AI is fueling a new generation of technologies helping people who live with disabilities.

Why it matters: The right technologies can be life-changing for people living with a disability and will be essential in supporting our aging population, as healthcare costs skyrocket.

• WHO estimates 1 in 6 people, or 1.3 billion globally, live with at least one "significant disability" — while the CDC calculates 1 in 4 American adults live with a disability.
• It's a huge market: Up to 3.5 billion people will need assistive products by 2050.
• Several companies showed off new products at this year's CES in Las Vegas.

What's happening: The new class of tech emerging is built on the experiences and data of people living with disabilities — and the hope is that it's more affordable and scalable than existing services.

• Guide dogs illustrate the challenge: They transform the life of a blind person, but with each dog costing around $50,000 to train, only roughly 1 in 1,000 people who are blind have a guide dog.

Zoom in: There's a boom in new services for the blind.

• A Romanian startup, dotLumen, offers a headset it calls ".lumen glasses," designed to replace the need for a guide dog or white cane. The company hopes to begin selling it as a registered medical device in the U.S. and Europe later this year.
• CEO Cornel Amariei tells Axios the headset uses a scaled-down version of the lidar computer vision technology that powers autonomous vehicles, offering "70% of the performance of a self-driving car."
• The headset guides users via vibrations — they follow the vibrations to remain clear of obstacles and other hazards.
• "We had a blind person running in the [CES] hall" while wearing it, Amariei said.
• Lumen's global database improves as each user's movements train the system and the headset can work without an internet connection.

Two products already on the market take different approaches.

• OrCam's MyEye device magnetically clips onto regular glasses and offers prompts to the wearer — it can recognize stored faces, describe what it's looking at and read text aloud.
• Ara Strap uses both ultrasound and light-based lidar sensors to scan its environment. Users strap it to their chest, and receive alerts about three levels of risk in their path — and they say they find it allows them to move faster than with alternative supports like white canes.

Smart garments are expanding the definition of assistive technology.

• "NeuroSkin" trousers stimulate patients' legs via electrodes controlled by artificial intelligence — an advance that could help people with a range of mobility difficulties, up to 20 million in the U.S., per the National Institute of Health.

Yes, but: Even breakthrough products have limitations.

• The dotLumen headset has a battery life of two hours — meaning it can fail in ways a guide dog wouldn't.
• With each of their devices costing several thousand dollars at market value, device makers tell Axios government subsidies are critical to ensure the products can reach most people who could benefit from them.

Agencies across the federal government are staring down dozens of deadlines laid out in President Biden's AI executive order, reports Ashley Gold and Marie Curi. from Axios Pro.

Why it matters: The agencies are already understaffed, underfunded and facing heavy regulatory burdens from previous EOs and laws in the tech and science policy space.

• Now they have to carry out a host of new tasks and make scores of hires to make good on a highly consequential EO, determining how the U.S. government will develop and use AI at a time when the technology is rapidly advancing.

Driving the news: Biden issued an executive order on the "Safe, Secure and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence" in October, instructing agencies to develop guidelines, conduct studies and engage in rulemaking.

Zoom in: The National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) carries the heaviest load for the EO, industry sources told Axios.

• That's partly because NIST has long been involved in AI, establishing the NIST AI Risk Management Framework in January 2023, laying early foundations for government and private companies.
• But the agency's facilities are crumbling and there's a nearly $900 million maintenance backlog.
• Sources pointed to a $1,000 fee companies must pay to join NIST's AI Safety Institute Consortium as a way the agency is trying to offset costs.

Agencies have been given the green light to hire more AI experts.

• But getting Silicon Valley engineers to come work for the government is already a challenge, says Chloe Autio, a tech and AI policy consultant who works with agencies and companies.
• The government could make this easier, says Jennifer O'Bryan, government affairs director of SPIE, a nonprofit for the optics and photonics industry.
• "It's great that the administration is recognizing the hidden jewel that the institute is by making them core to the goals of the EO, but Congress needs to make sure they have the funding necessary to complete their mission and growing responsibilities."

Yes, but: Some in industry say the OMB's draft implementation guidance may be unnecessarily resource-intensive and could undermine the executive order.

• Software and Information Industry Association president Chris Mohr and senior vice president Paul Lekas said in an email: "The White House should sharpen its demands on agencies and corresponding resource needs."

What's next: Lawmakers have until Feb. 2 to pass a Commerce, Science and related agencies appropriations bill before the current continuing resolution expires.

• It's possible another CR will be passed to keep agencies at their current funding levels; Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is moving ahead with plans to vote on a short-term CR next week.

A version of this story was published first on Axios Pro. Unlock more news like this by talking to our sales team.

• Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) called for an investigation into the recent hack of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's account on X. (Axios)
• Microsoft briefly unseated Apple as the most valuable U.S. company. Why? AI. (Axios)
• Hacker "researchers" broke into an AI chatbot used to hire fast food employees and found they were able to accept or reject job applicants and see sensitive information about customers. (404 Media)
• Casey Newton's Platformer announced it is leaving Substack because of the email newsletter platform's policy tolerating Nazi publishers as long as they don't directly advocate violence. (Platformer)
• Tradiing places: Apple said in a statement to Axios that Al Gore and James Bell will step down from its board of directors, while Wanda Austin will join. Austin is the former president and CEO of The Aerospace Corporation, where she was its first female and first African American chief executive.

I love snowplow-naming season.