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Microsoft and Be My Eyes Team Up to Leverage AI for Blind Users

The collaboration aims to address the lack of adequate data representation for the blind and low-vision community in AI development.

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Microsoft is collaborating with Be My Eyes, a company that provides live video assistance to people who are blind or visually impaired, aiming to make AI more accessible for these users. By integrating real-world data from Be My Eyes, Microsoft hopes to train its artificial intelligence models to better understand and describe visual scenes for people with low vision.

Collecting Real-World Video for AI Models

The crux of the partnership is focused on sharing real-time video data from users on the Be My Eyes platform. This data will help train Microsoft’s AI models to more accurately interpret visual environments. However, no personal information like usernames or account details will be included in these datasets—Be My Eyes is taking steps to anonymize all of that before sharing it. Plus, none of the data will be used for marketing purposes, and it’s strictly for improving AI systems.

The key challenge here is that current datasets lack the nuances necessary to properly assist the blind community. By leveraging video from real users, Microsoft can focus on creating AI tools that are far more relevant to this demographic. The goal is not just improving accuracy, but also ensuring the technology can provide more meaningful context to what it’s identifying.

The Bigger Problem: Bias in AI Training

Microsoft’s work with Be My Eyes is part of a broader effort to tackle bias in artificial intelligence. In many cases, data used to train AI doesn’t represent the full spectrum of human experience. This is especially true for people with disabilities, where datasets fail to capture the unique challenges they face.

One example Microsoft points to is the inclusion of disability-specific objects in image-recognition datasets, such as Braille devices. When these items are missing, AI models struggle to correctly identify them, further marginalizing users who rely on these tools. Microsoft believes addressing this “disability data gap” is critical to building AI that benefits everyone.

Microsoft’s Approach to Accessibility

This isn’t Microsoft’s first time working to address accessibility. In 2018, it integrated the Be My Eyes app into its Disability Answer Desk, giving visually impaired customers direct access to tech support through live video. More recently, Microsoft was the first to pilot Be My AI, which uses artificial intelligence to solve technical issues for people with visual impairments.

The collaboration between Microsoft and Be My Eyes isn’t limited to just improving accessibility within existing tools, either. Microsoft is also keen on developing new applications and services that better reflect the diverse needs of people with disabilities.

AI’s Potential for People with Disabilities

Artificial intelligence holds immense potential to enhance accessibility for the disabled community. AI can automate tasks, like summarizing documents or taking meeting notes, and provide image descriptions that make visual content accessible. But without inclusive training data, these features fall short.

In recent years, Microsoft has pushed the envelope in developing AI. The company has even formed partnerships with academic institutions, like the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, to collect diverse speech data from individuals with conditions like Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). This initiative is part of the Speech Accessibility Project, which also includes companies like Google, Meta, and Apple. The collected data is used to improve speech recognition for people with non-standard speech patterns, ensuring they aren’t left behind by mainstream AI platforms.

Last Updated on November 7, 2024 2:28 pm CET

SourceMicrosoft
Markus Kasanmascheff
Markus Kasanmascheff
Markus has been covering the tech industry for more than 15 years. He is holding a Master´s degree in International Economics and is the founder and managing editor of Winbuzzer.com.

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