How can AI make websites, software and digital experiences more accessible, and help businesses reach a market with up to $1.3 trillion in annual purchasing power? Tom Bush and Stuart MacDonald sit down with Dr. Keith Newton, digital accessibility practice lead at Mantiaba Interactive, to explore AI, inclusive design and the business opportunity companies miss when their technology excludes people with disabilities. Dr. Keith explains how AI has cut accessibility-reporting work from weeks to about an hour of review, why fully automated audits remain unreliable, and why AI can create new barriers as fast as it removes old ones.
Guest: Dr. Keith Newton, Digital Accessibility Practice Lead, Mantiaba Interactive; screenwriter and filmmaker
In this episode:
• How AI is changing digital accessibility for blind, deaf, motor-impaired and cognitively impaired users
• Why accessibility is more than legal compliance: the business value and purchasing power of people with disabilities
• How AI reduced accessibility reporting from weeks to hours, and why humans must stay in the loop
• Dr. Keith's AI-powered Browser Buddy project and using local AI to identify webpage components
• AI filmmaking, animation and micro-drama production: demonstrating ideas without waiting for permission
Connect with Dr. Keith:
LinkedIn: / dr-keith-newton
Recorded live at Columbus AI Week (Sept 10–11, 2026), produced by the Enterprise Technology Association with JobsOhio: https://www.joinaiweek.com/columbus
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