By Simon Bonenfant
Since early 2023, it seems that everyone has been talking about Artificial Intelligence, or AI. However, not everyone has been talking about what AI can do for the blind and visually impaired population. In this article, I’ll outline 10 AI tools that I’ve found to be extremely helpful for the blind and visually impaired communities. This article will be broken up into two different sections. The first five items will be blindness specific tools, and the last five will be tools that were not designed directly for the blind but would still be useful.
- Be My Eyes and the Be My AI Virtual Volunteer
Many of our customers are familiar with the Be My Eyes application. Founded in 2015, Be My Eyes offers many options to help the blind perform daily tasks and better understand their environment. Using a smartphone, blind patrons can be connected within seconds to one of millions of sighted volunteers, waiting to assist with any possible activity. Through the camera of the phone, volunteers and blind patrons interact through a live feed, broadcasting video as well as audio.
Additionally, users can now setup a trusted group of family and friends that they’d like to receive assistance from. When the need arises, the blind user can call their family or friend group and be connected to the first available person for seamless productivity.
Another feature of the app is called the specialized help section. This is an option where blind patrons can be connected to a myriad of companies, particularly if they have a dedicated accessibility department. One of those companies happens to be Accessible Pharmacy!
As if these features weren’t exciting enough, probably the most popular is the newly released virtual volunteer. Using AI powered technologies, blind users are able to import a picture from their phone, or take a picture of their live surroundings, and receive a detailed visual description of what is in the picture. Furthermore, users are able to interact with the chat bot, asking follow-up questions to drill deeper or correcting inaccuracies.
Want to learn more? Go to the Be My Eyes Website, download the IOS or Android apps, or check out these two podcast episodes, published by Talk Description to Me, which show the app in action, as well as give an interesting comparison of human verses AI description.
2. The Aira App and the newly released Access AI
Many of our customers may also be familiar with the Aira app, both for IOS and Android. Similar to Be My Eyes, Aira offers another option for visual interpreting. However, unlike Be My Eyes, customers called Aira explorers, pay a monthly subscription fee to access trained, employed visual interpreters. However, there are an increasing number of free environments that offer the service, called Aira Access locations.
Aira has also launched an AI component to their apps, called Access AI, which is now free to all users, regardless of subscription. In addition to assistance from AI, customers have the option to verify the information with a live visual interpreter, who is granted access to all of the chat history in a particular session. This is just a brief summary of the many powerful use cases and applications for this outstanding service. To read the full announcement, visit this Press Release. To learn more about the Aira corporation, visit their Website.
3. Picture Smart AI, developed by Freedom Scientific, makers of the Jaws Screen reader
For those who would prefer using an image description service on a computer over a smartphone, there’s also an option for that as well. Called picture smart AI, this is a newly added feature updating the already existing utility within the Jaws for Windows screen reader called Picture Smart. When the feature was launched in 2019, it was primarily used to translate documents that were formatted as pictures, an extension of OCR, or “Optical Character Recognition.” However, with the help of AI, users are now able to either import existing photos from their computer, or take live screen shots of their computer screen, and get instant access to a description of every icon on that screen. The service also provides two options for getting descriptions, either from Chat GPT from Open AI, or Claude from Anthropic. Read the Press Release to learn more.
I’ve found this feature incredibly useful, both for what it can already do, as well as future possibilities. One thing that this feature helps with is getting descriptions of pictures while shopping. For example, on amazon.com, users can take a picture of a product they may want to buy and get detailed information about the esthetic look. Additionally, Freedom Scientific is developing this feature in Zoom, so when someone shares their screen, picture smart would read the image being presented. Click Here to listen to a tutorial of this feature.
4. VizLens IOS App
VizLens is an application that presents a solution for inaccessible appliances and kiosks. Using crowdsourcing technology, a blind user is able to upload a picture of an inaccessible appliance to a group of volunteers who receive the picture. Within minutes, the blind user is sent a digital map of the item, enabling them to use Voiceover to interact with the item, learning where every control is on the iPhone screen, mirroring the screen of the inaccessible device. Once the information is received, the app will store the interactive map, along with the picture, on the users phone so they don’t have to re-engage the process every time.
You can read a review of the app on the Access World Website.
5. Oko AI Copilot for the Blind
Released in mid-2023, this is an IOS app that uses the smartphone’s camera to detect and announce the status of a street crossing. Similar to talking pedestrian signals, the app uses audible beeps, as well as vibrations alerting users when it is safe or unsafe to cross the street. You can download the app to try it for yourself or visit the Oko Website.
6. Chat GPT Voice and Image Recognition.
While several of the AI apps I’ve already discussed use Chat GPT as the foundation, the original Chat GPT has been releasing updates consistently, many of which are useful to the blind and visually impaired community. It is now possible to speak continuously to the chat bot, and it will respond to you, similar to other virtual assistants. Additionally, you can point your camera at an image, and receive written or auditory responses, with context sensitive help. Read the Open AI press release Here.
7. Call Annie, Your Always Available AI Friend.
Keeping with the theme of conversational chat bots, Call Annie is another good option. Similar to Chat GPT, but only with voice prompts, Call Annie offers an IOS and Android app, as well as a phone number that anyone can call to use the service. The idea of this app is that everything is conversational and quick. You can ask questions and learn about pretty much anything. The possibilities are endless! To try Annie out for yourself, download the app from the App store or Play Store, or visit the Website.
8. Read AI Meeting notes.
This is an application I find extremely useful in my professional work. Read AI works with many applications such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, etc. The app joins as a participant, records the meeting, and then sends a perfectly formatted document within an hour, summarizing everything that was said at the meeting. Additionally, it can also generate summaries of message conversations as well, such as in an email thread. You can learn more and sign-up for a free account on the Read AI Website.
9. Adobe Firefly Image Generator
This is a program that allows the user to describe an image they want to be generated via text, and Firefly will offer several options of images to choose from. I could see this being very useful for content creators in the blindness field, who can’t see the images they need to create. With the prompts coming all from text descriptions, there is the possibility to give very detailed feedback of how the image should look, leveling the playing field between blind and sighted counterparts. Learn more about how the process works by visiting their Website.
10. Restream Text to Audio Conversion.
Finally, I’d like to highlight one of many services that will take audio files and convert them into text. I find this to be so helpful for productivity and accuracy. For those that use recorded notes, this program will transcribe the entire audio file into a text document, with the format of your choosing. I could see this being very useful for blind people especially, for those that want to verify spelling of words spoken auditorily, write down someone’s phone number, grab a written description of visual content that was said aloud, etc. As I’ve stated several times throughout this guide, the possibilities are really endless!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this guide of the top 10 helpful AI tools. At Accessible Pharmacy Services, we not only offer our customers healthcare solutions, but we also provide tips for living a more independent life as a whole. Some of these services can help with your healthcare independence journey, while others can boost your overall productivity, and others you may find to be interesting possibilities of what’s currently offered and where we’re heading in the AI landscape.
I’d also like to note that a lot of these apps are just one of many that offer similar solutions. If you don’t like how one works, there are probably others to choose from, and a quick google search will get what you want accomplished. At Accessible Pharmacy Services, while we love AI, we also love human interaction. Give us a call or visit our website to get in touch and learn what we can do for you!
About the Author:
Simon Bonenfant serves as a performer and Outreach Coordinator for Hire Musicians, LLC. He works as a Consultant for Philly Touch Tours, the Audio Description Learning Network, and serves as the chairperson of the Accessibility Cohort of Greater Philadelphia. He also co-hosts the Blind Abilities and White Canes Connect podcasts.