New research into the accessibility of chatbots on municipal websites shows that no progress has been made compared to last year.

 

No municipal chatbot meets the legal accessibility requirements that the government sets for websites and web applications, according to the study reported by Binnenlands Bestuur.

The chatbot with the most accessibility problems is currently being scaled up nationwide. Researchers report this. Wiep Hamstra and Jules Ernst. They conducted research last year on the performance and accessibility of 36 municipal chatbots. The findings were dramatic.

In both areas—performance and accessibility—all the chatbots tested fell short. For example, chatbots were poorly informed about town hall opening hours, and conversations with chatbots were difficult to read with text-to-speech software, making them unusable for blind and visually impaired people.

Now that they are investigating have re-executed, the researchers conclude that no improvement has been made. None of the chatbots examined meet all mandatory accessibility guidelines. The chatbot Mai, which is intended to become a national standard with the help of BZK subsidies, even has the most accessibility issues: 21 out of a list of 29 measurement points. (BB)

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