Artificial intelligence (AI) has become more accessible through online interfaces and increasingly sophisticated predictive intelligence. As a result, it is now more subject to digital accessibility considerations. This article will examine artificial intelligence programs and discuss the potential benefits and issues inherent in their utilization.
AI works by evaluating data through analysis and discovery and providing a response. As a tool, AI can complete many tasks and can even be used for artistic or entertainment purposes. In this article, we’ll look at AI-powered services widely available to the public.
For individuals with disabilities, AI has the potential to simplify daily tasks, offer insight, assist with research, automate repetitive tasks, or ease disability-related obstacles. While there are many positive uses, issues can arise when AI, just like any other tool, is misused or abused.
Research, insight, and entertainment AI
Craiyon - Formerly known as DALL·E Mini, this AI image generator creates images from text queries. It uses queries to find or manipulate digital images to create a newly generated image of the described subject.
- AI Dungeon – To play tabletop role-playing games, you usually need players and a game master. The game master runs the game and the world it takes place in, and the players’ actions drive the story. AI Dungeon can render illustrations, build adventures that push the concept of a dungeon to new limits, and alter the trajectory of a game based on programmatic changes and decisions made by players. This AI tool can both simulate environments and assist with decision-making.
- Jasper – This tool creates campaigns for social media, advertising, blog articles, emails, websites, and art. It can help with brainstorming, generating ideas and content, and providing insight that can help inform business decisions.
- ChatGPT – This AI chatbot can engage in dialogue for many purposes. An individual can ask the bot a question or propose a problem, and the chatbot will provide an answer. It can correct mistakes made by itself or the user.
- ChatGPT Google Mail Extension – This extension integrates ChatGPT into Gmail to enable the AI to compose email messages.
Interpretation and Translation AI
- Tesseract OCR – Tesseract is a free and open-source optical character recognition (OCR) program that detects and renders written or typed text into machine-readable characters. Graphical user interface (GUI) applications have also been developed to automate the process of converting documents, PDF files, or scanned images to text and create text overlays for existing documents.
- Tensorflow – Primarily utilized for numerical calculation, Tensorflow provides a platform for computing data.
- Replika - An AI chatbot that engages in natural conversation with the user.
- Seeing AI – This Microsoft application is designed to be an accessibility application and performs translation. It provides spoken descriptions of text, handwritten notes, documents, bar codes, product information, emotions on a person’s face, currency, colors, and light levels, and can use a camera to provide descriptive narration of a scene.
These are just a few of the several AI-driven products, which include accessibility testing tools, available for use today.
Positive aspects of AI
Artificial intelligence provides immediate recall of useful information that can be quickly updated. Real-world uses of this include interpretation of map locations and way-finding. Real-time navigation applications are common and freely available.
AI can archive, save, and process data quickly and make organizing, saving, and disseminating information easier. For people with disabilities that impact memory, AI can help them recall information quicker and serve as a personal assistant.
Accessibility use cases could include delivering output using an alternative form of communication. For example, spoken navigation for someone who is blind. Computers are designed to convert human input to machine-readable data and output data in a form humans can understand, so AI excels at interpretation and translation.
Automation helps disabled individuals lead more independent lives, as tasks that previously may have required another human to interpret the world for them can be completed through a self-service interface.
Potential issues
Artificial intelligence is limited by the information it’s been taught, meaning the results it delivers can be inaccurate or biased. A possible solution would be to evaluate its recommendations carefully, follow sound research practices, and use trusted information sources.
Consider multiple perspectives and avoid utilizing the output of an AI tool without carefully examining it and the rationale used to arrive at a decision. Many of these tools consult the fewest possible number of resources to quickly make decisions or provide advice. Consider whether this is a strength or a weakness based on the intended use.
There can also be serious consequences for using results from an artificial intelligence tool without reviewing or editing the generated content. Sometimes AI tools may generate responses by directly copying an article verbatim without correctly attributing the source. Submitting AI-researched articles without proper attribution amounts to plagiarism and could result in academic or legal consequences. Certain higher education institutions have limited access to ChatGPT on their networks in response, but its other shortcomings may be even more of a problem.
AI-generated content can lack human emotion and nuance. It can range from overly factual to cold and unwelcoming, sometimes even nonsensical. AI may not understand deep concepts and reasoning for why an idea should or should not be included or phrased in a certain manner.
Artificial intelligence set up to learn from its users and become predictive may follow the crowd or other sources that may not be factual or accurate. There are risks associated with using data based on the user base the AI receives information from, including erratic behavior based on bad intentions or bad information.
The best way to use artificial intelligence would be to evaluate the information and sources of the content and see it as a suggestion tool, research assistant, or one of many factors in a decision. AI may not be the best tool to answer a query or solve a problem. In any case, use discretion and set clear parameters for what can be considered a quality answer. Automated scanning programs or processes may not be completely accurate, and human intervention may be needed to fix issues or garbled content.
Conclusion
Artificial intelligence holds promise for automation, translation, and working with large amounts of information. The many tools already available have the potential to function as accommodations and alternate ways to convey information. AI-driven tools may help individuals access information without relying on others to complete tasks, facilitating independence and enhancing website accessibility.
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