As we rejoice innovation in accessibility at Microsoft’s Means Summit 2025, we invite you to discover how Azure AI can improve accessibility in your services and products. The long run isn’t nearly eradicating obstacles—it’s about constructing a world the place everybody strikes ahead collectively.
When my spouse and I had our first youngster, I began seeing the world in another way. Pushing a stroller via our neighborhood, I shortly realized how a lot I had taken without any consideration—sidewalks that all of the sudden ended, intersections with out curb cuts, pathways that had been technically walkable however not constructed for wheels.
It wasn’t only a minor inconvenience. It made me take into consideration my aged grandmother, who relied on a walker. And my dad and mom, who’re lively now however gained’t all the time transfer as simply as they do at present. Mobility and accessibility are deeply related, and for the primary time, I noticed how infrastructure shapes our day by day experiences—whether or not we discover it or not.
However bodily mobility is just a part of the equation. Within the digital world, there are simply as many curbs that want chopping. Web sites that don’t work with display readers. Captions that lag behind real-time speech. AI fashions that fail to grasp various voices. These obstacles could also be invisible to many, however they create actual limitations for tens of millions of individuals.
And identical to curb cuts in sidewalks, digital accessibility doesn’t simply profit one group—it makes expertise higher for everybody. That’s the place Azure AI Foundry, Azure OpenAI Service, and the most recent improvements in multimodal AI and Accountable AI (RAI) are available in—serving to organizations lower digital curbs and construct a world that works for all.
As we acknowledge the affect of accessibility innovation at Microsoft’s Means Summit 2025, we encourage you to discover how AI can drive higher inclusion in your services and products.
The aim isn’t simply to remove obstacles—it’s to design a world the place everybody strikes ahead collectively. Listed here are a few of my favourite real-world examples.
Actual-world affect: How Azure AI is chopping digital curbs
The curb cuts of digital accessibility didn’t begin with generative AI—Microsoft has been constructing inclusive applied sciences for many years. From early display readers to speech-to-text improvements, AI has lengthy performed a pivotal function in increasing entry. However now, we’re going even larger.
Bridging the psychological well being hole with AI-powered conversations
Expertise: Azure AI
Psychological well being assist is a rising necessity worldwide, however in Kenya, the place there are solely about 100 psychiatrists for a inhabitants of fifty million, entry to skilled care is extraordinarily restricted. Monetary and cultural obstacles usually maintain folks from in search of the assistance they want.
Kenya Crimson Cross noticed a possibility to bridge this hole utilizing Azure AI-powered chatbots. In partnership with Pathways Applied sciences, they developed Chat Care, an AI-based psychological well being assistant that gives steering, emotional assist, and referrals—all in English and Swahili.
This isn’t only a chatbot; it’s a lifeline for individuals who might in any other case endure in silence. Chat Care permits customers to begin conversations about their psychological well being in a low-pressure, nameless means, decreasing stigma and providing sources which can be accessible 24/7. It may counsel respiration workouts, gratitude practices, and in-person companies, all tailor-made to the person’s responses.
And for people who find themselves deaf, onerous of listening to, or unable to talk on the cellphone, Chat Care provides text-based assist, guaranteeing psychological well being companies can be found to everybody, no matter capacity or circumstance.
Bettering AI speech recognition for non-standard speech
Expertise: Azure AI Speech x UIUC Partnership
Voice recognition expertise usually struggles to grasp folks with non-standard speech patterns, making it tougher for people with circumstances like cerebral palsy or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to work together with AI-powered experiences.
To unravel this, Microsoft partnered with the College of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and fellow tech leaders to construct the Speech Accessibility Undertaking—a analysis initiative to coach AI fashions that acknowledge various speech patterns.
By integrating this breakthrough into Azure AI Speech, Microsoft is guaranteeing that AI-powered voice expertise works for everybody, making digital experiences extra inclusive throughout industries.
Making AI extra accessible from the bottom up
Expertise: Azure AI Foundry
With Azure AI Foundry, Microsoft has embedded accessibility into the AI growth lifecycle itself. By partnering with EY, the Azure AI Foundry now empowers neurodivergent clients, and options improved usability, decreasing cognitive overload and bettering navigation for all folks.
In 2024, Azure AI Foundry reached a milestone for usability, reflecting suggestions from folks with disabilities that helped enhance the platform. The updates included:
- Grouping notifications and deployment errors to scale back cognitive overload.
- Guaranteeing display readers present structured, easy-to-follow AI workflows.
- Enhancing keyboard navigation for individuals who depend on shortcuts over mouse enter.
This can be a prime instance of why accessibility is about constructing higher, extra intuitive expertise for everybody.
Making accessible AI work for brokers
Expertise: Laptop-Utilizing Agent (CUA)
Microsoft’s Laptop-Utilizing Agent (CUA) in Azure AI Foundry permits AI-powered automation of digital interactions, making software program extra accessible for folks with restricted mobility or dexterity. By permitting CUA to navigate interfaces, full multi-step duties, and execute actions via pure language instructions, it reduces reliance on conventional keyboard and mouse inputs.
This breakthrough enhances digital accessibility, empowering individuals who use any sort of assistive expertise. As CUA dynamically interprets UI components, it makes it simpler to navigate purposes and workflows.
Hope, motion, and transferring ahead along with Azure AI
There are days when it seems like progress is sluggish. That accessibility, whether or not bodily or digital, takes too lengthy to enhance. However then I take into consideration one thing so simple as the sidewalks at my cross streets.
Not that way back, they had been utterly inaccessible. However after making a name, submitting a report, and pushing the difficulty, these sidewalks lastly bought curb cuts simply in time for the beginning of our second youngster. It was a small repair within the grand scheme of issues, nevertheless it made an actual distinction.
The reality is, generally it simply takes somebody noticing the issue and taking motion. However I additionally know I say that from a spot of privilege—I had the time, the sources, and the flexibility to advocate for that change. Many individuals don’t. That’s why it’s so essential that we construct accessibility into our programs from the beginning—in order that nobody has to combat for the fundamentals.
With Azure AI Foundry, organizations can now scale accessibility sooner than ever, making the digital world extra navigable, usable, and welcoming to all. The curb cuts are being constructed—and the way forward for accessibility is huge open.
Be part of us at Means Summit 2025
As we rejoice innovation at Microsoft’s Means Summit 2025, we invite you to discover how AI can improve accessibility in your services and products.
The long run isn’t nearly eradicating obstacles—it’s about constructing a world the place everybody strikes ahead collectively.