Focusing policy for good: promoting AL for good for the disability community [we propose a convening that will bring together scholars and community members to discuss artificial intelligence (AI) for…

The National Endowment for the Humanities awarded the University of San Diego $100,000 on January 1, 2026, under the Promotion of the Humanities Research program (CFDA 45.161) to convene scholars and community members to discuss artificial intelligence applications in healthcare and education serving the disability community.

The convening will critically examine existing AI tools designed for people with disabilities, explore future possibilities, and analyze policies and economic incentives that might encourage AI development beneficial to disabled populations. The project runs through May 31, 2027, and is performed in California. The University of San Diego, operating through its School of Law, serves as the recipient organization.

Focusing policy for good: promoting AL for good for the disability community [we propose a convening that will bring together scholars and community members to discuss artificial intelligence (AI) for good in healthcare and education to serve the disability community. While AI is a controversial topic, there are a few uses of AI that tend to be considered obviously good use cases. One of those use cases is creating tools for people with disabilities (e.g., apps that read written text aloud for those with low vision). While these tools are frequently mentioned by those who are creating AI tools, most of the effort in the AI field is to create those things that either have some immediate payoff for the startups that create them (e.g., business or educational technology tools) or that intrigue venture capitalists such that they need not be profitable for the foreseeable future (e.g., chatgpt). Our idea is to critically examine the tools that have been created, the possibilities for the future, and the policies and economic incentives that might encourage AI for good.]