How AI tools are helping professionals with dyslexia, ADHD

Published by Digiday's Worklife on April 24, 2024

As we’ve reported throughout our neurodiversity series this month, dyslexia can be a huge benefit to thinking about things differently, but there can also be a heightened cognitive load to make sense of certain information.

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Some businesses are using AI to help their employees digest information better. For example, Axios HQ, the first AI-powered internal communications platform, is being used by over 600 companies, including Walmart, Delta and Tyson, to provide information in a new way. Inspired by his own struggles with dyslexia, Axios CEO Roy Schwartz created Smart Brevity, an accessible way for employers to communicate using simple language, brief sentences and smart formatting.

“For me, someone with dyslexia, I either have to simplify stuff myself, or I need it provided to me in a simple way so my brain can ingest it properly,” said Schwartz. “So the bullet points, the white space, the scannability, helps me absorb that information.” 

It’s all made possible with AI. Over the years, Axios HQ has kept its edits to turn big news into easily digestible information, and now that is being used to train its own model for Smart Brevity. An employer can put in any text at all and it will convert it into this style while remaining accurate in what it is saying. Employers pay an annual subscription fee for usage. Schwartz said their average customer value is $20,000, but it varies by the size of the organization and use case.

“When I grew up, people were just like ‘get a dictionary, fix your spelling,’” said Schwartz. “But I think AI is going to do a lot, especially in the reading and writing space. I see it in my kids. They speak the text they want to send, they don’t type it. When you add that to generative AI, you’re going to have an assistant help you write everything you might want to write.”

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