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AI has great potential as an assistive technology if handled with care.
The team at Digital.ai describes itself on its website as “an industry-leading technology company dedicated to helping Global 5000 companies achieve their digital transformation goals.” Simply put, what the company does is help other companies better integrate technology into their businesses. As its name suggests, Digital.ai makes heavy use of artificial intelligence to accomplish this. But what is less implied is that accessibility also plays an important role in the company’s mission.
“Too often the problem is that [building] “Software accessibility is an after-the-fact consideration or compliance check for many companies,” Johnny Steiner, product marketing manager at Digital.ai, said in an email interview earlier this month. “The general consensus is that unless someone is personally affected, we live in an able-bodied world.”
For a company with AI in its name, you’d be forgiven for assuming that Digital.ai is unashamedly passionate about artificial intelligence and bullish on the prospects of the technology one day taking over the world. These sentiments apply to Steiner to some extent, but his optimism is tempered by a healthy dose of caution and empathy. For example, despite Steiner’s belief that AI has the potential to “empower people with disabilities” by providing accurate, real-time image descriptions and captions, companies and other organizations You must remain constantly vigilant to ensure that your technology is working properly. Steiner said that fairness is important and people need to make sure they don’t have implicit bias, and that the expensive nature of AI tools doesn’t necessarily limit who can access them. I pointed out that I was aware of it. Above all, Steiner emphasized that AI cannot automate. should It doesn’t replace real human interaction. He said many in the disability community depend on caregivers, therapists, social workers and others for their daily survival.
Steiner’s comments about building responsible AI strongly echo those of Jenny-Lay Flurrie, Microsoft’s chief accessibility officer. As she told me ahead of this year’s Ability Summit, AI tools, especially those around generative AI, hold great promise as assistive technologies, but software makers are worried about the emergence of ableism and other deterrents. must be careful not to deny the user experience of people with disabilities. people. As she said, the AI era is still in its infancy, so there is plenty of time for these technologies to mature, especially in terms of accessibility.
Regarding accessible software in general, Steiner said he (and others) believe it is “not ethical” for so much software to be inaccessible to such a large portion of the population. He cited the fact that even though smartphones have penetrated 80% of the world’s population, only a small percentage of apps in the App Store are inaccessible even by the most basic standards. In that regard, he said part of Digital.ai’s mission is to help organizations build and scale software so that it’s accessible to everyone and everyone can participate. Steiner praised major companies such as Google and Microsoft for “leading the way” in the accessibility field, saying they and other companies are proactive from the beginning of the development process rather than being an afterthought at the end. said they are making accessibility a priority.
As for why accessibility is so important, Steiner said, “It goes without saying that accessible businesses benefit from more business, but it’s also the right thing to do.” “We are seeing increased interest in this area of software development across our customer base.”
Steiner acknowledged that working on accessibility is about recognizing that the work is eternal. It’s not completely finished, and there’s always room for improvement. Steiner is encouraged by the promise of his AI to make it easier for programmers to incorporate accessibility into software development, but true accessibility will be achieved by taking a more holistic, human-centered approach. I believe that. This requires more thorough education on why accessibility is important and should be taken seriously, as well as encouraging more frequent collaboration between development sites and the disability community. Steiner said getting feedback is important and standardizing the creation of accessible software will require a collaborative effort from various stakeholders to truly realize the promise of AI.
As for Digital.ai itself, Steiner said customers will be excited to learn how Digital.ai can help make it easier to build accessibility. They want to get more of their own customers.
“Typically, when people think of improved accessibility, they think of physical spaces like ramps and elevators,” Steiner said. “The digital world is now a primary interaction space as well. This recognition has led to increased awareness of the digital accessibility gaps that exist. Showing a company’s software development team how to be readable not only improves customer satisfaction, but also humanizes the team’s work. When you can connect with and help people who are more vulnerable. , it takes on greater meaning.”
Looking to the future, Steiner noted that with 20% of people identifying as having some type of disability, there is a responsibility for businesses and others to ensure that software is accessible responsibly. He believes that businesses will soon need to move beyond what he describes as tools that statically adjust accessibility to tools that dynamically make changes with AI to power them. These advanced technologies can provide real-time feedback and ultimately enable more personalized user interfaces that “more effectively meet individual needs without disrupting the user experience,” he said. Masu.
“We are truly on the brink of revolutionizing accessibility in the digital world,” Steiner said.
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