How Far I'll Go: Imagining Futures of Conversational AI with People with Visual Impairments Through Design Fiction

TL;DR

The paper investigates how people with visual impairments imagine futures of conversational AI using an audio-based design fiction approach with fourteen Korean participants. It shifts the focus from current CAI capabilities to lived aspirations, autonomy, and social inclusion, uncovering both opportunities and gaps such as multimodal explanations and diverse subgroups. The findings suggest CAI could expand independence and participation but must be designed to avoid overreliance and to respect diverse BLV experiences. Practical implications advocate for agency-centered CAI integrated with social structures to realize more inclusive, dignified futures for PVI.

Abstract

People with visual impairments (PVI) use a variety of assistive technologies to navigate their daily lives, and conversational AI (CAI) tools are a growing part of this toolset. Much existing HCI research has focused on the technical capabilities of current CAI tools, but in this paper, we instead examine how PVI themselves envision potential futures for living with CAI. We conducted a study with 14 participants with visual impairments using an audio-based Design Fiction probe featuring speculative dialogues between participants and a future CAI. Participants imagined using CAI to expand their boundaries by exploring new opportunities or places, but also voiced concerns about balancing reliance on CAI with maintaining autonomy, the need to consider diverse levels of vision-loss, and enhancing visibility of PVI for greater inclusion. We discuss implications for designing CAI that support genuine agency for PVI based on the future lives they envisioned.