AI Sets the Stage for Disabled People’s Success in Entertainment

Author William Gibson once said, “The future is already here but it’s not evenly distributed.” It resonates in particular today as consumers see artificial intelligence (AI) spread like wildfire through every sector, including the entertainment industry. In August alone, Meta offered millions to stars like Awkwafina and Judi Dench to use their voices for AI-based products, and AI startup ProRata signed Universal Music Group and The Atlantic to licensing deals.

But how will AI’s ever-growing presence in the entertainment industry impact disability inclusion and representation? The trepidation towards it is high, especially as disabled audiences continue to see computer-generated imagery (CGI) used to make non-disabled actors appear disabled, like Hugh Grant in the recent “Wonka.” Conversely, CGI can also be used to make actors with disabilities appear non-disabled.

During a panel on AI presented by Easterseals Disability Services at TheWrap’s 2024 Grill conference, actor Lolo Spencer reflected: “There is a concern … the [disability] community is always up against, which is ableism, and this idea that if you live with a disability, you are either less than or not good enough. And so, with the rise of generative AI, there’s going to be these conversations of well, ‘How do we fix this person?’”

Kaitlyn Yang, visual effects supervisor and CEO of Alpha Studios, echoed the concern about AI. “We, society as a whole, have been eras- ing disability,” she told TheWrap. Yang, one of the few VFX supervisors who uses a wheelchair, explained that fears about the risks of AI and how AI will affect those with disabilities stem from the biases and ableism that already plague contemporary industries.

Despite valid concerns, there are some notable positive avenues for people with disabilities to utilize AI right now. Yang believes AI could create a huge advantage for those who find computers inaccessible to use. In her work with the one in four coalition (named for the one in four Americans with a disability), an intersectional coalition of disabled creatives currently working in Hollywood, many of their mentors and mentees ask for assis- tance due to an inability to type. With AI, text to speech is improving and making things easier for them. Yang utilizes AI assistance in editing, post-production tools and audio.

For those actively working for AI companies, they believe the sky’s the limit to what these programs could do for the disabled commu- nity. “There is a lot of unknown about AI, and I think it is a very human response to be concerned,” Guy Gadney, co-founder and CEO of Charisma.ai, said. “Innately we’re afraid of the dark because we don’t know what’s there.” He explained a need to reframe the discussion from one emphasizing how AI will replace people to one that can open up new avenues for creatives and others, no different than the rise of cell phones or social media.

Yang, however, is highly concerned about what AI could do to the world of VFX, regardless of her disability. “There are groups of people who believe that generative AI, visibly made by typing and prompts, would replace a lot of entry level jobs, a lot of departments, like concept artists,” she said. Areas like rotoscoping, in particular, are also in danger. Many of these areas, she said, are “on-ramps for junior artists [and] junior visual effects artists entering the system.”

But both Gadney and Dilip Jagadeesh, director of product design for SmartSheet, believe AI could be an accessibility tool for disabled cre- atives. As Jagadeesh explained, an author who publishes a book could, in theory, not just use AI to translate their book into multiple languages, but different modalities. “I want it to be an audiobook, or I want it to be in a comic book, or I want it to be in a cartoon version, or a live-action movie version. You would be able to create and define the characters, generated by AI, including the music, including the sequencing of it all,” he said. Consumers could benefit from AI, as well. For instance, a big game-changer, for Jagadeesh, is also the creation of AI sign language on movies and TV shows.

Gadney also sees the potential to bring more disability into content that doesn’t have it already. To illustrate this possibility, he cites the 2023 testing of TrueSync technology, which went viral on social media because it illustrated how AI can remove and change film content to make it PG-13. Gadney believes such technology is proof that it’s possible for consumers to remove ableist and outdated language from films. In the future, AI could also very well allow for consumers to insert characters with disabilities where they weren’t there before and see how that changes the narrative. But would that potentially limit roles for disabled performers?

During the Easterseals panel on AI at TheGrill, comedian Adam Conover shared his belief that it isn’t just AI putting roles at risk for disabled people; it’s the humans using the AI.

“The reason … disabled stories are not told is because the executives who run the industry are already not using their humanity enough,” Conover said. “They don’t realize how powerful stories of disability can be, and so they never green light them because they’re just doing the same old thing. AI, at its best, just gives you an average of what already exists … so if the executives use it to give away the decision-making process, then they’ll just continue to not have disabled people in things or disabled stories. It’ll just be more of the same.”

Beyond concerns about human biases, concerns about inherent biases in AI are ever-present. As disability rights advocate/working actress Emily Kranking said, if you put the word “disabled” into an AI generator, it only ever brings up a wheelchair user, and that wheelchair user is always being pushed by someone.

“They don’t recognize my braces, whereas regular artists would! This is why AI can’t replace actual artists and writers,” Kranking said. “It’s not authentic and steals jobs from people with lived experiences and multiple definitions of disabilities.” Yang seconded that. “It’s sampling what’s already in existence and, as we know, ableism is very much alive and in existence … all the nega- tive traits, style and characteristics we see in our environments will not be automatically removed or enhanced by AI.”

Gadney also acknowledged that those biases exist and need to be rectified to mitigate risks to disability inclusion in the entertainment industry before AI is put into wide use. “The reason it’s biased is because human beings have created that and designed it,” he said of AI. “It’s a series of computers with code in it that is coded by humans … More disabled people need to be in AI jobs helping to train it and remove those biases.”

AI presents significant opportunities and challenges for disability inclusion in the entertain- ment industry. While it has the potential to revolutionize access and created new pathways for disabled creatives, the technology also risks perpetuating existing biases if not carefully managed. Disabled people must be central in shaping AI’s future. As AI continues to evolve, we need to focus on collaboration — working toward a future where technology enhances, rather than erases the representation of disabled people in entertainment.

This article is sponsored by Easterseals.