Before the Technological Fix: Scoping AI and AAC for Social Futures

Seray B. Ibrahim; Tom Griffiths; Michael Clarke; Simon Judge; Petr Slovak; Graham Pullin; Jeff Higginbotham

doi:10.1145/3772363.3798436

Before the Technological Fix: Scoping AI and AAC for Social Futures

Seray B. Ibrahim
, Tom Griffiths
, Michael Clarke
, Simon Judge
, Petr Slovak
, Graham Pullin
, Jeff Higginbotham

Communicative Disorders and Sciences

University of Essex
King's College London
University of Dundee
Pennsylvania State University
Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
University of Sheffield

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

Abstract

Growing HCI interest in applying AI to Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) technologies is timely and encouraging. However, this work would benefit from closer alignment with contemporary AAC research. Recent HCI contributions have prioritised linguistic efficiency and technological capability, often reflecting sender-receiver communication models rather than the collaborative, multimodal, and contextually distributed approaches emphasised in AAC scholarship. We argue that HCI research could be strengthened by adopting broader conceptual models that better account for social interaction. This work-in-progress reports initial findings from a 20-year scoping review of ACM and Scopus literature examining how AI has been framed in AAC design. Most papers (43/65) positioned problems as connected with technological factors, whilst some addressed bodily factors (19/65), and fewer addressed temporal-relational factors in conversation (11/65). We see valuable opportunities for the CHI community to prioritise social interaction and participation alongside technological innovation in future AAC and AI research.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	CHI 2026 - Extended Abtracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Editors	Nuria Oliver, David A. Shamma, Heloisa Candello, Pablo Cesar, Pedro Lopes, Valentino Artizzu, Fiona Draxler, Gustavo Lopez, Anke V. Reinschluessel, Xin Tong, Phoebe O. Toups Dugas
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
ISBN (Electronic)	9798400722813
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3772363.3798436
State	Published - Apr 13 2026
Event	Extended Abtracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2026 - Barcelona, Spain Duration: Apr 13 2026 → Apr 17 2026

Publication series

Name	Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

Conference

Conference	Extended Abtracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2026
Country/Territory	Spain
City	Barcelona
Period	04/13/26 → 04/17/26

Keywords

AAC
AI
communication
Scoping review
social interaction

Access to Document

10.1145/3772363.3798436

Cite this

Ibrahim, S. B., Griffiths, T., Clarke, M., Judge, S., Slovak, P., Pullin, G., & Higginbotham, J. (2026). Before the Technological Fix: Scoping AI and AAC for Social Futures. In N. Oliver, D. A. Shamma, H. Candello, P. Cesar, P. Lopes, V. Artizzu, F. Draxler, G. Lopez, A. V. Reinschluessel, X. Tong, & P. O. Toups Dugas (Eds.), CHI 2026 - Extended Abtracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Article 113 (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings ). Association for Computing Machinery . https://doi.org/10.1145/3772363.3798436

Ibrahim, Seray B. ; Griffiths, Tom ; Clarke, Michael et al. / Before the Technological Fix : Scoping AI and AAC for Social Futures. CHI 2026 - Extended Abtracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. editor / Nuria Oliver ; David A. Shamma ; Heloisa Candello ; Pablo Cesar ; Pedro Lopes ; Valentino Artizzu ; Fiona Draxler ; Gustavo Lopez ; Anke V. Reinschluessel ; Xin Tong ; Phoebe O. Toups Dugas. Association for Computing Machinery , 2026. (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings ).

@inproceedings{41943d250cf14aa18cc399c93b780f62,

title = "Before the Technological Fix: Scoping AI and AAC for Social Futures",

abstract = "Growing HCI interest in applying AI to Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) technologies is timely and encouraging. However, this work would benefit from closer alignment with contemporary AAC research. Recent HCI contributions have prioritised linguistic efficiency and technological capability, often reflecting sender-receiver communication models rather than the collaborative, multimodal, and contextually distributed approaches emphasised in AAC scholarship. We argue that HCI research could be strengthened by adopting broader conceptual models that better account for social interaction. This work-in-progress reports initial findings from a 20-year scoping review of ACM and Scopus literature examining how AI has been framed in AAC design. Most papers (43/65) positioned problems as connected with technological factors, whilst some addressed bodily factors (19/65), and fewer addressed temporal-relational factors in conversation (11/65). We see valuable opportunities for the CHI community to prioritise social interaction and participation alongside technological innovation in future AAC and AI research.",

keywords = "AAC, AI, communication, Scoping review, social interaction",

author = "Ibrahim, \{Seray B.\} and Tom Griffiths and Michael Clarke and Simon Judge and Petr Slovak and Graham Pullin and Jeff Higginbotham",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2026 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).; Extended Abtracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2026 ; Conference date: 13-04-2026 Through 17-04-2026",

