AI Describes the Scene—But Who’s It Really Helping?

Automation Meets Accessibility

Artificial intelligence is increasingly being used to generate audio descriptions in movies, TV shows, and online content, aiming to make media more accessible for people with visual impairments. While this promises rapid scalability and lower costs, experts caution it’s not always delivering usefulness. AI-generated descriptions often miss emotional nuance, misidentify characters, or offer irrelevant details—deficiencies that can confuse or frustrate users relying on this information to follow along. As media platforms scale automated accessibility tools, there’s growing pressure to evaluate whether technological efficiency is coming at the expense of actual user experience.

Inclusion Starts with Involvement

Experts and accessibility advocates argue that for AI audio descriptions to truly serve low-vision audiences, development must include direct collaboration with users. Without input from the people who rely on these tools, automated descriptions risk reinforcing exclusion, not fixing it. Accessible technology should aim to enhance human connection, not just tick a compliance box. That means understanding the storytelling needs and lived experiences of visually impaired viewers—an area where human scriptwriters trained in accessibility currently outshine AI. By integrating feedback from these communities early and often, media companies can build AI tools that don’t just function, but truly communicate.