New team takes over the US Web Design System

A new team has taken control of the U.S. Web Design System, the set of shared design tools used to build many American government websites, and plans to rely heavily on AI to check whether sites are accessible to disabled people.

The change, which began in early September, has alarmed accessibility experts.

What is the USWDS?

The U.S. Web Design System, or USWDS, is an open-source collection of design components and guidance run by the General Services Administration. Federal agencies use it to build websites that look consistent, work well on phones and can be used by people with disabilities, including those who use screen readers.

A new team

The new team is led by Ryan Parker, an AI engineer at the Treasury, and Sam Corcos, the Treasury's chief information officer, who has taken on additional leadership roles at the GSA. The former programme lead, Anne Petersen, was placed on administrative leave and later removed from the project's code repository.

The new leadership removed contributors from the project's GitHub repository, limited or locked discussion threads and deleted some posts.

AI testing

The team has said it plans to "automate as much accessibility testing as possible" using AI code review tools, including OpenAI's Codex and CodeRabbit.

Experts worried

Accessibility specialists have warned that automated tools cannot catch every problem. Matt Henry, a former engineering lead on the USWDS, has said that only about 30 per cent of accessibility testing can be reliably automated. Sheri Byrne-Haber, an accessibility strategist who founded VMware's accessibility programme, said automated tools left in complete control tend to miss about half of accessibility violations.

Why it matters

Government websites are often the only way to reach essential services such as benefits, tax and healthcare. If they are not accessible, disabled people can be shut out. In the UK, the Government Digital Service runs a similar design system for GOV.UK, and public sector websites are required by law to meet accessibility standards.