Since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, there have been many headlines about ai in education. But with all that attention, not enough attention has been paid to some of the surprising ways ai is already helping with assistive technology and its potential for the future.
Accessibility experts from K-12 education, higher education, and CAST, the nonprofit that created Universal Design for Learning, share some of their favorite ai assistive technology tools.
<h2 id="1-ai-assistive-technology-speech-to-text-xa0″>1. ai Assistive technology – Speech to Text
At the beginning of the pandemic, every time Gillian Hayes, dean of the Graduate Division at the University of California, Irvine, gave a formal presentation, she needed to hire a transcriber to write real-time captions, as well as an ASL interpreter.
Now, you no longer need a caption writer and can instead rely on ai-assisted speech-to-text tools, such as those available through Zoom, Google Meet, or Otter.ai.
“The improvements in automatic captioning are amazing,” says Hayes, who co-directs The Connecting the edtech Research EcoSystem (CERES) and researches technology accessibility. “We just let the automatic subtitles go. “They’re not perfect, but they’re good enough, and that’s transformative when you think about your ability to provide access to people.”
2. Text to speech
Perhaps not surprisingly, text-to-speech technology has also improved.
“Seeing the information and hearing it at the same time can be a great help,” says Luis F. Pérez, Disability and Digital Inclusion Leader at CAST.
While text-to-speech tools predate recent advances in ai, more advanced ai systems can help provide voices that are less mechanical and unemotional. “In English we sometimes have words that look the same, but are pronounced differently depending on the context,” says Pérez. “When you incorporate ai into a text-to-speech solution, it can analyze the surrounding text and then develop a more accurate pronunciation. One of the things I've enjoyed, because I use text-to-speech myself, is seeing the quality of those voices and how much more conversational they become.”
However, it's about much more than just enjoying listening. “It's really important for students because with robotic voices of the past, people often abandoned text-to-speech,” Perez says. “But now, when you have a voice that sounds really conversational and engaging, you're more likely to use that technology.”
<h2 id="3-ai-can-facilitate-student-creativity-xa0″>3. ai can facilitate student creativity
Jay Grossman, chief technology officer for Saline Area Schools in Michigan, says his district is looking at ways ai writing tools can help all students express their voices creatively.
“We're starting to explore ai that can be used to help a student who may not be able to express themselves creatively, who may not be able to put an idea on paper, but who can put an idea down and use ai to help them generate what they want. they have in mind,” Grossman says. He has begun to think that ai used in this way performs a function similar to that of a teaching assistant by being there to help students convey their ideas in words.
While some are concerned about ai being used in this way, Grossman says it is no different than if a student received advice from a tutor sitting next to them. “If it's your voice, it's still your voice,” he says.
<h2 id="4-ai-can-improve-navigation-through-physical-and-digital-spaces-xa0″>4. ai can improve navigation through physical and digital spaces
Because modern ai models can interpret and describe images and even three-dimensional spaces, there is enormous potential to help people with visual impairments. For example, many blind students use screen readers that describe the visual output of screens, but they do so in a linear manner that goes against the dynamic visual design of most websites.
Students also have difficulty navigating any type of complex document, such as an Excel sheet, Hayes says. Additionally, saving your place on a screen reader can be difficult if a student tries to resume their work after a break.
ai models have the potential to record information and allow users to easily interact with the exact element of a screen they want. “You can start to be adaptable and figure out what you really need and where you're trying to work, etc.,” Hayes says. “I think that's really exciting.”
ai-gpt4-could-change-how-blind-people-see-the-world/” target=”_blank” data-url=”https://www.wired.com/story/ai-gpt4-could-change-how-blind-people-see-the-world/”>Other tools are being developed to help visually impaired people read menus and even describe physical objects to them.
5. Summarize complex information in new ways
While ai text generators sometimes struggle with accuracy, when they work well, these tools can provide a near-instant way to convey and organize information in new and different ways, which can be useful for many students, Pérez says. . “For example, for cognitive accessibility, you can take complex information and write a summary, or create a summary or outline that highlights key ideas,” she says. “We're not simplifying that information, we're just providing it in a different way or providing a different entry point.”
When using ai in this or any other way, Pérez emphasizes that it is important for educators not to lose sight of each individual student. “You always have to remember that there is a person behind all of this whose needs and preferences (I want to emphasize preferences) we are trying to satisfy,” she says. “That part comes with relationships and getting to know the students and knowing their interests and why they are passionate about learning. So that would be the warning. Yes, of course, use ai responsibly while still considering the person or individual.”
