Automated Intelligent Guided Testing

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Overview

Automated Intelligent Guided Testing (IGT) uses artificial intelligence to automate accessibility assessments, significantly reducing the time and effort required to complete comprehensive accessibility tests. Instead of manually answering questions and performing actions throughout the IGT workflow, AI analyzes your page and automatically provides answers based on what it observes. You then review AI's decisions, make any necessary corrections, and complete your test with confidence.

This human-centric approach to AI-powered testing ensures you maintain control over your results while benefiting from automation. By reviewing AI's reasoning for each decision, you gain insights into the accessibility characteristics of your page and can verify the accuracy of the findings.

Key Benefits

Save time: AI automatically completes IGT steps that would otherwise require manual input
Increase confidence: Review AI's reasoning to understand and validate each decision
Maintain control: Correct any AI assessments before finalizing your results

How Automated IGTs Work

Start an IGT: Enable automated IGT mode by checking the "Enable automated IGT" checkbox
AI analyzes your page: AI examines the page elements, taking screenshots and gathering context to make informed decisions
Review results: AI presents its findings organized by element, showing pass/fail status and reasoning for each assessment
Make corrections: Edit any AI decisions that need adjustment to ensure accuracy
Complete your test: Finalize the IGT with verified results that reflect both AI automation and your expert review

AI Credits

Automated IGT runs consume AI credits from your enterprise's monthly allocation. Traditional IGT workflows and existing AI classification features (such as ML-suggested roles for interactive elements, keyboard tab stops, table headers, and form label/input pairing) remain available as part of your axe DevTools Pro subscription and do not consume AI credits.

For more information about AI credit management, usage tracking, and purchasing additional credits, see the AI Credits documentation.

Prerequisites

axe DevTools Extension (Pro) or axe DevTools for Web subscription
AI Features enabled in Settings (Settings > AI Features)
Available AI credits in your enterprise allocation

Running an Automated IGT

Starting an Automated IGT

Open axe DevTools Extension
Select a saved test or create a new one
Choose the Interactive Elements IGT you'd like to run
On the start screen, check the Enable automated IGT checkbox (will be disabled if no AI credits remain)
Click Start to begin the automated analysis

AI will automatically analyze the page and complete the IGT steps. Depending on the complexity of your page, this may take several seconds to complete.

Reviewing AI Results

After AI completes its analysis, you'll see a review screen organized by element:

Element list: Each tested element appears as an expandable item showing overall pass/fail status
Individual checks: Within each element, individual checked rules (such as name, role, or state) show their own pass/fail status
AI reasoning: Each check displays Why AI made this recommendation, helping you understand the reasoning behind the assessment
Pass/Fail indicators:
- Element fails if one or more checks fail
- Element passes if all checks pass

Making Corrections

To correct an AI decision:

Locate the element and check you want to modify
Click Edit result for the given check
Update the answer or selection
Results update immediately to reflect your changes

Your corrections ensure the final results accurately represent the accessibility state of your page.

Completing the Test

Once you've reviewed AI's assessments (making any necessary edits):

Click Finish to complete the IGT
View your comprehensive test results in the issues view
Export results or share reports as needed

Automated Interactive Elements IGT

The Interactive Elements IGT is the first IGT to support being automated. In this IGT, AI automatically assesses the accessible name, role, and state of interactive elements on your page.

What AI Automates

For each interactive element, AI automatically determines:

Accessible name: The text or label that identifies the element to assistive technologies
Role: The semantic meaning of the element (button, link, checkbox, etc.)
State: The current condition of the element (checked, expanded, pressed, etc.)

Settings

Automated IGTs respect your AI Features setting:

Navigate to Settings > AI-Powered Features
Ensure AI-Powered Features is enabled
When disabled, AI-Assisted mode will not be available for IGTs

Existing AI classification features (ML-suggested roles, keyboard tab stops, table headers, and form label/input pairing) continue to function according to your AI Features setting and do not consume AI credits.

Best Practices

Review carefully: While AI is highly accurate, always review results before finalizing, especially for complex or custom components
Understand reasoning: Read AI's explanations to gain insights into accessibility characteristics and validation logic
Establish baselines: Use automated mode for initial comprehensive tests, then leverage Auto Replay for regression testing
Monitor credits: Keep track of your enterprise's AI credit usage to ensure availability for critical testing periods
Provide corrections: When AI makes errors, correct them to ensure accurate results—this helps maintain the integrity of your accessibility testing program

Troubleshooting

Automated option is not available

Verify AI-Powered Features is enabled in Settings
Confirm your enterprise has available AI credits
Check that you have an active axe DevTools Extension (Pro) or axe DevTools for Web subscription

AI analysis is taking longer than expected

Complex pages with many elements require more processing time
Network conditions may affect AI analysis performance
Consider testing fewer elements when possible