AI in Accessibility: the magic and the mess

AI is reshaping how we build digital products. And accessibility is right in the middle of that shift. Used well, AI can support us in creating better, more inclusive experiences.

It can help surface behavior patterns and friction points hidden in heatmaps. It can mine transcripts, behavior logs, and surveys - including accessibility friction.

So everybody is an accessibility expert now?

AI tools can take a photo of your whiteboard sketch and turn it into editable UI layouts in Figma. Even better, you can prompt something like: 'Design a low-vision-friendly booking form with clear field labels, explained error states, and optional dark mode.' And boom - your first draft appears in seconds. Fast. Still messy. But hey, no one’s perfect, right?

Remember:

If you don’t ask, you’ll never get.
If you do know, you only need to ask.

Scene from a Harry Potter film of Harry inside the Room of Requirement, surrounded by stacks of magical objects — symbolizing how AI can reveal the right tools to create more accessible digital experiences.

The real magic only works in capable hands. Especially when we’re building for everyone.

How can AI help with accessibility?

Alt text, metadata, captions, code audits, content structure - AI can assist with all of it. It can reduce manual effort, spot inconsistencies, and make compliance less painful.

Added bonus: AI doesn’t get tired of WCAG tables. But it can get things wrong. Which means human oversight is still essential.

Level the field or deepen the Gap

Here’s the thing: AI has the potential to level the playing field - making digital products more usable, faster. But it can also scale bias, exclude people, or flat-out break experiences. It all depends on how we build it, and how responsibly we use it.

We’re seeing a wave of accessibility tools powered by AI:

Automated audits
Auto-generated alt text
Captioning for video
Screen reader previews
Translation of UI labels
Color contrast checkers

Useful? Yes. Enough? Not even close.

AI ≠ Understanding

AI doesn’t understand context. And when context gets lost, people get left out.

It doesn’t know:

That the woman in the banner is the CEO, not a “smiling assistant in a deep blue suit.”
That “Buy now” and “Bye now” are not interchangeable.
That your “Learn more” button should actually say: “Learn more about our sustainability practices.”

Let’s be honest. AI can help. But it can also overwhelm, overexplain, overpromise and under-deliver when it matters most.

Trust is fragile

AI-generated alt text? Cool. AI-generated wrong alt text? That breaks trust. It breaks flow. Sometimes, it breaks people.

Auto-captions on your product video? Great. But if they mishear names or product details, your whole message just gets lost.

CEO introduces new app” becomes “See you in juice nap.

Yep, that level of weirdness really happens.

So, what do we do?

Use AI - but never blindly. Use it as a starter, not a finisher. Think of AI as a junior intern: super fast, great with tasks. But would you let them publish unsupervised? Exactly.

Wrapping up

Let’s not pretend AI is the hero or the villain here. It’s a tool. A powerful one, yes. But don’t confuse speed with strategy. Or automation with understanding.

Because accessibility still starts with people, not prompts.

Join us at Springbok. We’re using AI with purpose - to design a digital world that includes everyone, not just the defaults.

Find out more about our accessibility expertise here.