Wizard of Oz

Definitions

A setup where the apparent automation or capability is secretly powered by manual work behind the scenes. In engineering slang, wizard-of-oz demos are useful when teams are honest about what is fake and why.
In plain English: A demo or system that appears automated but is actually being run manually behind the scenes.
Example: "The assistant looked autonomous in the user test, but it was a wizard of oz prototype with a human quietly driving responses backstage."