Seeing AI

Seeing AI
Developer(s)Microsoft
Initial releaseJuly 12, 2017; 7 years ago (2017-07-12)
Stable release
4.0.1 / 19 February 2021; 3 years ago (2021-02-19)[1]
Operating systemAndroid, iOS, iPadOS
Size302.9 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
LicenseProprietary software
Websitewww.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

References

  1. ^ a b c "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)