Machines of invisibility: people with disabilities in AI-generated images
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22409/mty22y85Keywords:
Artificial intelligence (AI), Invisibilities of people with disabilities , Machine vision, Ableism, ImageAbstract
To investigate whether machine vision in generative AI perpetuates historical processes that render people with disabilities invisible, this study articulates theoretical reflections with image-generation tests using AI tools. The results show that these technologies operate through gradients of erasure, either by failing to recognize these individuals or by framing them within stigmatizing narratives. Disability rarely appears in imaginaries of success and, when mentioned, is often associated with narratives of overcoming. These machine vision systems – inseparably social, economic, and political – do not merely reproduce but reconfigure the contemporary regime of visibility. Due to their pattern-based functioning and widespread adoption, they contribute to perpetuating the invisibility of people with disabilities.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Mirella Ramos Costa Pessoa, Fabiane da Silva de Souza, Cláudia Linhares Sanz
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