Artificial intelligence (AI) has quickly become integral to our lives.
From auto-generated video captions to advanced language models, using AI on a daily basis has become the norm.
As AI continues to develop and improve rapidly, its potential for functioning accurately and effectively in various situations increases. Adaptive algorithms and machine learning (ML) capabilities enable AI to address complex problems and provide innovative solutions to technological challenges. When applied properly, AI can even transform industries and spaces.
That is exactly what we are witnessing within the digital accessibility industry. Recent advancements in AI are revolutionizing web accessibility, offering a more affordable automated solution that can do much of the heavy lifting required to make the internet a more inclusive space.
When used as part of a larger digital accessibility ecosystem, we now have a real solution that can help bridge the accessibility gap, marking a turning point for the future of web accessibility.
Today, internet facilitates communication, information consumption, healthcare, education, employment, entertainment, and more. When someone cannot use the internet, it hinders their participation in many activities, leading to a feeling of isolation.
of the U.S. adult population living with a disability face significant barriers to internet use due to inaccessibility.
Some of the most common disabilities in the U.S., such as mobility impairments, cognitive impairments, and vision impairments, can make it challenging to use the internet. Unfortunately, as we work toward a more inclusive society, the internet still lags behind.
Making the internet accessible to everyone is a worthy goal, but there is still a long way to go to achieve it. Even though web accessibility is a legal requirement, only 4% of home pages are accessible in 2024, creating a notable accessibility gap. In fact, 65% of consumers with disabilities feel that their purchasing choices are limited because of accessibility barriers daily.
In addition to the moral prerogative to narrow the accessibility gap, businesses can also benefit from inclusion. Inaccessible websites not only exclude a significant portion of the population, but they also represent a missed economic opportunity.
Businesses are losing out on potential customers who cannot access their websites.
is the estimated annual loss incurred by businesses with inaccessible websites, as consumers with disabilities opt to shop elsewhere.
Source: McKinsey Digital
The lack of accessibility can also damage a company's reputation.
A growing number of consumers expect brands they support to demonstrate a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), with 73% of consumers stating that they think it’s important for businesses they shop at to support DEI through their actions.
Addressing the accessibility gap is thus not only a moral imperative but also a smart business move.
Closing the accessibility gap should be a priority, but there remains a considerable amount of work to be done to open the internet to everyone. This is partly due to its nature and the rapid pace at which it is expanding.
The sheer size of the World Wide Web and the massive number of websites created every day pose one of the greatest challenges to web accessibility — scalability. There are currently over 1 billion websites, of which roughly 18% are active. What’s more, three new websites are created every second. To truly close the accessibility gap, we must find a solution that can be applied at scale for businesses of all sizes and with varying levels of knowledge and resources.
Democratizing web accessibility is, therefore, the only way we can realistically address this inequality, and that is where AI comes into play.
For many years, manual solutions were the only real option for making websites accessible. Businesses that wanted to open their digital doors to users with disabilities had to hire accessibility experts to remediate their websites and digital assets.
While this remains perhaps the most thorough method of ensuring web accessibility, manual auditing can be time-consuming and costly, taking up to six months and thousands of dollars. Unfortunately, manual remediation's costs and time commitment are often prohibitive for website owners, many of whom lack the awareness and resources to take this route.
AI, on the other hand, makes digital accessibility possible for businesses that cannot afford manual remediation. Website owners without the knowledge to undertake the complex task of accessibility remediation on their own or the finances to pay an expert to do it for them can turn to AI-powered accessibility solutions.
This technology significantly reduces the resources and time required by automating much of the remediation process, providing a faster and more affordable solution. Accessibility and compliance are now feasible for businesses of all sizes, solving the problem of scaling web accessibility and making a future in which the internet is accessible to everyone a distinct possibility.
AI-powered solutions provide an additional benefit that addresses the dynamic and ever-changing nature of the internet, too. Automated accessibility tools can continuously scan websites for new content and changes, ensuring that they remain accessible even as they are updated.
With AI, accessibility improvements are not a one-time fix but a continuous process, evolving alongside websites and digital content. This also enables AI-powered solutions to keep up with the changing regulations and best practices of web accessibility.
As we strive to adopt web accessibility on a large scale and make the internet a more inclusive space, AI must play a key role.
While AI is pivotal in addressing accessibility challenges, there is no denying its limitations. AI can make mistakes, and automated accessibility solutions do not have the capability to solve every accessibility challenge that arises.
Therefore, it is imperative to strike a balance between human and artificial intelligence to adequately address the full range of accessibility challenges. An ecosystem that includes AI-powered automated solutions and manual intervention provides a complete solution.
AI can be very effective in auditing websites for accessibility, introducing front-end design and user interface (UI) modifications, and remediating certain background processes.
One of AI's most common and accepted use cases is its ability to conduct ongoing scans of websites, auditing them for accessibility and identifying barriers to use. AI's ability to quickly and accurately sift through large amounts of data allows it to conduct this process efficiently. Once accessibility issues are identified, AI can also take on the complex task of remediating those issues.
When it comes to the UI, AI-powered adjustment tools can modify a website's look and behavior to make it more user-friendly for people with various disabilities. This includes content modifications, color and display adjustments, navigation adjustments, and disabling distracting motion or flashing elements.
These modifications are helpful for users with low vision as well as those with cognitive disabilities, who might otherwise struggle to perceive and navigate certain websites due to hard-to-read or distracting features.
On the backend, AI and ML can effectively address the complex elements needed for screen readers and keyboard navigation. This includes the recognition and proper labeling of the website’s hierarchical structures and menus, as well as the addition of alt text to meaningful images. These adjustments are necessary for users who are blind, have low vision, or have mobility disabilities.
