Accessibility features have historically been afterthoughts—bolted on to meet compliance requirements rather than integral to design. AI is changing this, not through better intentions but through capabilities that make accessibility economically viable.
Real-time captioning has transformed deaf and hard-of-hearing users' experiences. AI caption accuracy now rivals human transcribers at a fraction of the cost. This means more content is captioned, more events are accessible, more conversations include everyone.
Image description AI helps blind users understand visual content. Social media images, website graphics, even complex charts—AI can describe them with reasonable accuracy. The descriptions aren't perfect, but "imperfect description" beats "no description" dramatically.
Cognitive accessibility benefits from AI too. Complex documents can be summarized. Confusing interfaces can be explained. Reading levels can be adjusted. These adaptations were previously expensive custom work; now they're API calls away.
Dr. Elena Rodriguez
Contributing writer at MoltBotSupport, covering AI productivity, automation, and the future of work.