The Accessibility Capability Boundary: Operational Limits and Expansion Potential of AI-Generated Browser-Native Accessibility Systems

TL;DR

This paper introduces the Accessibility Capability Boundary (ACB), a formal framework to analyze the operational limits and potential expansion of AI-driven accessibility systems, grounded in real-world prototypes.

Contribution

It presents a novel theoretical framework for understanding the capabilities and boundaries of autonomous accessibility systems using AI and browser-native technologies.

Findings

Model of accessibility as a multidimensional capability space

Analysis of two real-world prototypes demonstrating system potential

Identification of computational and infrastructural constraints

Abstract

As large language models (LLMs) demonstrate increasing competence in synthesizing functional user interfaces, a fundamental question emerges in accessibility computing: \textit{how far can AI-driven accessibility systems go?} This paper introduces the \textit{Accessibility Capability Boundary} (ACB), a formal framework for reasoning about the operational limits and expansion potential of autonomous accessibility systems, and grounds this theory in a real-world systems artifact. We model accessibility not as a binary compliance property but as a dynamic, multidimensional capability space constrained by measurable variables including deployment latency, cognitive load, infrastructure dependency, offline persistence, interaction complexity, and adaptability. We argue that AI-generated, browser-native systems constructed as single-file HTML artifacts leveraging standard browser APIs may dramatically shift the ACB outward by reducing deployment friction to near-zero and enabling rapid, context-specific interface adaptation. We ground our theoretical framework in the analysis of two real-world exploratory prototypes. The first is an AI-generated browser-native accessibility interface deployed for a blind user in Nepal. The second is a fully functional, open-source webcam alignment assistant for visually impaired users, serving as a concrete systems artifact. Through formal definitions, propositions, and a comparative evaluation matrix, we characterize the regions of the accessibility capability space that such systems can and cannot reach. We further identify remaining computational, infrastructural, and verification constraints that constitute the hard boundaries of this paradigm. This work contributes a theoretical foundation for understanding the scalable limits of autonomous accessibility computing and proposes a research agenda for future work in accessibility-aware AI systems.