Seeing AI

Last updated

Seeing AI
Developer(s) Microsoft
Initial releaseJuly 12, 2017;6 years ago (2017-07-12)
Stable release
4.0.1 / 19 February 2021;2 years ago (2021-02-19) [1]
Operating system Android, iOS, iPadOS
Size 302.9  MB [1]
Available in16 languages [1]
List of languages
English, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
Type
License Proprietary software
Website www.microsoft.com/ai/seeing-ai

Seeing AI is an artificial intelligence application developed by Microsoft for iOS. [2] [3] Seeing AI uses the device camera to identify people and objects, and then the app audibly describes those objects for people with visual impairment. [4]

Capabilities

Seeing AI is primarily used to describe short text, documents, products, people, currency scenery, colors, handwriting and light. [5] The app can scan a barcode to describe a product [6] and uses sounds to assist the user in focusing on the barcode. [7] When the app describes people, it attempts to estimate the person's age, gender, and emotional status. [8] Additionally, in a test run by German journalists in December 2019, Seeing AI apparently used some sort of Facial recognition system to identify people on photographs by name. [9]

Some functions are performed on the device, however more complex functions such as describing a scene or recognizing handwriting require an Internet connection. [10]

In December 2017, Seeing AI introduced the ability for currency recognition for US and Canadian dollar, British pounds and Euros. [11]

In December 2019, Seeing AI added support for five more languages, Dutch, French, German, Japanese, Spanish. [12]

Seeing AI is available in 70 countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Australia, Canada, Egypt, Albania, Bhutan, etc. [13]

Supported on iPhone 5C, 5S and later best performance with iPhone 6S, SE and later models

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Seeing AI on the App Store". apps.apple.com. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  2. "Seeing AI on the App Store". App Store. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  3. Novet, Jordan (12 July 2017). "Microsoft has a new app that tells the visually impaired what's in front of them". CNBC. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  4. Shah, Saqib (14 December 2017). "Microsoft's Seeing AI app for the blind now reads handwriting". Endgadget. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  5. Bishop, Todd (12 July 2017). "Microsoft's new AI app describes the world for the visually impaired — now available on iPhone". Geekwire. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  6. "Microsoft's 'Seeing AI' app helps vision-impaired users "see" the world through words". DigiAccess. 14 April 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  7. Tracy, Phillip (19 July 2017). "How Microsoft's new app for the blind and visually impaired holds up". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  8. Kelley, Steven. "Seeing AI: Artificial Intelligence for Blind and Visually Impaired Users". Vision Aware. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  9. "Der Blindenhund kennt auch die Namen" Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 5 December 2019
  10. Vincent, James (12 July 2017). "Microsoft's new iPhone app narrates the world for blind people". The Verge. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  11. "Updated with currency and color recognition, Seeing AI is available in 35 countries". Microsoft Accessibility Blog. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  12. "Bonjour! ¡Bienvenidos! Seeing AI expands to 5 new languages". Microsoft Features. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  13. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 14 June 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)