All I Want for Christmas is a Better Alt Text – Part 1
January 14, 2026
Earlier this year, I built the backend for the local alt text generation feature in Firefox. Nearly half of the images on the web still lack alternative text, creating a major accessibility barrier for screen reader users. The goal of this work is straightforward but ambitious: generate high-quality alt text entirely on device, preserving user privacy while improving access to visual content.
There has been vocal pushback against Firefox for adopting AI in the browser, even as is currently the case. Experimental adoption often behind feature flags or otherwise not widely available.
Here I think is one very powerful and positive use case. One that I use myself, though not in Firefox, but in tools that I have built. And that is the generation of alt text for images that lack them. Firefox is working to implement this directly in the browser. Helping maintain a user’s privacy, and lowering the impact on resources in the environment. Two things that people are often highly critical about when it comes to AI.
Here Tarek Ziadé it talks about the process of implementing these in the browser. As we’ve covered elsewhere, various browser developers are looking at similar approaches to incorporating AI models in the browser directly and exposing them through APIs. I think this is an excellent use case for the technology.
