Microsoft is developing a promising application to help blind people see the world around them like they have never before.
During the Build 2016 conference, Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella made the most impact as he showed off its Seeing AI app for the first time. It is accompanied with a new video of a Microsoft blind engineer using the smart glasses to “see” the world in a different perspective. Using a smartphone camera and or a pair of pivothead smart glasses, the Seeing AI app can identify things in an environment together with the help of Microsoft’s Project Oxford technology. It is used to recognize people, objects, even restaurant menus, and even emotions to provide the concept of the things in a surrounding.
The major innovation is still not available and still in development however it is making its way to bring hope to the blind. At the very end of its keynote, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella emphasized that he wants technology to enhance the ways humans communicate. Though Microsoft has introduced different AIs, the framework behind it still needs the help of developers to continue improving on what has already been built.
The Seeing AI app is a prime example where technology can and has truly impacted the way humans live. The image analysis processing, cognitive reasoning and speech intelligence for the blind is now possible erasing the fact that it was once a science fiction.
