Exploring outlooks towards generative AI-based assistive technologies for people with Autism

Abstract

The last few years have significantly increased global interest in generative artificial intelligence. Deepfakes, which are synthetically created videos, emerged as an application of generative artificial intelligence. Fake news and pornographic content have been the two most prevalent negative use cases of deepfakes in the digital ecosystem. Deepfakes have some advantageous applications that experts in the subject have thought of in the areas of filmmaking, teaching, etc. Research on the potential of deepfakes among people with disabilities is, however, scarce or nonexistent. This workshop paper explores the potential of deepfakes as an assistive technology. We examined Reddit conversations regarding Nvdia's new videoconferencing feature which allows participants to maintain eye contact during online meetings. Through manual web scraping and qualitative coding, we found 162 relevant comments discussing the relevance and appropriateness of the technology for people with Autism. The themes identified from the qualitative codes indicate a number of concerns for technology among the autistic community. We suggest that developing generative AI-based assistive solutions will have ramifications for human-computer interaction (HCI), and present open questions that should be investigated further in this space.