Which website accessibility tasks should we give AI?

Use AI code assistants to help build accessible interactions and draft alternative text during development, rather than leaving accessibility until the final stage. Suitable coding tasks include customised dropdown menus that need to work for mouse, keyboard and voice users. For image descriptions, give AI the surrounding page content as well as the image so it can draft meaningful, context-aware alternative text instead of a filename such as "Image1.jpg". Bringing accessibility into the coding process can help teams align with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) from the start. Automating repetitive work gives designers and developers more time to focus on how people experience and use the website.

Keep human designers, developers and accessibility advocates responsible for evaluating AI-generated code and descriptions. AI output can appear plausible while misinterpreting an image, misunderstanding cultural context or reflecting biases in training data. Accessibility depends on accuracy, so generating a description or an interaction is not the same as establishing that it serves users well. Review image descriptions for meaning and context, and keep people's experience of using the website central to decisions about accessible interactions. Treat AI as a collaborator that scales repetitive work, not as a replacement for human judgment or the empathy needed to understand how different people experience technology.