Related papers: Position: Assistive Agents Need Accessibility Alig…
Recent advancements in Large Language Models (LLMs) and multimodal counterparts have spurred significant interest in developing web agents -- AI systems capable of autonomously navigating and completing tasks within web environments. While…
Millions of blind and visually-impaired (BVI) people navigate urban environments every day, using smartphones for high-level path-planning and white canes or guide dogs for local information. However, many BVI people still struggle to…
Spatial perception, particularly at small and medium scales, is an essential human sense but poses a significant challenge for the blind and visually impaired (BVI). Traditional learning methods for BVI individuals are often constrained by…
Large multimodal models (LMMs) have enabled new AI-powered applications that help people with visual impairments (PVI) receive natural language descriptions of their surroundings through audible text. We investigated how this emerging…
The concept of an AI assistant for task guidance is rapidly shifting from a science fiction staple to an impending reality. Such a system is inherently complex, requiring models for perceptual grounding, attention, and reasoning, an…
Visual assistive technologies, such as Microsoft Seeing AI, can improve access to environmental information for persons with blindness or low vision (pBLV). Yet, the physical and functional implications of different device embodiments…
Inclusion and accessibility in visualization research have gained increasing attention in recent years. However, many challenges still remain to be solved on the road toward a more inclusive, shared-experience-driven visualization design…
Indoor navigation remains a critical accessibility challenge for the blind and low-vision (BLV) individuals, as existing solutions rely on costly per-building infrastructure. We present an agentic framework that converts a single floor plan…
Effective visual accessibility in Virtual Reality (VR) is crucial for Blind and Low Vision (BLV) users. However, designing visual accessibility systems is challenging due to the complexity of 3D VR environments and the need for techniques…
Avatar is a critical medium for identity representation in social virtual reality (VR). However, options for disability expression are highly limited on current avatar interfaces. Improperly designed disability features may even perpetuate…
Video content remains largely inaccessible to blind and low-vision (BLV) users. To address this, we introduce a prototype that leverages a multimodal agent - powered by a novel conversational architecture using a multimodal large language…
Dog guides offer an effective mobility solution for blind or visually impaired (BVI) individuals, but conventional dog guides have limitations including the need for care, potential distractions, societal prejudice, high costs, and limited…
Blind and visually impaired (BVI) students face significant challenges in traditional educational settings. While screen readers and braille materials offer some accessibility, they often lack interactivity and real-time adaptability to…
Blind and low-vision (BLV) individuals face high unemployment rates. The job search is becoming harder as more employers use AI-driven systems to screen resumes before a human ever sees them. Such AI systems could inadvertently further…
Recent years have seen growing adoption of AI-based decision-support systems (ADS) in homeless services, yet we know little about stakeholder desires and concerns surrounding their use. In this work, we aim to understand impacted…
AI for supporting designers needs to be rethought. It should aim to cooperate, not automate, by supporting and leveraging the creativity and problem-solving of designers. The challenge for such AI is how to infer designers' goals and then…
The endowment of AI with reasoning capabilities and some degree of agency is widely viewed as a path toward more capable and generalizable systems. Our position is that the current development of agentic AI requires a more holistic,…
As LLM-based systems increasingly operate as agents embedded within human social and technical systems, alignment can no longer be treated as a property of an isolated model, but must be understood in relation to the environments in which…
The evolution of agentic systems represents a significant milestone in artificial intelligence and modern software systems, driven by the demand for vertical intelligence tailored to diverse industries. These systems enhance business…
AI accessibility tools have mostly been designed for individual use, helping one person overcome a specific functional barrier. But for many people with disabilities, complex tasks are accomplished through collaboration with others who…