AI-Driven ADA Claims Are About to Accelerate

For years, organizations focused on lawsuits and court outcomes, but that's not where today’s exposure sits.

Your biggest risk begins the moment you receive a demand letter. Once someone presents evidence that your website is failing, your options narrow quickly.

1. Settle
2. Defend

It's extremely difficult to defend a case when the claimant holds clear evidence. Defending typically requires specialist support and between $35,000 and $45,000 upfront, before results are even considered.

Self-claims are increasing, and tools make them easy

There's been a noticeable rise in ADA complaints filed by individuals without any legal representation. A recent Accessibility.Works article, “DIY AI Plaintiffs Flood Courts,” reports that Seyfarth Shaw, a well-established U.S. law firm known for its expertise in ADA Title III litigation, now estimates around 40 percent of ADA Title III filings are pro se. This is no longer a marginal trend.

Although these claimants are not experts, they don't need an attorney or technical knowledge. They rely on tools. A typical workflow is simple: enter a URL into an automated checker, receive a failure report, attach it to a templated claim, and send the demand.

And this is only the beginning.

Fully automated AI-backed claims are coming, likely as early as Q1

There's no technical barrier stopping the next wave of automation. At the current pace of development, we'll soon see tools that automatically identify the exact code locations where failures occur, map each issue directly to WCAG, capture screenshots or excerpts as evidence, compare issues against six to ten similar past claims, and export everything into a ready-to-send demand letter.

At that point, anyone will be able to generate a claim package that looks credible and authoritative. The complexity that once prevented individuals from filing their own claims will be removed. When this happens, the number of claims reaching court may remain small (around 7%), but the number of demand letters received could rise significantly.

What this means for your organization

If a claimant can generate a detailed evidence pack with a click, your organization must be ready.

• You cannot rely on vendor assurances alone

• “We didn’t know” will not hold up

• Outdated audits create false confidence

• Generic badges and scores do not protect you

• Widgets do not protect you either

As the Accessibility.Works article bluntly states:

“Widgets don’t work. They never have. The 22.6% lawsuit rate proves it.”

Overlays and widgets don't reduce risk. In many cases, they increase it because placing a widget on your site demonstrates you already knew about the issue and opted for a cosmetic shortcut instead of real remediation.

Three steps you should take now

1. Confirm your actual standing independently

You need a factual, external view of your current exposure, not assumptions or outdated reports. AAAnow.ai, sister company of AAAtraq, provides an immediate, independent, evidence-based snapshot of your real accessibility position. You can get a free check at www.AAAnow.ai/confirm. Alternatively, contact lshilstone@AAAnow.ai for more information.

2. Review your contracts

Sales promises often don't match the terms and conditions. Many organizations discover too late that suppliers never accepted responsibility for accessibility. You need clarity on who's responsible, what's covered, and what support you can expect if a claim arrives.

3. Put the fundamentals in place and be able to show them

You don’t need to be perfect, but you must be able to demonstrate that you are:

• Identifying issues

• Prioritising what matters

• Remediating and re-checking

• Tracking progress over time

Documented, active effort can make a meaningful difference when a demand surfaces.

Your best protection is simple

Take control of your accessibility position before someone else’s AI does it for you.

Further reading: DIY AI Plaintiffs Flood Courts (Accessibility.Works) https://www.accessibility.works/blog/ai-generated-accessibility-ada-lawsuits-diy/ (opens in a new window)