Are AI Built Websites Accessible? New Study Says No

Lots of business owners now build a site in an afternoon with an AI tool. It looks clean, it loads, and it seems done. So, are AI built websites accessible to people who use screen readers, keyboards or zoom? A study published on October 13, 2026 gives a pretty clear answer: not yet.

At Web Brick Studio we review a lot of sites that started life in an AI builder. The results of this study match what we see in real audits, so let us walk through what was found and what you can do about it.

What the study tested

Accessibility company AudioEye asked five AI coding tools, from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI and Lovable, to build three types of site each: a news site, an online store and a financial services site. Every prompt asked for WCAG 2.2 Level AA compliance. You can read the full write up here. One fair note: AudioEye sells accessibility services, so keep that in mind. The numbers are still hard to ignore.

The results in numbers

• All 15 sites failed WCAG Level A, the most basic level.
• Testers found 306 distinct issues, showing up more than 59,000 times.
• The AI sites averaged 55 issues per page, close to the 62 seen on the average website.
• 91% of issues were medium or high severity, and a third completely blocked a task.
• Online stores were the worst at 174 issues per page.
• 12 of 15 sites added a “skip to content” link, but none of them actually moved keyboard focus when clicked.

That last point says a lot. The AI knew what an accessible site should include. It just did not make it work.

Why AI tools miss accessibility

AI builders are trained to produce code that looks right. Accessibility is mostly about how a page behaves, not how it looks. Nearly half of the problems in the study only appeared during use: opening a menu, tabbing through a popup or submitting a form with an error.

Common issues we find in AI generated sites include:

• Buttons built from plain divs that a keyboard cannot reach
• Pop ups and cart drawers that trap focus or lose it completely
• Form errors that appear visually but are never announced to screen readers
• Low contrast grey text that looks stylish and is hard to read
• Images with missing or useless alt text like “image1”
• Headings chosen for size instead of structure

Why this matters for your business

First, the legal side. In the companion survey, 81% of people were confident their AI code met accessibility standards, yet 46% had received a complaint, demand letter or lawsuit. In the US, the UK and the EU, digital accessibility rules are being enforced more often, and online stores are a common target.

Second, money. If a shopper cannot open your size selector or complete checkout with a keyboard, you lose that sale. Many of these fixes also help everyone, including people on small phones or in bright sunlight.

Third, search. Clean headings, real buttons, labelled forms and good alt text help Google and AI search tools understand your pages too.

How to check and fix an AI built website

1. Run a free scan with a tool like WAVE or Lighthouse on your homepage and your most visited inner pages. Most AI search and ad traffic lands on inner pages, not the homepage.
2. Put your mouse away. Try to use the menu, search, cart and contact form with only the Tab, Enter and Escape keys.
3. Turn on a screen reader like VoiceOver or NVDA for five minutes. You will spot problems fast.
4. Fix the patterns, not just the pages. If the header menu is broken, it is broken everywhere. Fix it once in the component.
5. Get a manual review. Automated tools catch around a third of issues. A developer who knows accessibility catches the rest.

Frequently asked questions

Are AI built websites accessible by default?

Based on this study, no. Even when explicitly asked for WCAG AA, every AI tested produced sites that failed the most basic level.

Can an accessibility overlay plugin fix it?

Overlays can help in small ways, but they do not fix broken code underneath. Real fixes happen in the HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

Should I stop using AI to build my site?

Not necessarily. AI is fine for a first draft. Just plan for a proper review and fixes before launch, the same way you would proof read AI written text.

Get your site checked

Web Brick Studio builds custom websites, WordPress sites and Shopify stores with accessibility built in from the start, and we fix sites that were built with AI tools. If you want to know where your site stands, request a free website audit. You might also like our take on Shopify Canvas AI and AI website builders vs web developers.