Vote Now for AFB's 2027 SXSW Proposals
AFB’s Public Policy and Research Institute wants to discuss our groundbreaking AI research with tech innovators and thought leaders. To do this, we have submitted three session proposals for the 2027 South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin, TX, next March. We need your support and votes to help us get there!
Community voting is now live and open to the public from August 5-23, 2026. Learn more about our three sessions and the voting process below.
How to Vote
Before anyone can vote for our SXSW proposals, they must first create an SXSW ID if they don’t already have one. Please follow these instructions:
- Create your SXSW account: Go to https://id.sxsw.com/sign_in and click “create account” if you do not already have an SXSW account. Enter your information into the fields, then check your email and click the link in the email you receive.
- Find our proposals: In the same web browser you used to create your account, come back to this webpage and click on each of these links:
On each proposal, you can read the description or view our video about the proposed talk. To vote for it, click the heart icon. If you are a screen reader user, click the “click here to favorite this proposal” button.
- If you’d like, leave a comment about the proposal. This helps further boost our odds of getting accepted.
Our Session Proposals
Working for the Machine: AI as “Game Changer” or “Game Over?”
We all deserve to find work, but for people with disabilities, does AI help or hurt in the job search? Survey data from people with and without disabilities show a paradox: some people with disabilities encounter challenges with automated hiring while others find AI empowers them to show off their best self. We’ll discuss real data on how AI is reshaping access to jobs, skills, and information for people with and without disabilities, and what happens when AI use policies get access, fairness, and data security right (or wrong). Innovation only counts if it works for everyone.
Retooling Privacy and Independence: AI’s Disability Dilemma
Every time you use AI, you share a bit about your life with the system. What if it learned your bank account details? The results of your pregnancy test? For people with disabilities, using AI for autonomy often requires exposing deeply personal details about their lives. And regulatory policy rarely accounts for unequal choices. Drawing on a national survey of adults with & w/out disabilities, we’ll examine how AI expands access yet requires users to expose their info. We’ll identify design & development practices that prevent people from being forced to choose data security or independence.
VOTE: Retooling Privacy and Independence
The Students Left Behind: AI’s Impact on Higher Education Accommodations
Disabled students are using AI to bridge a widening accommodation gap in U.S. higher education to avoid being left behind in their classes. As disability disclosures rise and institutional supports struggle to keep pace due to regulatory uncertainty and political tension, AI is filling this gap by providing always-available help with reading, writing, note-taking, planning, and access conversion. This session centers on disabled students’ experiences and discusses how universities can leverage AI to meet their legal obligations and how students are using it to fill gaps.
This proposal is specifically for SXSW EDU.