Watch: This app may one day allow the blind to 'see' what's around them, through verbal descriptions
Still in its development phase, the app is being piloted by a visually-impaired Microsoft engineer.
If it delivers, this app could be one of the biggest breakthroughs for the blind. It can "see" on behalf of the visually impaired and then tell them what the person would have seen.
In March this year at the Build Conference, Microsoft showcased an intelligent and handy app for the visually impaired – the "Seeing AI". Built by a blind Microsoft software engineer, Saqib Shaikh, it's an app that helps “you know who and what is around you.”
The app is available on a smartphone and also on the “Pivothead smart glasses” Shaikh says (video above). You can either take a picture with your phone and the app will then describe it to you, or you can tap of the side of the glasses to do the same things.
Explains Shaikh: “The app can describe the general age and gender of the people around me and what their emotions are, which is incredible.”
Besides describing one’s surroundings, the app can also be used to read. Shaikh uses it to read a menu at a restaurant, “Years ago, this was science fiction. I never thought it would be something you could actually do, but artificial intelligence is improving at an ever faster rate,” he says.