Using AI tools to enhance the dignity of people with disabilities

Thirteen years ago, a brutal assault thrust my family into a world not designed for people with disabilities (PWDs).

At a transformative moment for us and our loved ones, we desperately needed to find affordable and accessible assistive technology.

As the world rapidly begins to design and utilize artificial intelligence in all areas of our professional and personal lives, we are wondering how emerging technologies can empower people with disabilities, or if they may be further excluded. It is important to note whether there is a risk of creating alienation or alienation.

This week, hundreds of civil, business and disability rights leaders gathered at the 2024 Inclusive Africa Conference hosted by InABLE to discuss the risks and opportunities of artificial intelligence for disability inclusion.

Although debated in Europe and America, this debate has not yet had a major impact on national policy-making in Africa or Kenya.

The development of a National Artificial Intelligence Policy under the Artificial Intelligence Task Force established by the Information and Communication Technology Task Force and the Ministry of ICT National Strategy Development Workshop to be held this week is an opportunity to provide Kenya with best practice laws and policies. I will provide a.

Dignity, access and affirmative action for persons with disabilities are enshrined in the Constitution (Article 21). Recent legislative changes shift state obligations from a “special needs” approach to an integrated model that aims to redesign all public services and spaces to make them more universally accessible and inclusive Did.

This model is consistent with progress being made elsewhere in the world. Vitukwa Ground is different, as anyone with a disability trying to cross the road, access e-citizenship, or go to school or other services can tell you. The emergence of new technologies like generative artificial intelligence poses tremendous risks and opportunities for Kenya's 4.5 million disabled and other populations in building physical and online spaces and resources that include disability. bring. Although the conversation is still largely highly technical, the risks are already visible to millions of people.

The dangers of algorithms and language models that are exclusive to people with disabilities and exclude the specific needs of people who are visually, hearingly, mentally, and physically different from the majority of society. Uncaptioned images, abusive or inaccurate voice-to-text responses, and underrepresentation of people with disabilities are some of the challenges InABLE conference participants spoke about this week.

AI is built on datasets. If that data contains social anti-disability or disability-neutral bias, then artificial intelligence will perpetuate that bias for all of us tenfold. If this technology is not designed with universal accessibility in mind and cannot capture people with language impairments or certain facial or physical features, the rights of people with disabilities will be excluded and their rights will be violated. It will be.

AI must also be designed within the principles of privacy by design and the right of all of us to be forgotten by having our personal data erased from the internet. There are also huge opportunities that are unimaginable. In the field of assistive technology, the world now has the potential to design better wheelchairs, internet browsers, and smart devices that can understand and translate things like sign language and facial expressions at the same time. The opportunity for AI-powered systems to smarter identify and program people with disabilities and control their environments to help them live more independently has never been greater.

New applications are already helping people with disabilities analyze and adapt to their surroundings, suggest more accessible routes, and more effectively translate audio into text in real time and caption videos. method at a fraction of the previous cost.

Once again, this generation has an opportunity to overcome decades of disability exclusion, exploitation, and rights violations by designing emerging technologies.

Co-panelist Chris Patnoe, a Googler, said it aptly this week: We must all lean in and ensure that we “act with speed of confidence” so that everyone, especially people with disabilities, can confidently seize and plan for the opportunities that lie ahead. need to do it.

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