Description: AI-powered accessibility overlays on websites frequently mislabel or misinterpret content, in turn complicating navigation for blind users and others with disabilities. Users report that the AI tools interfere with screen readers and mislead them with inaccurate descriptions. The reported unreliability in these tools have prompted legal action, as the companies behind them seek compliance with accessibility laws.
Editor Notes: This incident ID is a collective incident ID. Reconstructing the timeline of events: (1) 2019-2023 saw a significant increase in the use of AI-powered accessibility tools. (2) In 2023, in the U.S. over 4,500 lawsuits were filed against companies’ weak compliance with accessibility regulations. (3) The Financial Times published their investigation on April 7, 2024.
Entities
View all entitiesAlleged: EqualWeb , UserWay and Developers of AI-based accessibility tools developed an AI system deployed by Zara , Pemex , LVMH , Capita and Companies using AI-based accessibility tools, which harmed Blind people , Visually impaired people and Jakob Rosin.
Incident Stats
Incident ID
830
Report Count
1
Incident Date
2024-04-07
Editors
Daniel Atherton
Incident Reports
Reports Timeline
ft.com · 2024
- View the original report at its source
- View the report at the Internet Archive
Unreliable software installed to comply with rules to help disabled people navigate online has prompted thousands of lawsuits.
Jakob Rosin, a prominent member of Estonia’s blind community, recalled browsing a sports club website with the he…
Variants
A "variant" is an incident that shares the same causative factors, produces similar harms, and involves the same intelligent systems as a known AI incident. Rather than index variants as entirely separate incidents, we list variations of incidents under the first similar incident submitted to the database. Unlike other submission types to the incident database, variants are not required to have reporting in evidence external to the Incident Database. Learn more from the research paper.
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