WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.183 --> 00:00:03.190 (upbeat music) 2 00:00:03.190 --> 00:00:06.573 Deque Axe Assistant, your AI accessibility ally. 3 00:00:07.770 --> 00:00:09.420 Here at Deque, we've been working hard 4 00:00:09.420 --> 00:00:12.180 at bringing the best of AI, artificial intelligence, 5 00:00:12.180 --> 00:00:14.280 to the task of making the web more accessible 6 00:00:14.280 --> 00:00:16.470 to people with disabilities. 7 00:00:16.470 --> 00:00:18.810 Our latest addition to our AI collection of tools 8 00:00:18.810 --> 00:00:20.610 is Axe Assistant, 9 00:00:20.610 --> 00:00:23.580 a large language model, generative chat component 10 00:00:23.580 --> 00:00:24.930 that has been expertly trained 11 00:00:24.930 --> 00:00:27.480 on the vast collections of courses and training materials 12 00:00:27.480 --> 00:00:29.070 in Deque University. 13 00:00:29.070 --> 00:00:30.780 And that's what makes it special. 14 00:00:30.780 --> 00:00:33.660 If you search the web or if you use generic AI programs 15 00:00:33.660 --> 00:00:35.220 to give you answers about accessibility, 16 00:00:35.220 --> 00:00:38.160 you'll get a mix of good and bad answers 17 00:00:38.160 --> 00:00:39.570 because there's a lot of good 18 00:00:39.570 --> 00:00:42.120 and bad information out there on the web. 19 00:00:42.120 --> 00:00:43.350 Even if it's a bad answer, 20 00:00:43.350 --> 00:00:45.870 an generic AI will proclaim it confidently 21 00:00:45.870 --> 00:00:48.330 as if it's correct even when it's not. 22 00:00:48.330 --> 00:00:49.230 And that's the thing, 23 00:00:49.230 --> 00:00:52.080 you need to be able to trust the answers you get from AI. 24 00:00:52.080 --> 00:00:54.570 And with Axe Assistant, the content has already been vetted 25 00:00:54.570 --> 00:00:56.940 by Deque accessibility experts 26 00:00:56.940 --> 00:00:59.310 so the answers are of much higher quality 27 00:00:59.310 --> 00:01:01.350 when compared to generic AI. 28 00:01:01.350 --> 00:01:03.660 Let's go through a few examples of what you can expect 29 00:01:03.660 --> 00:01:05.460 from Axe Assistant. 30 00:01:05.460 --> 00:01:07.680 I've got a few prompts that I've typed up ahead of time 31 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:09.270 just to make the demo faster, 32 00:01:09.270 --> 00:01:10.890 but the answers here are real 33 00:01:10.890 --> 00:01:12.450 and they're not pre-planned, 34 00:01:12.450 --> 00:01:15.300 because it's generative AI and we can't predict exactly 35 00:01:15.300 --> 00:01:16.830 how it will answer the question. 36 00:01:16.830 --> 00:01:18.390 We just know that it will pull the answers 37 00:01:18.390 --> 00:01:20.280 from Deque University. 38 00:01:20.280 --> 00:01:23.610 My first example says, "How do you make videos accessible 39 00:01:23.610 --> 00:01:25.980 to people who are deaf and blind?" 40 00:01:25.980 --> 00:01:27.960 Axe Assistant starts generating the response 41 00:01:27.960 --> 00:01:29.827 and then it starts off by saying, 42 00:01:29.827 --> 00:01:31.440 "To make videos accessible to people 43 00:01:31.440 --> 00:01:32.850 who are both deaf and blind, 44 00:01:32.850 --> 00:01:35.730 the provision of text transcripts is essential." 45 00:01:35.730 --> 00:01:37.440 And I'm not gonna read the whole thing, 46 00:01:37.440 --> 00:01:39.450 but there are a couple of paragraphs of explanation 47 00:01:39.450 --> 00:01:42.300 and then it creates some bullet points under the heading 48 00:01:42.300 --> 00:01:45.300 Key Components for Creating Accessible Transcripts. 49 00:01:45.300 --> 00:01:48.540 And the headings are Complete Content Representation, 50 00:01:48.540 --> 00:01:52.050 Speaker Identification, Descriptions of Visual Elements, 51 00:01:52.050 --> 00:01:56.070 Accessible Transcript Format, and Easy to Locate. 52 00:01:56.070 --> 00:01:57.540 And then there's a concluding paragraph 53 00:01:57.540 --> 00:02:00.180 with some links at the bottom to pages in Deque University 54 00:02:00.180 --> 00:02:01.500 where it got the content. 55 00:02:01.500 --> 00:02:04.440 In the next example, I give it a small snippet of HTML 56 00:02:04.440 --> 00:02:06.990 and I ask it, "Is this good alt text?" 57 00:02:06.990 --> 00:02:09.600 And the alt text says, "Spacer." 58 00:02:09.600 --> 00:02:13.110 Axe Assistant responds, "No, that is not good alt text. 59 00:02:13.110 --> 00:02:15.240 The alt attribute for an image that is used purely 60 00:02:15.240 --> 00:02:17.340 for spacing or layout purposes, 61 00:02:17.340 --> 00:02:19.620 commonly referred to as a spacer image, 62 00:02:19.620 --> 00:02:23.970 should be set to an empty or null text alternative alt="" 63 00:02:23.970 --> 00:02:26.550 to ensure it is ignored by assistive technologies." 64 00:02:26.550 --> 00:02:27.450 And it says a bit more 65 00:02:27.450 --> 00:02:29.640 and then provides links for further reading. 