Amplifying Impact with AI-Powered Storytelling: A Cornell Tech Case Study from the ‘Accessible Futures’ Panel
This case study examines how a single Cornell Tech panel was intentionally designed and extended using participatory, AI-supported storytelling methods. By combining structured listening, human facilitation, and AI-enabled synthesis, the session evolved into a set of accessible, policy-relevant knowledge assets that live beyond the event itself.
The work demonstrates how convenings can move beyond one-time moments to become durable systems for inclusion, sense-making, and shared understanding, with accessibility treated as a design principle rather than a post-event accommodation.
Watch the Panel Video
Case study by Elizabeth (Liz) Ngonzi
Founder & CEO, The International Social Impact Institute® | Board Member & Founding Ethics Chair, American Society for AI | Originator and Editor-in-Chief, AI for Humanity Platform and Anthology
Why This Summit, Why Now
1.3B people + aging population + $50B market
Scale of the community (1.3B + aging).
Market opportunity ($50B accessibility market).
Risk of performative vs real inclusion if policy & design don’t keep up.
Who This Case Study Is For
This case study is designed for leaders and practitioners who are shaping how AI, technology, and policy intersect with real-world impact, including:
Policymakers and civic leaders working on accessibility, technology, and governance
Technologists and product teams designing AI-enabled systems
Educators and researchers exploring participatory and ethical AI practices
Conveners and institutions seeking to extend the life and impact of live events
Organizations committed to accessibility as a design and strategy principle, not a compliance exercise
Meet Our Expert Panel
Panelists bringing perspectives from municipal governance, civic engagement, inclusive AI, and ethical innovation.
Arthur Jacobs
Digital Accessibility Coordinator at NYC Office of the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities
Benjamin Solotaire
Shaomei Wu
Elizabeth (Liz) Ngonzi, MMH '98
Founder/CEO of The International Social Impact Institute® and Board Member / Founding Chair of Ethics & Responsible AI Committee at American Society for AI
How We Used AskHumans in This Session — Four Steps in a Single Timeline
AskHumans enabled us to bring real community voices directly into the panel by gathering candid input before and during the session. The platform helped surface themes, shape the run-of-show, and generate actionable insights in real time.
Four steps in a single timeline:
Step 1 - Center Disability & Inclusion
We deployed the AskHumans study before and during the panel, inviting participants and our LinkedIn community to share reflections about accessibility, AI, and policy. This broadened the conversation beyond the room.
Step 2 - Capture Every Voice
AskHumans collected short voice and text submissions that revealed unfiltered perspectives on barriers, opportunities, and lived experiences—ensuring diverse insights informed our dialogue.
Step 3 - Inform and Innovate
The aggregated insights surfaced immediate themes and actionable ideas, which directly shaped the flow of the session and enriched the questions posed to panelists.
Step 4 - Curate and Deliver
The synthesized insights guided the development of the run-of-show, script, and questions. They also empowered the real-time demonstration of how participatory AI tools can elevate accessibility-focused policymaking.
Watch the Full Panel Recording
Experience the complete 55-minute Cornell Tech panel, Accessible Futures: Shaping Policy for Disability, Technology, and AI, featuring Arthur Jacobs, Benjamin Solotaire, Shaomei Wu, and moderator Elizabeth (Liz) Ngonzi.
This recording captures the full conversation—policy insights, lived-experience perspectives, real-time audience engagement using AskHumans, and concrete examples of how AI can advance (or hinder) accessibility.
From One Panel to Two Powerful New Formats — Created with NotebookLM
To make the insights from Accessible Futures more digestible and widely usable, NotebookLM transformed the full panel transcript and supporting materials into two new formats: an AI-generated podcast summary and an AI-designed infographic.
Both outputs distill complex ideas into accessible, high-value content — demonstrating how AI can amplify human expertise, elevate diverse voices, and extend the reach of in-person conversations.
Together, these formats show how AI-powered storytelling can turn a 60-minute live discussion into assets that educate, inspire, and drive continued engagement long after the event ends.
NotebookLM AI-Generated Podcast
This episode recaps Accessible Futures, where accessibility was reframed as both a human right and a rapidly expanding market shaped by more than 1.3 billion people with disabilities. Moderator Liz Ngonzi emphasizes that true inclusion requires designing with lived experience, not relying on compliance alone.
The panel also modeled participatory design through AskHumans, capturing audience reflections in real time. Featuring leaders from NYC government and AImpower.org, the conversation explores how AI and policy can move beyond minimum standards to deliver what the speakers call “lived inclusion.”
NotebookLM AI-Generated Video Overview
This video overview captures the opening context of Accessible Futures, where moderator Liz Ngonzi reframed accessibility as both a human right and a massive innovation opportunity. With more than 1.3 billion people worldwide living with disabilities and a projected $50B market for AI-powered accessibility, the session positioned inclusion as a strategic imperative—not an optional feature.
The overview also highlights how the panel used AskHumans, a conversational AI tool, to surface audience insights in advance. Those reflections revealed four guiding principles: build accessibility from the start, move beyond compliance, design with lived experience, and recognize accessibility as innovation done right.
NotebookLM AI-Generated Infographic
This infographic distills the panel’s core message: compliance isn’t inclusion. With the accessibility market expected to exceed $50B, innovation demands designing with disabled communities from the start and treating accessibility as strategy—not retrofit.
It highlights three principles that emerged from the panel: design WITH users, build accessibility in from the ground up, and refuse to launch inaccessible products. Together, they form a clear blueprint for achieving true lived inclusion.
A Transferable Model for Participatory, AI-Enabled Convenings
While this case study reflects a specific panel and community, the underlying approach is intentionally transferable.
The same participatory design principles can be applied to conferences, policy roundtables, classrooms, board sessions, and multi-stakeholder convenings.
By combining structured listening, human facilitation, and AI-supported synthesis, live conversations can become durable knowledge assets that continue to inform decision-making long after an event concludes.
What the Panel Said About Policy & Innovation
Across the discussion, six themes consistently emerged about how policy, community leadership, and design must work together to build truly accessible futures.
The Path Forward: The Accessible Futures Action Framework
1
Listen
Center the voices and lived experiences of people with disabilities in every AI and policy conversation.
2
Learn
Educate technologists, policymakers, and the broader public about accessibility needs and inclusive design principles.
3
Build
Create systems and policies that embed accessibility from the ground up—not as a retrofit or afterthought.
4
Advocate
Push for stronger standards, accountability, and ethical practices that ensure technology serves everyone equitably.
5
Lead
Champion inclusive innovation within your organization and community to drive lasting, systemic change.
Share Your Voice — Help Shape the Conversation!
Scan to Participate
Join our AskHumans Conversational AI study "Listening to Build Accessible Futures."
Voice or Text
Share your quick reflection on how AI and policy can advance accessibility for all.
Inform Discussion
Your insights will help shape future inclusive innovation.

The study is fully anonymous. You don't need to share your email, and your data will never be sold. To access the resulting report and insights, connect with me on LinkedIn (@LizNgonzi).
About This Work
This case study reflects Liz Ngonzi's broader work designing human-centered, AI-enabled convenings and knowledge systems that bridge lived experience, institutional decision-making, and responsible technology use.
It is part of an ongoing practice focused on participatory design, ethical AI, and accessible storytelling across education, policy, and innovation contexts.
THANK YOU
Harnessing AskHumans, Canva Magic Studio, ChatGPT, Gamma.app, NoteBook LM, Otter.ai, and Perplexity