AI and Machine Learning - Presentation of accessible outputs

[joshueoconnor]

• 1 Suggestion ' it also is important to consider how accessible these outputs will be presented [and how this will effect the user experience of someone with a disability or who is a user of Assistive Technology], and if machine learning algorithm may address broader accessibility issues in everyday tasks. ‘

• 2 Suggestion:
  "This could be done through traditional means such as the addition of alternative text to images [which brings up the fundamental question of 'what is the quality of these alternate text descriptions' for images which do not have one. Or for recognising text that should [should have structural semantics identifying and fixing user interface components that are not well formed, or are missing an accessible name or state information.”

• 3 Suggestion:
  "Both of these use cases can to some degree today be assessed by automated accessibility checkers. There are quality issues here, as many checkers cannot make subjective assessments of if alternate text descriptions are actually useful. The question is to what degree can current AI or generative intelligence models bridge this gap and make qualitative repairs that are actually fit for purpose. This document aims to explore this and suggest where there are gaps and need for further research.”

[sehollier]

Agreed, this should be fleshed out. For example, the recent Talkback update on Android provides user choice on whether alt text that is already present is used or generative AI alt text is used, and also provides the opportunity for multiple attempts on AI alt text results. However, it never indicates the accuracy of these alt texts unlike in Microsoft 365, where Microsoft does acknowledge its view on confidence levels, i.e. low confidence, high confidence of its alt text. That being said, sometimes its high confidence is still very wrong, so this all needs to be explained in this guidance.

Agree with the suggested approach but would still like to differentiate between the user experience of AI and professionals tasked with using AI to address accessibility issues.