Seeing Al, an app that explains to blind people the world around them.

Toni Codina on 19 July 2022

A free mobile application designed for people who are blind or visually impaired, based on Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Services technologies, which facilitates the recognition of the environment and audio description of people, objects and texts.

Seeing Al has several channels, including the reading of short texts through the camera, document recognition, identification of products in packaging and access to information such as expiration date or processing through barcode scanning, as well as facial and environmental recognition.

Person recognition allows a refined description of space, where it not only describes in a simple way the elements of a room (such as a chair and three people), but is able to tell which people are involved (e.g. family or friends). In addition, it also identifies the people in the photographs.

The design is inclusive and the testing process has actively involved people with disabilities through non-profit organizations around the world. It is an example of the benefits of co-design.

Characteristics of innovation

Lab, Bank of innovations, Disability, Independent living, New technological tool, Personalization of the service

Localización

70 countries, including Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, and Japan

Partners / Funders

ONCE, American Foundation for the Blind in New York

Genesis

Saqid Shaikh, an engineer in an artificial intelligence research team, lost his sight at the age of 7, and at the age of 10, when he was given a computer that spoke rudimentarily, he set himself the challenge of learning to program, a goal he has achieved at Microsoft, where he is working for greater accessibility and inclusion.