While these important fixes certainly make a difference for users with disabilities, it’s important to recognize that there is a whole ecosystem of accessibility solutions available. Each business owner must decide which solutions best suit their unique accessibility needs, whether that be automated tools, human intervention, or, more likely, a combination.
Every business has its own accessibility needs, as do diverse users and customers who face a wide variety of accessibility challenges. An ecosystem of digital accessibility solutions allows businesses to choose how to utilize the options available to best solve their unique needs with the resources they have at their disposal.
The ideal ecosystem consists of a combination of AI-powered automated solutions and manual remediation services. Businesses can then choose which solution to use for each of their needs on a day-to-day basis.
For example, a business owner may use an automated solution on their website and simultaneously utilize manual remediation services for audio and video remediation or to ensure that their PDFs, PowerPoints, Excels, and other documents are accessible.
The digital accessibility ecosystem also contains development tools that use AI capabilities to empower developers to build accessible websites from the get-go. For businesses with development resources, this solution combines AI and human intelligence to create accessible websites from the ground up.
No matter which accessibility solutions a business uses, it’s crucial to test the user experience of all websites using real people to ensure they function properly. Human oversight is always a good idea when using automated solutions, and audits and user testing play a key role in ensuring that any website is truly accessible.
Different businesses have varying website needs, requiring a diverse range of solutions. Combining AI solutions and manual remediation creates an ecosystem from which businesses can select the best options for their particular accessibility needs, allowing every business to make their digital assets more inclusive.
AI has been utilized in the digital accessibility space for over a decade. While there was some skepticism in the beginning, and rightfully so, AI has now evolved past the original issues that gave it a bad reputation.
Thanks to advancements in AI and ML technologies, we can now accurately identify complex structures on web pages. This is a key aspect in properly labeling content hierarchies on websites and menu recognition, which are necessary stages in remediating websites for use with screen readers and keyboard navigation. Employing this technology at scale can go a long way toward making the Internet more accessible and inclusive.
Another example of AI’s evolution can be found in image descriptions for alt text. AI now has the ability to write more accurate, concise, and understandable image descriptions. The technology has advanced to a point where it can even take an image’s context into account, injecting a “human-like” nuance into its image recognition.
Thanks to this technology, AI can now accurately solve a critical accessibility problem on websites: the lack of alt text on meaningful images. Alt text allows users who rely on screen readers to perceive these images to more easily understand the content and even make purchases online.
AI’s ability to accurately generate closed captioning is also improving, with a significant decrease in error rates over the last few years. This is a promising development for the future of closed captions. With this technology, accurate closed captions may soon be more widely available, making for more accessible videos and media.
The fact that AI can now handle routine accessibility checks and remediation frees human experts to focus on more complex and nuanced aspects of accessibility, such as designing intuitive interfaces and creating accessible content from the start.
Moreover, by combining AI and human intelligence, accessibility can be implemented as early as the development stage, even among developers who lack a deep understanding of accessibility best practices.
AI can audit a website’s accessibility at the code level as it’s being built and notify the developers of accessibility issues while providing them with accessible alternatives and code fixes. This enables developers with minimal accessibility knowledge to build inclusive experiences from the ground up, offering an excellent solution to accessibility challenges.
The collaboration between AI and human intelligence leads to a more holistic approach to web accessibility, contributing to a positive digital experience that fosters inclusion.
With these advancements, AI can reliably and accurately provide accessibility fixes on millions of inaccessible websites. While human oversight is always a good idea, AI has the power to greatly improve the user experience of people with disabilities. Accessibility can finally keep up with the pace of new websites being developed and launched every day.
AI has come a long way since it was first used in web accessibility.
As AI evolves, we will see significant progress in creating more inclusive digital environments. While we don’t know what exactly the future of AI in the accessibility space will look like, there are several key areas in which AI is poised to make a substantial impact.
One area in which AI will likely impact is personalization. AI can analyze individual user needs and preferences to tailor accessibility adjustments to each user. For example, UI adjustments could be made based on a user’s unique needs, such as changing the font sizes, colors, and contrast ratios or pausing movement on the webpage. This can create customized, easy-to-use browsing experiences.
AI is improving at monitoring a website’s accessibility in real time and immediately providing fixes to issues that arise. This continuous auditing can make a huge difference, as it is a more proactive approach to inclusion that prevents accessibility issues from persisting or recurring.
AI’s ability to analyze vast amounts of data has already proven helpful in the web accessibility space, and it is likely to lead to further improvements. Using AI to analyze user interaction data can pinpoint common accessibility barriers and identify the most effective solutions for each challenge. A data-driven approach ensures that accessibility improvements truly work and are based on real user experiences and needs.
As AI becomes more reliable and widely available, we expect to see the accessibility gap begin to narrow.
AI's ability to enable businesses with lower budgets and fewer resources to achieve accessibility is critical to building a more inclusive digital space. By offering a more affordable and efficient means of making websites accessible, AI is democratizing web accessibility and making it viable for more website owners.
The availability of an accessibility ecosystem that combines AI-powered solutions and manual remediation services is not just a temporary fix but a catalyst for a deeper change. It facilitates a shift towards proactive accessibility, where accessibility is integrated into the web development process rather than being an afterthought.
As awareness of the wide variety of accessibility solutions grows, the digital accessibility space will continue to evolve. What once seemed insurmountable for web accessibility is now achievable: a promising future where everyone can use the internet, and we have AI to thank for that.
Ensure your content reaches everyone. Learn more about web accessibility and inclusive practices today!
Edited by Jigmee Bhutia
Dekel Skoop is the CEO and Co-Founder of accessiBe, the leading web accessibility solution provider on the market, as well as a Forbes 30 Under 30 recipient and co-founder of YKEY. Dekel’s articles share his perspective on how accessibility and AI are transforming the business landscape.
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