Yes, you read it correctly. Microsoft developed a new iPhone app called Seeing AI which can describe the surroundings for blind people. It can turn visual experience to audible experience.
But, wait. Does that really work? Can this AI(Artificial Intelligence) really help blind in experience the world?
I think Microsoft has done really well. You download the app from their website and start using it. This really is an intelligent app. All you have to do is pointing your camera at anything you wanted to know about. That’s it, the app describes it.
Can it really sense what’s happening in the surrounding?
Surprisingly, it does. It does really well in a lot of situations. I think it’s a game changer for blind people.
What can Microsoft’s Seeing AI app do?
1.It can recognize saved friends
You have to pre-define your friends in the app. It does recognize them. Not just recognizing, it can even tell you at what distance they are, what are they wearing and their emotions…etc
2.It reads text that is present in any paper or book
3.This App can scan the product and describe it.
4.Seeing AI can describe photos from the web, Facebook…
5.It can even describe the scene(experimental).
Right now this app is available only for iPhone. Microsoft didn’t announce dates for Android and other countries. The app’s basic functions like reading a text document and recognizing people are done within the device itself. No internet connection is required for these basic functions. so, they are really quick and comes handy when there is no stable internet connection.
But, for some actions like scanning the bar code and describing the entire scene…etc, internet connection is necessary. The Officials of the company are talking more about the speed at which it can deliver the responses. They said that it can give you results in milliseconds.