Lewis Plunkett“AI has revolutionized my daily life,” says Louise Plunkett, from Norwich.
Ms Plunkett has a genetic eye illness known as Stargardt illness, a uncommon situation that causes progressive imaginative and prescient loss, which she says “affects everything I do”.
“I can't recognize people, not even my husband or my children. When my children were little, I had to teach them how to come to me when I met them on the school playground.”
Ms Plunkett is snug with digital instruments – her enterprise advises corporations on how to make sure their on-line content material is appropriate for the visually impaired group.
She has used providers like Alexa, Google Home, and Siri over time to assist with duties like setting alarms and checking the climate.
Now she's discovering an assistant known as Be My AI helpful.
The app makes use of ChatGPT to generate detailed descriptions of pictures after which learn them.
“I'm a pretty stubborn person,” says Ms Plunkett. “I don't like asking for help or admitting that I need help, so using AI tools is useful for things when other humans aren't around.” Are.”
She says she can use it to check which women's toilet is which, or to read the ingredients on food packaging, or to read a letter.
However, he feels that AI can typically be hit and miss. “The downside with AI is that sometimes it gives you too much detail. Sometimes you just want the basics of what's in front of you, but it will go above and beyond, and convey mood and emotion.
“For example, it might say 'a swirling carpet that evokes memories of times gone by'. That seems like it's a step too far.”
Be My AI was developed by Danish firm Be My Eyes. Its core service puts human volunteers in touch with their clients. Through mobile phones, volunteers will explain what is going on to the person with vision problems.
However, some of its 600,000 users are turning to its AI tools for help, says chief technology officer Jesper Hviring Henriksen.
“We have a woman who was one of our first users 10 years ago and within the first six months [of releasing Be My AI]He made over 600 image descriptions.
They're also finding that people are using the app in ways they never imagined. “We are finding people who are using it to check photos that have been sent to them on WhatsApp groups,” he says.
“Maybe they don't call another human every time to ask about a picture sent to a WhatsApp group, but they do use AI.”
through my eyesOn the place it might go sooner or later, he says dwell streaming video – during which the know-how describes buildings and actions round them – could possibly be the world they go into. “This is going to be a game changer. It's like there's a little person sitting in your shirt pocket all day telling you what's going on.”
Be My Eyes, which is free to users, makes money by signing up companies for its paid-for directory service, where they can provide information and numbers to the blind and low vision community.
Mr Henriksson says AI will not replace the need for human connection.
“At Be My Eyes, people are still choosing to call to volunteer. The blind population in the Western world is generally not young when they begin to experience vision loss…it is skewed more towards the elderly population and it [AI] Later the complexity may increase further. “Humans are faster and potentially more accurate.”
we goOther companies also have products to help visually impaired people.
With voice assistant feature, WeWalk is an AI-powered walking stick that detects obstacles and provides accessible navigation and live public transport updates.
Connecting to a smartphone app with in-built mapping, it can tell users where points of interest are, including where the nearest café is in over 3,000 cities.
“The cane is very important to us, it helps with navigation and is a very important symbol because it shows our independence and autonomy,” says Gamze Sofuoglu, WeStroll's product supervisor.
“Our latest version helps users navigate Kane through voice commentary, for example when you say take me home or to the nearest café it can start navigating, and you can ask about public transport. You can get information in. You don't need to touch your phone. It provides independence to blind and low vision people.”
Ms Sofuoglu, who’s blind, says she has been utilizing it in cities she not too long ago visited, Lisbon and Rome.
Robin Spinks, head of inclusive design on the RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People), who has low imaginative and prescient, is a big supporter of AI – he makes use of AI most days.
For instance, he turns to ChatGPT to help him in his workflow, giving him a abstract of developments in sure areas concerning work, and even to assist him plan a paddle board journey, And Google turns to Gemini AI instruments to assist detect objects.
Last 12 months was all about conversational AI and chat GPT, he says. He now argues that 2024 is the 12 months of what he calls “Multimodal AI.”
He provides: “He can show videos and pictures, and be able to extract meaningful information and help you in an exciting way.”
He factors in direction of Google Gemini. “For example, with it you can record meetings and it helps you give voice labels and descriptions of meetings, it's really helpful and it's all about making people's lives easier.”
Mr Spinks says AI has been transformative for people who find themselves blind or have low imaginative and prescient.
“I sympathize with people who are really afraid of AI, but when you have a disability, if something can really add value and be helpful then that's great. The benefits are too great to ignore.”
With inputs from BBC
