Microsoft's Seeing AI

An AI assist to See With Context

For seniors with a serious eye disease (e.g. cataracts, glaucoma, or macular degeneration) or low vision issues (partially blocked or cloudy vision), apps like Vhista, Aria, and TapTapSee use artificial intelligence and cloud-based processing to verbally describe a user's environment.   They work great for identifying objects or reading text, but they're often slow to identify things and can't always provide context.

Seeing AI from Microsoft is an experimental app that offers similar features, but provides far more context (e.g. instead of stating "there is a man in front of you", Seeing AI provides specific details that "an older gentleman with a cane is standing in a park 3 feet in front of you").  The app can also discern physical features (facial characteristics, expressions, age), environment (scene, surroundings, and lighting), color, distinguish personal objects, and more.

The app is available for free in both the Apple iOS and Google Play Store and supports 18 languages including English, Spanish, French, Japanese, Italian, Turkish, Dutch, and German.  Although Seeing AI is still considered a research project, its ability to provide contextual details is a big step forward in helping seniors overcome low vision challenges and increasing their opportunity to remain independent.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai/seeing-ai

Tags: #SeeingAI, #Microsoft, #lowvision, #Vhista, #Aria, #TapTapSee, #BemyAI