Accessibility of Artificial Intelligent Technologies for Persons with Disabilities and the Legal Requirements: Assessing the Situation in Ethiopia

Persons with disabilities in Ethiopia are not exceptions in experiencing the problems associated with the non-inclusiveness of AI technological devices. Some service providers in the country are using AI technologies. However, some of such AI devices are not disability friendly to access or to be accessed by persons with disabilities. As of today, it is hardly possible to find the tasks of human beings that are beyond the reach of science and technology. Nevertheless, it is not unusual to find artificial intelligent technological devices that are non-inclusive as to some groups of people like persons with disabilities. These artificial intelligent technological devises and systems, while they need to be more supportive and too much promising for people with disabilities, in reality, are sometimes found discriminatory or incompatible to be accessed or to access persons with disabilities. These problems are mainly because of some errors, by negligence – if not intentionally, during data setting, preparation, learning, model deployment, and implementation of such devises and systems. The non-inclusiveness of some of such artificial intelligent devices and systems is evidenced in different scenarios like HRM system for recruitment, face recognition based attendance system, supermarket intelligent CCTV camera, and many more aspects. This study, by assessing some non-inclusive artificial intelligent devices with a particular emphasize in Ethiopia, scrutinizes the operation of such devices as to the rights of persons with disabilities. Doing so, the study reveals the discriminatory nature of some of such devices and the corollary violations of human rights of persons with disabilities. And, it provides the ways forward to be considered.