With AI technology improving by leaps and bounds over the past year, companies are still receiving feedback on issues that have arose from these new pieces of technology. Specifically, AI delivery robots have received harsh feedback on social media platforms from individuals on college campuses and large cities. Among these reviews, many come from the disabled community, or disability rights activists. In her article, Emily Ackerman tells her own experience with AI delivery robots as a wheelchair user. She explains that although an able person would be able to simply step around a stopped delivery robot, her wheelchair was too wide for the sidewalk, and was therefore stuck in a busy intersection on campus.
Ackerman stresses how important the hiring process is for big tech companies, and how hiring disabled people, especially disabled designers, can help avoid many uncomfortable or even dangerous situations for many people. While technology is developed with the goal to make life easier, she explains that the disabled community is not always included in this group of people. Emily Ackerman is a disability rights activist and Ph. D. student at the University of Pittsburgh, where her encounter with the AI delivery robot occurred.
LIS 4022 Spring 2020 