66 00:02:29.640 --> 00:02:32.820 In the next example, I say, "Show me the HTML markup 67 00:02:32.820 --> 00:02:34.770 for an accessible radio button group." 68 00:02:34.770 --> 00:02:37.080 It tells me that, "An accessible radio button group 69 00:02:37.080 --> 00:02:39.780 is typically created using native HTML elements 70 00:02:39.780 --> 00:02:43.320 like fieldset, legend, and input type=radio." 71 00:02:43.320 --> 00:02:45.810 And it explains a bit more than shows a code block 72 00:02:45.810 --> 00:02:48.060 of HTML markup with all of those things, 73 00:02:48.060 --> 00:02:49.200 including label tags. 74 00:02:49.200 --> 00:02:50.580 It even gives a bit of information 75 00:02:50.580 --> 00:02:53.250 about using ARIA attributes for custom radio buttons. 76 00:02:53.250 --> 00:02:54.083 And if we needed, 77 00:02:54.083 --> 00:02:56.520 we could ask follow up questions about custom buttons, 78 00:02:56.520 --> 00:02:58.230 but I'm gonna take the ARIA idea 79 00:02:58.230 --> 00:02:59.790 in a little bit of a different direction 80 00:02:59.790 --> 00:03:02.257 and ask it a very specific technical question. 81 00:03:02.257 --> 00:03:05.310 "If a form field has a label tag, and an aria-label, 82 00:03:05.310 --> 00:03:07.890 and aria-labeledby, and a title tag. 83 00:03:07.890 --> 00:03:10.530 and adjacent text not associated with the form field, 84 00:03:10.530 --> 00:03:11.730 what will the screen reader say 85 00:03:11.730 --> 00:03:13.260 when it lands on the form field?" 86 00:03:13.260 --> 00:03:15.120 Axe Assistant repeats back some of my question, 87 00:03:15.120 --> 00:03:16.890 and then it tells me that there's a hierarchy 88 00:03:16.890 --> 00:03:18.450 for creating the accessible name 89 00:03:18.450 --> 00:03:20.670 and it correctly identifies aria-labeledby 90 00:03:20.670 --> 00:03:22.260 at the top of the hierarchy. 91 00:03:22.260 --> 00:03:24.397 Let's do a couple more examples before we finish. 92 00:03:24.397 --> 00:03:26.760 "How do you explain the importance of accessibility 93 00:03:26.760 --> 00:03:27.960 to someone who is skeptical?" 94 00:03:27.960 --> 00:03:29.010 That's my question. 95 00:03:29.010 --> 00:03:30.510 This is a non-technical question 96 00:03:30.510 --> 00:03:33.060 that requires some empathy and strategic thinking. 97 00:03:33.060 --> 00:03:35.550 Here, Axe Assistant tells me I need a collection 98 00:03:35.550 --> 00:03:37.950 of compelling and multifaceted arguments, 99 00:03:37.950 --> 00:03:41.130 and then says, "Let me weave together the provided context," 100 00:03:41.130 --> 00:03:44.197 and that's referring to Deque University as the context, 101 00:03:44.197 --> 00:03:45.990 "to delineate the pivotal arguments 102 00:03:45.990 --> 00:03:47.670 for why accessibility matters." 103 00:03:47.670 --> 00:03:49.440 And I'm not gonna read the whole thing here either, 104 00:03:49.440 --> 00:03:52.920 but the headings include Ethical and Social Responsibility, 105 00:03:52.920 --> 00:03:54.780 Inclusivity Boosts Business, 106 00:03:54.780 --> 00:03:56.490 Integral to the Development Process, 107 00:03:56.490 --> 00:03:58.470 Avoiding Negative Repercussions, 108 00:03:58.470 --> 00:04:00.750 Usability is Crucial to Accessibility, 109 00:04:00.750 --> 00:04:03.603 and Learning from the Source: Real User Feedback. 110 00:04:04.740 --> 00:04:06.607 And here's the last example. 111 00:04:06.607 --> 00:04:08.970 "How much extra work is it to make something accessible 112 00:04:08.970 --> 00:04:12.510 versus just developing an inaccessible version?" 113 00:04:12.510 --> 00:04:15.150 Axe Assistant concedes that developing accessible content 114 00:04:15.150 --> 00:04:16.890 does involve additional effort, 115 00:04:16.890 --> 00:04:19.110 but how much extra work it requires varies greatly 116 00:04:19.110 --> 00:04:20.640 based on several factors. 117 00:04:20.640 --> 00:04:22.530 It goes on to say that it depends. 118 00:04:22.530 --> 00:04:24.090 And then the headings for the explanation 119 00:04:24.090 --> 00:04:27.870 include Informed Planning Reduces Extra Effort, 120 00:04:27.870 --> 00:04:30.510 Retrofitting versus Inclusive Design, 121 00:04:30.510 --> 00:04:33.930 Experienced Teams with Efficient Processes, 122 00:04:33.930 --> 00:04:37.860 Long-Term Cost Efficiency, and The Bigger Picture. 123 00:04:37.860 --> 00:04:39.960 All of these are high-quality responses. 124 00:04:39.960 --> 00:04:42.960 In all cases, you can ask follow up questions to dig deeper. 125 00:04:42.960 --> 00:04:46.110 You can ask it to explain things to beginners or to experts. 126 00:04:46.110 --> 00:04:47.130 You can tell it to use language 127 00:04:47.130 --> 00:04:48.660 that's fit for a university level 128 00:04:48.660 --> 00:04:50.250 or for elementary school level. 129 00:04:50.250 --> 00:04:52.140 And there are lots of other possibilities. 130 00:04:52.140 --> 00:04:54.973 So what will you ask Axe Assistant? 131 00:04:54.973 --> 00:04:58.140 (gentle upbeat music)