AudioEye Study Finds AI Coding Tools Do Not Write Accessible Code
81% of developers trust AI-generated code for accessibility, but the data shows they should not
TUCSON, Ariz., Sept. 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- AudioEye, Inc. (Nasdaq: AEYE) ("AudioEye" or the "Company"), an industry-leading digital accessibility company, today published new research and conducted a business survey that showed two critical findings: leading AI coding tools failed to build accessible websites, while 81% of teams using them believe that they are meeting compliance standards.
AI coding tools build inaccessible sites with high-severity issues
AudioEye gave five AI tools, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, and Lovable, the same brief: build a news and media site, an online store, and a financial services site that meet WCAG 2.2 AA requirements, the global standard for accessibility compliance.
Testing across the 15 sites found 306 distinct accessibility issues, appearing more than 59,000 times across the pages. A single mistake in a navigation menu or form field repeats on every page that uses it. Of the issues found, 91% were medium or high severity, meaning they make tasks harder or impossible for people with disabilities and AI agents. These are also the types of issues that show up consistently in digital accessibility lawsuits.
The LLM-coded sites averaged 55 issues per page, while the typical website in AudioEye's 2026 Digital Accessibility Index averaged 62. Asking an AI tool to build an accessible site made little difference; their pages were still nearly as inaccessible as the average website today.
AI did not hallucinate these failures. It has been trained on an inaccessible web, and it writes inaccessible code as fast as teams can ship it.
The Trust Gap: Teams are confident in AI-generated code even as complaints climb
AudioEye also surveyed developers and business leaders on how much they trust AI-written code. The results show a gap between what they believe and what they are experiencing. While 81% say they are confident that the AI-generated code on their site meets accessibility standards, 73% report accessibility issues and complaints have increased since adopting AI.
Almost half (46%) have received a demand letter or lawsuit, and 71% of those respondents said AI tools were used on the pages receiving the complaint.
What this means for teams building with AI
None of this means AI and accessibility are incompatible. It means a tool trained on inaccessible web content cannot judge or fix its own accessibility. Organizations relying on LLMs alone for accessibility are accumulating legal exposure with every page they ship.
"AI is producing code faster than ever, and it's clear there is a false sense of security that AI tools write accessible, compliant code," said Kelly Georgevich, CEO of AudioEye. "AudioEye Intelligence, our proprietary dataset, is built on more than one million human reviews, billions of interactions, and years of testing with assistive technology. We have paired this intelligence with the latest in generative AI, allowing customers to ship accessible code at scale."
Methodology
AudioEye asked five AI tools (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, and Lovable) to each build three websites that followed WCAG 2.2 AA standards. AudioEye then scanned and tested the resulting 15 websites for accessibility issues like keyboard focus, dialog handling, form error announcements, and screen reader output. Each issue was then rated high, medium, or low severity based on impact to the end user and legal risk.
About AudioEye
AudioEye exists to ensure the digital future we build is accessible for people with disabilities and AI agents. AudioEye's comprehensive solution for over 129,000 customers combines industry-leading AI automation technology with expert fixes informed by the disability community. This powerful combination delivers industry-leading protection against lawsuits and readiness for AI agents. With 25 US patents, AudioEye's solution includes 24/7 accessibility monitoring, automated WCAG issue testing and fixes, expert testing, developer tools, and legal protection, empowering organizations to confidently create accessible digital experiences for all.
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SOURCE AudioEye, Inc.
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