starter · Level 1
Using AI as an accessibility tool: reading, writing and seeing
Screen readers, dictation, live captions and image description all use AI now. A practical tour of what your device can already do, and how to check an AI description before you trust it.
Start with the essentials
The short answer
Most modern computers and phones already include AI-powered accessibility tools: a screen reader that reads text aloud and describes what is on screen, dictation that turns speech into typed text, live captioning that transcribes audio in real time, and image description that generates a spoken or written summary of a photo. These are usually built in and free, not separate purchases. The honest limit is accuracy: dictation mishears words, live captions lag and garble unfamiliar names, and image descriptions can miss or misstate what a photo actually shows. Used well, these tools remove a genuine barrier. Used uncritically, a wrong caption or a wrong image description can mislead exactly the person relying on it most.
What you will learn
- You will be able to turn on and use your device's built-in screen reader well enough to navigate a simple page or document.
- You will be able to use dictation to write text by speaking, and know the specific kinds of errors to check for afterward.
- You will be able to turn on live captions for a video call or a video, and know what situations make captions less reliable.
- You will be able to get an AI description of a photo and know what kind of detail it commonly gets wrong.
- You will have a short checklist for when an AI accessibility feature's output needs a human check before you rely on it for something that matters.
Who it is for
Anyone who wants to use, or wants to help someone else use, the AI accessibility features already built into their computer or phone. No technical background needed.
Before you start
- None. It helps to have read What is AI? if you are new to AI tools generally.
Keep learning
The complete workbook
This workbook is a practical tour of the AI accessibility features already built into most computers and phones: turning on and using a screen reader, dictating text instead of typing it, reading live captions on a video call or video, and getting an AI description of a photo when you cannot see it clearly yourself. Each section covers how to turn the feature on, what it does well, and a specific way it can get things wrong, so you know when to double check rather than take the output on trust.
- 01What is already built in, and why it is AI nowIn the workbook · Reading
Accessibility features used to be simple and rule-based. Most of the useful ones now use AI underneath, which is why they have become far more capable, and why they can also fail in AI-shaped ways.
- 02Screen readers: hearing a page instead of reading itIn the workbook · 1 exercise
Every major operating system has a screen reader built in, free, no extra software needed.
- 03Dictation: speaking instead of typingIn the workbook · 1 exercise
Dictation has gone from a niche, error-prone tool to something genuinely reliable for ordinary writing, with one recurring weak spot.
- 04Live captions: reading what you cannot hearIn the workbook · 1 exercise
Live captioning works well for clear, single-speaker audio and gets noticeably less reliable the further a real conversation drifts from that.
- 05Image description, and a before-you-trust-it checklistIn the workbook · 1 exercise
AI image description can turn a photo into a spoken or written summary, genuinely useful and worth knowing its specific blind spots.
Also inside: a 5-point checklist, a glossary of 8 terms and 3 questions and answers to test yourself. 4 hands-on exercises, each with a worked answer at the back where the workbook gives one.
No login, no card, no account. Before the download we ask you to follow Mickai (two quick links). Free to download and use for personal learning, study groups and inside your own team. Please do not resell the workbooks or republish them as your own. Link people to trust-agent.ai instead.
Test yourself
Questions and answers
Do I need to buy anything to use these accessibility features?
No. Screen readers, dictation and live captions are built into Windows, macOS, iOS and Android at no extra cost. Some standalone image description apps exist, but the screen readers already built in also offer basic image description.
Is AI-generated live captioning accurate enough for a legal or medical record?
Treat it as a real-time aid for following along, not an official record. For anything with legal or medical consequences, a professional human transcript remains the reliable source, and captions should be checked rather than treated as final.
Why does dictation get names wrong so often?
Dictation predicts likely words based on how common they are in ordinary speech. An unusual name is, by definition, less common than the ordinary words it sounds similar to, so the system more often guesses the more common word instead.
When you have finished
Get your certificate of completion
Type your name and download a certificate for this workbook as a PDF, ready to print or to add to LinkedIn. It is made on your own device, so your name is never sent to us. It is a self-declared certificate, not an accredited qualification.
Learn the language
Key terms
- Screen reader
- Software that reads the text and describes the content of a screen aloud, letting someone navigate a device without needing to see it. Built into every major operating system.
- Narrator, VoiceOver, TalkBack
- The built-in screen readers on Windows, Apple devices and Android respectively, all free and included with the operating system.
- Dictation
- Software that converts spoken words into typed text in real time, now commonly powered by the same kind of AI models used in general-purpose chat tools.
- Live captions
- Real-time, AI-generated text transcription of spoken audio, shown on screen during a call, video or recording as it plays.
- Image description
- An AI-generated spoken or written summary of what a photo contains, used by screen readers and standalone apps to make images accessible to someone who cannot see them clearly.
- Misattribution
- When a caption or transcript assigns a piece of speech to the wrong speaker, a common error in live captions when several people talk over each other.
6 of the workbook's 8 terms. The complete glossary is in the workbook.
Follow the evidence
Sources and checks
Facts last checked: .
These workbooks use AI assistance. See how the workbooks are made.
Created by Mickarle Wagstaff-Irons - Micky Irons with the Mickai team. Published by Mickai LTD. Last updated 29 September 2026.
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