Since 2015, Be My Eyes has worked to connect our 6.9 million volunteers to users to assist them with everyday tasks. Our mission is to make the world more accessible for people who are blind or have low vision, which is why, seven months ago, our team began working with the blind community to incorporate AI into the existing Be My Eyes platform. Since then, over 19,000 blind and low-vision beta testers contributed to the design and function of our new AI feature.

Today we are thrilled to announce that Be My AI is officially entering an open beta phase for iOS users and in coming weeks will be available for hundreds of thousands of Be My Eyes users worldwide.

We’ll start releasing Be My AI to all our existing iPhone users this week. The full roll-out will take a few weeks, so be sure to keep your app updated so you will have access to Be My AI as soon as it is available to you.

How to access and use Be My AI

Using Be My AI in your everyday life is quick and simple. Once you have access, open the Be My Eyes app, click on the ‘Be My AI’ tab, and take a picture. Be My AI will give you a detailed description about it, and you can chat and ask Be My AI further questions to get more information. If you like what Be My AI described, you can send its response and photo to others, or use its description in social media.

And don’t worry – if Be My AI can’t answer all your questions, if you want to check its results, or if you just need a little more description than Be My AI can provide or crave the magic and humanity of working with people, you still can easily reach one of our dedicated volunteers, just like before. They will always be there, in 150 languages all across the globe.

If you want to learn more about Be My AI and how to use it at its best, we have collected the most common questions (and answers!) in our Help Center. Make sure to check them out!

When to use Be My AI

You can use Be My AI 24/7 in all those situations when you want quick visual assistance without necessarily calling a human volunteer. Be My AI is perfect for all those circumstances when you want a quick solution or you don’t feel like talking to another person to get visual assistance. You may be amazed that Be My AI knows more than just what’s in the photo – just ask for more context and discover what it can tell you.

Be My AI also will give deaf-blind users a new way to get information if they use, for example, a braille display. Be My AI’s written responses are user-selectable in 29 languages.

For all of its advantages, though, Be My AI does not and should not replace a white cane, guide dog, or other mobility aid that provides for safe travel.

“I have been using it in several ways: taking my own photos particularly of images in magazines, on Twitter where very few people add descriptions or alt text and on WhatsApp where my family send me photos in groups all the time without any context. I was unsure about using Chat GPT which I’d seen many blind people using on social media, but when I saw that you were adding it I thought I’d give it a go!” – Sarah, Be My AI User

Over the past few months, our blind and low vision beta testers have experimented with Be My AI and discovered many different ways to use it throughout your day from learning how to use new breakfast products in the morning to making sure your light is off before going to bed! We have collected a bunch of real life examples directly from their experiences to inspire you and show you what Be My AI can do:

• Get information about a popcorn box and access to cooking directions.
• Read buttons on your dishwasher, washing machine, and other appliances with flat-screen controls.
• Re-organize your wardrobe or create the perfect outfit for a night out.
• Read instructions to set up your new laptop, smartphone, or tablet.
• Read comics, books, and magazines.
• Set up your Apple TV, Chromecast, or Amazon Fire Stick.
• Find something that you accidentally dropped on the floor.
• Get descriptions of memes from Facebook, X, Instagram and Mastodon.
• Take pictures of paintings, statues, and other artwork to get detailed descriptions of them. You can also get pictures from your holidays and special events described to you.
• Read the number of your bus at the bus station, or check out the departures screen at the train station or at the airport.
• Read the menu at the restaurant and get relevant information from your receipt.
• Translate text from dozens of different languages.
• Prepare for a university exam or get assistance with your homework.
• Check your makeup and identify beauty products while getting ready to go out.

“There aren’t enough words in the world to express what a truly miraculous, life-changing, day-making thing Be My Eyes and especially Be My AI is. Now I’m actually looking forward to organizing my closet because I won’t need human help. It describes my clothes in a way that makes them all sound gorgeous!” – Aimee, Be My AI User

What is an “Open Beta”?

“Open beta” status just means we are opening up Be My AI to all our iOS users while we continue developing it and making it better based on your feedback. AI image recognition is complicated, and AI in general is still a rapidly evolving technology just in its infancy. Be My Eyes – and OpenAI – are constantly learning how to improve it.

There will be hiccups. Things may break. You may still get hallucinations, occasional wrong answers, and experience some frustrations. But we will be here to fix the breaks and keep making things better. So please be patient, and keep telling us about your experiences, positive and negative, so we can make this the best possible tool for you.

What’s next: Android

We started closed beta testing Be My AI for Android devices last week, and our goal is to move it to broadly-available open beta status in the coming months. You can already sign up on the waitlist for Android beta testing directly in the Be My Eyes app.

Here at Be My Eyes, the pace of innovation is accelerating. To keep updated about Be My AI, make sure to follow Be My Eyes on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon and TikTok.