year = "2026",

month = apr,

day = "13",

doi = "10.1145/3772363.3798436",

language = "English",

series = "Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings ",

publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery ",

editor = "Nuria Oliver and Shamma, \{David A.\} and Heloisa Candello and Pablo Cesar and Pedro Lopes and Valentino Artizzu and Fiona Draxler and Gustavo Lopez and Reinschluessel, \{Anke V.\} and Xin Tong and \{Toups Dugas\}, \{Phoebe O.\}",

booktitle = "CHI 2026 - Extended Abtracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems",

address = "United States",

}

Ibrahim, SB, Griffiths, T, Clarke, M, Judge, S, Slovak, P, Pullin, G & Higginbotham, J 2026, Before the Technological Fix: Scoping AI and AAC for Social Futures. in N Oliver, DA Shamma, H Candello, P Cesar, P Lopes, V Artizzu, F Draxler, G Lopez, AV Reinschluessel, X Tong & PO Toups Dugas (eds), CHI 2026 - Extended Abtracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems., 113, Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings , Association for Computing Machinery , Extended Abtracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2026, Barcelona, Spain, 04/13/26. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772363.3798436

Before the Technological Fix: Scoping AI and AAC for Social Futures. / Ibrahim, Seray B.; Griffiths, Tom; Clarke, Michael et al.
CHI 2026 - Extended Abtracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ed. / Nuria Oliver; David A. Shamma; Heloisa Candello; Pablo Cesar; Pedro Lopes; Valentino Artizzu; Fiona Draxler; Gustavo Lopez; Anke V. Reinschluessel; Xin Tong; Phoebe O. Toups Dugas. Association for Computing Machinery , 2026. 113 (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings ).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - Before the Technological Fix

T2 - Extended Abtracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2026

AU - Ibrahim, Seray B.

AU - Griffiths, Tom

AU - Clarke, Michael

AU - Judge, Simon

AU - Slovak, Petr

AU - Pullin, Graham

AU - Higginbotham, Jeff

PY - 2026/4/13

Y1 - 2026/4/13

N2 - Growing HCI interest in applying AI to Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) technologies is timely and encouraging. However, this work would benefit from closer alignment with contemporary AAC research. Recent HCI contributions have prioritised linguistic efficiency and technological capability, often reflecting sender-receiver communication models rather than the collaborative, multimodal, and contextually distributed approaches emphasised in AAC scholarship. We argue that HCI research could be strengthened by adopting broader conceptual models that better account for social interaction. This work-in-progress reports initial findings from a 20-year scoping review of ACM and Scopus literature examining how AI has been framed in AAC design. Most papers (43/65) positioned problems as connected with technological factors, whilst some addressed bodily factors (19/65), and fewer addressed temporal-relational factors in conversation (11/65). We see valuable opportunities for the CHI community to prioritise social interaction and participation alongside technological innovation in future AAC and AI research.

AB - Growing HCI interest in applying AI to Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) technologies is timely and encouraging. However, this work would benefit from closer alignment with contemporary AAC research. Recent HCI contributions have prioritised linguistic efficiency and technological capability, often reflecting sender-receiver communication models rather than the collaborative, multimodal, and contextually distributed approaches emphasised in AAC scholarship. We argue that HCI research could be strengthened by adopting broader conceptual models that better account for social interaction. This work-in-progress reports initial findings from a 20-year scoping review of ACM and Scopus literature examining how AI has been framed in AAC design. Most papers (43/65) positioned problems as connected with technological factors, whilst some addressed bodily factors (19/65), and fewer addressed temporal-relational factors in conversation (11/65). We see valuable opportunities for the CHI community to prioritise social interaction and participation alongside technological innovation in future AAC and AI research.

KW - AAC

KW - AI

KW - communication

KW - Scoping review

KW - social interaction

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105038074420

U2 - 10.1145/3772363.3798436

DO - 10.1145/3772363.3798436

M3 - Conference contribution

AN - SCOPUS:105038074420

T3 - Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

BT - CHI 2026 - Extended Abtracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

A2 - Oliver, Nuria

A2 - Shamma, David A.

A2 - Candello, Heloisa

A2 - Cesar, Pablo

A2 - Lopes, Pedro

A2 - Artizzu, Valentino

A2 - Draxler, Fiona

A2 - Lopez, Gustavo

A2 - Reinschluessel, Anke V.

A2 - Tong, Xin

A2 - Toups Dugas, Phoebe O.

PB - Association for Computing Machinery

Y2 - 13 April 2026 through 17 April 2026

ER -

Ibrahim SB, Griffiths T, Clarke M, Judge S, Slovak P, Pullin G et al. Before the Technological Fix: Scoping AI and AAC for Social Futures. In Oliver N, Shamma DA, Candello H, Cesar P, Lopes P, Artizzu V, Draxler F, Lopez G, Reinschluessel AV, Tong X, Toups Dugas PO, editors, CHI 2026 - Extended Abtracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Association for Computing Machinery . 2026. 113. (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings ). doi: 10.1145/3772363.3798436

Before the Technological Fix: Scoping AI and AAC for Social Futures

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this