  Numerous parties are calling for the democratisation of AI, but the phrase is
used to refer to a variety of goals, the pursuit of which sometimes conflict.
This paper identifies four kinds of AI democratisation that are commonly
discussed: (1) the democratisation of AI use, (2) the democratisation of AI
development, (3) the democratisation of AI profits, and (4) the democratisation
of AI governance. Numerous goals and methods of achieving each form of
democratisation are discussed. The main takeaway from this paper is that AI
democratisation is a multifarious and sometimes conflicting concept that should
not be conflated with improving AI accessibility. If we want to move beyond
ambiguous commitments to democratising AI, to productive discussions of
concrete policies and trade-offs, then we need to recognise the principal role
of the democratisation of AI governance in navigating tradeoffs and risks
across decisions around use, development, and profits.
