A focused workshop around multimodal AI evaluation, accessibility-aware planning, and evidence use for real-world place information.
We provide details on the public workshop for the benchmark and challenge.
Click here to register for the workshop.
The Multimodal Accessibility Planning with AI Models (MAP) Workshop is a half-day workshop and will take place on October 25, 2026 as part of the 28th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS).
Note: times below include am and pm slots (pending confirmation on whether the workshop will be in the morning or afternoon)
We are aiming for diversity in gender, disability, and other protected characteristics as well as geographical background (specifically looking to welcome participants beyond the US and Europe) at the workshop, both among the contributors (keynote speakers and panelists) and the participants.
The organising team consists of a mix of representatives from academia and industry:
We invite participation in the ASSETS 2026 "Multimodal Accessibility Planning with AI Models" (MAP) Workshop to be held on October 25, 2026 in Porto, Portugal. The workshop is linked to a challenge funded by Google.org on multimodal AI models - specifically, Large Language Models (LLMs) with vision input support such as multimodal versions of GPT, Gemini, or Qwen - assisting persons with disabilities in planning an accessible activity in the real world, such as finding a doctor, a museum, or a supermarket that fulfill certain accessibility requirements. The aim of the challenge is to assess the safety and usefulness of model responses. The challenge runs in July/August 2026.
The workshop will consist of a presentation of the challenge results via posters as well as three keynote talks and a panel discussion as well as a break-out session aimed at planning the next iteration of the challenge in a community-driven manner. Preference is given to participants with demonstrated prior exposure to the topic and potential to contribute to the diversity of the workshop. We will seek to publish the motivation statements on the workshop website prior to the event. We explicitly welcome participants from both academia and industry/accessibility practice and from all over the world.
To apply for the workshop, please submit a motivation statement by email to Sarah Ebling at ebling@cl.uzh.ch.
The motivation statement should be either:
Applications must be received by Thursday, August 27, 2026, 11:59 p.m. Anywhere on Earth (AoE, UTC-12:00). We expect to notify applicants by Thursday, September 3, 2026.
Press this button to register for the workshop:
For questions about access requirements for participating in the workshop, please contact Jason Armitage at jason.armitage@uzh.ch.
Please contact us as early as possible so that we can plan appropriate support.