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Adobe’s new AI automates PDF accessibility tags
The feature will be available in an API and Acrobat Pro / Reader.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Will Shanklin|May 17, 2023 9:00 AM
Depending on who you ask, AI can be mesmerizing, terrifying or some combination of both. But Adobe’s accessibility-focused artificial intelligence is a use case that (I hope) any reasonable person can get behind. The company’s new Auto-Tag API can remove the tedium from making accessibility-friendly PDFs for people with disabilities.
PDFs have built-in metadata providing structural information — headings, paragraphs, lists and tables — in documents for assistive tech like screen readers. But tagging digital documents for compatibility can be time-consuming, especially for those with complex layouts or companies with backlogs of old files lacking the proper metadata. Adobe estimates that over 90 percent of PDFs are at least partially inaccessible for people with disabilities, sometimes “appearing blank, blurry or as lines of distorted text.”
Adobe’s PDF Accessibility Auto-Tag API automates the tagging process. The company says its Sensei-powered software will indicate the correct reading order for assistive technology, saving companies time and — more to the point — making PDFs more readable for people with disabilities. [...]