With the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) the world of work is becoming more flexible – opening up more possibilities for people with impairments. Many of these applications will be introduced at REHACARE 2024. How AI helps to reduce barriers in concrete terms is explained by Prof. Dr. Jochen Steil of the Institute of Robotics and Process Control at the Braunschweig Technical University in this interview.
Can Artificial Intelligence fundamentally contribute to more inclusion in the world of work?
Steil: Yes, because technical possibilities can compensate for impairments. Take such aids as automatic reading out loud, image interpretation, translations or dictating texts without using keyboards or buttons for example. Such methods basically help all people and are designed to do just that – but they specifically support people with impairments.
How can Artificial Intelligence help to break down barriers at the workplace?
Steil: Disabilities emerge when impairments come up against barriers that then curtail development opportunities. In the world of work, for example, this is caused by complicated instructions or directions that are not understood. With the help of AI, workflows can be explained in a simple way. This helps to compensate not only for information deficits but also language barriers: people learn how something works – even though they come from another country and are unfamiliar with some rules here.
So AI contributes to creating jobs for a diverse workforce?
Steil: One the one hand, it provides options for inclusion, on the other, the diversity of impairments makes personalised solutions necessary. Personalisation is the prerequisite for adoption. Especially for severe impairments the need for adaptation is higher as a rule. This is probably the biggest difficulty: we need technical systems that are adapted to the individual demands and still so flexible that they can adapt further over time. After all, physical and mental skills change. It can, for example, be necessary for a robot to move more slowly in human interaction – instead of setting a pace that the operator can no longer keep up with.
What role do ethical and legal considerations play in the development of inclusive AI systems?
Steil: They play a prominent role because technical and AI systems can only assist when processing data that also always reveal information on the situation, the person and their performance. This opens the door for new monitoring and control possibilities that we must keep an eye on.
Are AI technologies already successfully employed at work?
Steil: AI technologies are not employed as often as it would be possible. In addition to the aforementioned need for adaptation, a tech-savvy environment and structural prerequisites such as a certain level of know-how are required for technical solutions to really be deployed. In this respect Germany suffers from huge pent-up demand. Academic research results are often not translated into real products, let alone for the mass market.
Nonetheless, we currently see many changes caused by the use of generative AI, which generates new images or videos on the basis of data entries. In future, we will be able to talk to machines – and they will be able to respond, also in different languages. This can also promote inclusion.
