Humans aren’t electronics

August 26, 2026 - 03:09

The latest wave of artificial intelligence is being built into prosthetic limbs, voice aids, and assistive devices with an ambitious goal: to help people with disabilities move, speak, and work more naturally than ever before. These smart prosthetics can learn a user's gait, predict intended movements, and even generate speech from neural signals. It is an exciting frontier, and for many, it feels like a long-awaited breakthrough.

But there is a quiet problem hiding in that progress. As these devices become more connected and more dependent on software, the people who use them are increasingly at the mercy of the companies that make them. A firmware update can change how a limb responds. A cloud service can go down, leaving a voice assistant silent. A company can decide to discontinue support for an older model, turning a life-changing tool into a paperweight.

The issue is not whether the technology works. It is about who holds the keys. Right now, the development of AI-driven prosthetics is largely shaped by market incentives, not by the needs and rights of the users themselves. There is no guarantee that a device will remain accessible, repairable, or even usable over time. And when a person's ability to walk or speak depends on a proprietary system, the power imbalance is stark.

We cannot simply trust that tech companies will act in the best interest of disabled users out of goodwill. There needs to be a framework for accountability. That means open standards for data and software, clear rights for users to repair or modify their own devices, and legal protections against sudden changes in service. It also means involving disabled people directly in the design and governance of these technologies, not just as testers, but as decision-makers.

AI-equipped prosthetics are a remarkable achievement. But they will only be truly liberating if the people who rely on them are not treated as passive consumers. Human agency is not a feature to be added later. It has to be built in from the start.