Artificial Intelligence Agents Help People With Disabilities This Week

This week brought wonderful news for people with disabilities around the world. On January 22, NTT DATA shared an important article about how agentic AI - a new type of smart computer program - could change life for over 1 billion people with disabilities. The person who wrote the article has a visual disability and explained how this technology could work like a helpful teammate that does tasks for you.

What Makes Agentic AI Different?

Agentic AI is different from older AI tools because it can do more than just answer questions. Instead of you telling it "describe this image," you can say "get me ready for my meeting tomorrow" and the AI figures out all the steps needed. Regular AI gives you answers. Agentic AI takes action and gets things done. This type of AI can break big goals into smaller steps, choose which tools to use, and change its plan if something doesn't work the way it expected.

Three Big Ways This Helps Daily Life

The article describes three areas where agentic AI could make big differences. First, it could help with information navigation - imagine an AI that sorts through all your emails, documents, and messages to find what matters most and presents it in a way that works for you. Second, it could help with navigation and movement - AI could use maps, building information, and sensors to plan safe routes through airports, offices, and public spaces, telling you about problems before you encounter them. Third, it could help with work and jobs - agentic AI could turn confusing computer screens into easy-to-read information and help disabled workers collaborate better with their teams.

Important Concerns to Watch

But experts warn that this new power needs careful use. One big worry is about who controls the goals - if the AI decides on its own that some options are "too risky" and hides them from you without telling you, that's a problem. Another concern is data and fairness - if the AI learned from information that doesn't represent disabled people properly, it might make wrong choices about hiring or support. A third issue is privacy - because agentic AI needs access to lots of personal information like your calendar and messages, it could become like surveillance instead of help. Finally, when agentic AI makes mistakes, they can be bigger problems than regular AI mistakes because the system is doing real work on your behalf.

A Framework for Doing This Right

To make agentic AI truly helpful, experts say organizations should follow four principles called the 4 As. Autonomy means you always control your own goals and can easily tell the AI to stop. Accessibility means the AI should work smoothly with screen readers and other tools disabled people use. Accountability means the company is responsible, not the disabled person, and everything the AI does is recorded and transparent. Agency means disabled people should help design and test the AI from the very beginning.

Law Students Get Professional-Grade AI Tools

On January 22, Thomson Reuters announced an exciting development for legal education. Starting this week, over 120,000 law students across the United States got access to professional-grade AI tools called CoCounsel Legal and Westlaw Advantage. This is important for accessibility in education because these are the same tools that real lawyers use in their jobs. Students like Lexi Raikes from Yale Law said they are excited to use these tools because they make legal research easier and help them learn the way they'll actually work in the real world.

Why This Matters for Access

Thomson Reuters said this program helps shape the future of legal practice by giving future lawyers better training. When students learn with real professional tools, they can develop practical skills and start their careers with more confidence. This is an example of bringing advanced technology to education where it can help many people at once.

The Bigger Picture

This week showed that agentic AI is moving from experimental ideas to real products that people are actually using. However, the most important lesson is that technology companies need to think carefully about accessibility and inclusion from the very beginning when they design these tools. When disabled people and other groups help guide this development, the technology works better for everyone.