Network. Since then, I have led initiatives to expand continental AI education, including spearheading the Day of AI Rwanda initiative for K-12 teachers and learners, and co-presenting with UNESCO to government leaders at the 2025 ADEA Trienniale.

AI Education in LATAM, 2018 - Present

I have engaged in a number of initiatives to bring bilingual CS and STEM education to Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America. In 2025, I was part of the incredible Día de la IA initiative in Colombia which reached thousands of teachers across the nation. During graduate school I taught CS to high schoolersin Mexico and Chile through MIT's MISTI, the Beautiful Patterns program, and Monterrey Tech's Women + Tech week.

Black in Robotics, 2020 - Present

I am the founding co-director of the Black in Robotics Boston Chapter. We host professional development and social activities for people in the robotics community (undergraduate, academia, industry, etc.) who identify as African-American. Visit the website to join the mailing list and hear about upcoming events.

hackUMBC, 2014

In 2014 I co-led UMBC's first hackathon under the banner "Hacking to Improve Campus Life." Although hackathons are popular in some communtiies, one had never happened in any instituion in Baltimore before. We focused our work on creating opportunities for students who don't usually engage in CS to explore it. This work inspired hackathons around the city, notably the Protect and Serve hackathon in West Baltimore that brought together community members and law enforcement officers. PuppyHacks continues to this day!

Press and features

2026 How to Raise Kids Who Question AI - TED
2026 TED, the LEGO Group and the LEGO Foundation partner to launch Play@TED - TED
2026 In Rwanda, First Round of National Day of AI Training Reaches 5,000 Teachers - Rwanda Ministry of Education
2025 Introducing Road Trip Nation Leader Randi Williams, AI Researcher - Roadtrip Nation
2025 Granite Geek: Talking about A.I. in schools, and not just about fears of cheating - Concord Monitor
2025 AI technologist and education advocate headlines 2025 URCAD - UMBC Magazine
2025 Promoting AI Literacy in K-12: Components, Challenges, and Opportunities - CIGALE SRI Education
2025 La IA es Para Todos - Ceibal Summer School
2025 Roadtrip Nation Sn 7 Ep 1: Tech for Us - Roadtrip Nation + PBS
2024 How A Puzzle-Loving Kid Became An AI And Robotics Expert - AI for Kids Podcast
2024 Reducing Points of Friction With AI - Inside Higher Ed
2023 CS Ed Week CS Hero - CS Teacher's Association
2023 Day of AI with Randi Williams - AVID Open Access
2023 Do scientists have superpowers? (includes coloring page) - BrainsOn
2023 Unleasing Creativity: Blocks and Curricula for K-12 AI Ed - Google Blockly Developer Summit
2021 PopBots Open AI to the Youngest Learners - HelloWorld Raspberry Pi Foundation
2021 Curious Scientist of the Year Award - Cambridge Science Festival
2021 Announcing the 2021 Microsoft Research Fellows - Microsoft Research
2021 Harvard CRCS Rising Stars Lecture - Harvard University
2020 Celebrating Teaching Assistants in MAS - MIT Media Lab
2020 Bringing artificial intelligence into the classroom, research lab, and beyond - MIT News
2020 LEGO and MIT Partner on Ethics in AI - ASUGSV
2020 A lesson in machine learning with Randi Williams! - Raspberry Pi Foundation
2020 Introducing Role Model Randi Williams, Robotics Researcher - Career Girls
2020 How to Train Your Robot Teacher Training - YouTube channel
2020 Introduction to PopBots - YouTube channel
2019 PopBots, the MIT platform teaching AI to kids - Education 3.0
2019 PopBots: A Hands-on STEAM platform for the AI generation - Medium
2019 Announcing the 2019 LEGO Papert Fellows - MIT Media Lab
2019 Bringing artificial intelligence and MIT to middle school classrooms - MIT News
2019 Teaching AI to Preschoolers - TWIML AI Podcast
2018 What was the first robot? - BrainsOn
2017 Should Children Form Emotional Bonds With Robots? - The Atlantic
2017 Kids and AI Devices - Medium
2017 Growing Up With Alexa - MIT Technology Review
2014 Connecting Kids From Diverse Backgrounds to Tech - White House Archives
2014 In tech, some minorities are too minor. This group wants to change that - Fortune

Dr. Randi
Williams

empowers communities to shape technology

Hi, I'm Randi

About Me

research portfolio

ai education

Day of AI

Day of AI Rwanda

Dissertation: The Impact AI Framework

How to Train Your Robot

AI for Wellbeing (Dr. R.O. Bott)

Course: MAS.S65

A is for Artificial Intelligence

Inclusive ai

PopBots

The RAISE AI Playground

ML Blocks

LevelUp

S.P.A.R.K.I

human-AI interaction

Child-AI Interaction

Relational AI

leadership & Outreach

AI Education in Africa, 2019 - Present

AI Education in LATAM, 2018 - Present

Black in Robotics, 2020 - Present

hackUMBC, 2014

Press and features

Dr. RandiWil​liams

empowers communities to shape technology

Hi, I'm Randi

About Me

research portfolio

ai education

Day of AI

Day of AI Rwanda

Dissertation: The Impact AI Framework

How to Train Your Robot

AI for Wellbeing (Dr. R.O. Bott)

Course: MAS.S65

A is for Artificial Intelligence

Inclusive ai

PopBots

The RAISE AI Playground

ML Blocks

LevelUp

S.P.A.R.K.I

human-AI interaction

Child-AI Interaction

Relational AI

leadership & Outreach

AI Education in Africa, 2019 - Present

AI Education in LATAM, 2018 - Present

Black in Robotics, 2020 - Present

hackUMBC, 2014

Press and features

Dr. Randi
Williams