The "Architects of AI" were named Time's person of the year Thursday, with the magazine citing 2025 as when the potential of artificial intelligence "roared into view" with no turning back.
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Time CEO Jessica Sibley, second from right, joined by OpenAI Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane, second left, rings the New York Stock Exchange opening bell Thursday for TIME's "Person of the Year."
Time CEO Jessica Sibley is interviewed Thursday on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, adjacent to TIME's "Person of the Year" cover.
Businesses are increasingly turning to AI to ensure accessibility for people with disabilities. Is it working?
AI tools can create more accessible experiences
One of the most important frontiers of accessibility has been online. By adhering to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines issued by the World Wide Web Consortium, designers can create websites and web-based environments that can be accessed by everyone, regardless of ability.
In more practical terms, adhering to these standards will mean ensuring content has enough contrast so people with limited vision or colorblindness can read text. Adding "alt text" to images allows visual information to be shared with screen reader users, and captions on videos allow people who are deaf or hard of hearing to properly understand the information conveyed. It's also important to ensure people can navigate pages more easily.
New AI-driven tools are crucial for meeting these guidelines more efficiently and effectively. For instance, they can auto-generate captions, suggest alternative text for images, or flag insufficient contrast.Â
While these advancements make it easier for companies to comply with the guidelines, human oversight remains essential. For example, some of Google's AI-generated search result summaries have contained errors, which, when disseminated on websites, can misinform and harm users with disabilities. In 2023, researchers at Pennsylvania State University found that some AI models used to categorize large amounts of text exhibited biases against people with disabilities. These models tend to classify sentences as negative or "toxic" based on the presence of disability-related terms without regard for the context.Â
To address these problems, experts emphasize the importance of involving the user community—including those with disabilities—in all stages of AI development.
"AI data systems must be trained with diverse datasets that include representation of people with disabilities to minimize bias," the United Access Board, a governmental agency, advised during its 2024 Preliminary Findings on Artificial Intelligence. This should include a thorough evaluation of AI tools in the hiring process and for job-related activities "to identify potential discriminatory impacts on applicants and employees with disabilities."
The board also noted concerns about AI-powered surveillance tools known as "bossware technologies," which may not be correctly calibrated for employees with disabilities. This can be a problem if companies attempt to monitor things like employee fatigue or movement based on wearable technology that may not properly assess people with physical disabilities.
Realizing AI's potential hinges on acknowledging its limitations
Thousands of website owners have taken significant strides to meet accessibility standards since the 2010s, when the Americans with Disabilities Act required compliance for company domains. Yet as of 2023, 95.9% of online home pages still had WCAG compliance failures, according to WebAIM.Â
As with any new technological breakthrough, the initial excitement—and overpromise—for AI-driven tools to tackle these persistent compliance issues has led to closer examinations of their true potential and limitations. While many industry experts agree that AI can offer scalable and relatively affordable solutions to meet compliance standards, solely relying on AI-powered solutions will not result in the outcome legislators and social advocates strive for: Fully inclusive online experiences for people with disabilities. AI tools have helped make workplaces and the internet more accessible, but they have shown business owners that human involvement remains essential. But as more business owners implement more responsible oversight and inclusive design, unlocking AI's potential could mean that exponentially more workplaces and internet experiences become more accessible for all.
Story editing by Carren Jao. Additional editing by Elisa Huang. Copy editing by SofÃa JarrÃn. Photo selection by Lacy Kerrick.
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This story originally appeared on accessiBe and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
