Building AGI With the Accessibility Community, Not Just For It

We've talked to a lot of people over the past few months about what AGI is and who it's for, and one question keeps coming up: what does an AI agent that operates your phone actually mean for someone with a disability? We wanted to write down where we are, honestly, and invite more people into the process.

What AGI Is

AGI is an agent, built into the AGI app on iOS and Android, that you can type or talk to. You give it a goal, "call me an Uber home," "book me a flight to Chicago," "order my usual dinner from DoorDash," and it carries out the whole task: opening the right app, navigating its actual interface, and finishing the payment. There's always a confirmation step before anything financial goes through.

We're currently in beta through an early access program, and we're looking for help getting better.

AGI is built for anyone. But we think of accessibility as a core part of that "anyone," not an edge case we get to later. Technology makes things easier. Assistive technology makes things possible. Our goal is to extend what's possible.

One thing we want to be clear about: AGI isn't a replacement for the screen reader or assistive tech someone already relies on. It's strongest on discrete, goal-directed tasks with a clear endpoint, like booking a ride or ordering food, where today's process means navigating an entire app one element at a time. For open-ended things, like browsing a social feed, most people will keep reaching for their own screen reader. It’s important for us to make AGI useful for the right tasks. 

What We’ve Done So Far

An accessibility professional has tested AGI across a range of assistive technology against WCAG 2.2 A & AA, and we've resolved the issues found. We've done interviews with people who are blind and low-vision to understand how they'd actually want to use something like this, not how we assumed they would. A verbose narration mode, designed to make each step the agent takes clear to someone who can't see the screen, has shipped, built directly from that feedback.

AGI also started building relationships with organizations who work with the community every day, with a goal of getting help thinking through what real usability testing looks like, beyond a technical audit. We're grateful to the community that has already engaged with us, and we're taking our time to do this the right way rather than rushing it.

We've started watching people use AGI on their own, on their own device, with their own assistive technology. This matters most to our team. The next real test is to see what use cases really matter to people and which users benefit the most from using AGI.

Meeting People in Person: Houston Abilities Expo

This week, a group from our product and engineering team is heading to the Abilities Expo in Houston (July 31 to August 2, at NRG Center). We're hosting a booth, tohave real conversations with people about what they need, and invite anyone interested to try AGI live.

We'll follow up with what we learn in a future post. We’re looking forward to hear things that challenge our assumptions

We Want You Involved

If you're someone with a disability who is curious about trying AGI, or you work with or represent people in the disability community and want to talk with us, we'd like to hear from you. Beta testers, feedback, tough questions, all welcome.

Reach out to us at accessibility@theagi.company

We're building this in public, and with the people it's actually for. If that interests you, come tell us what you think.