Seeing AI: New Technology Research to Support the Blind and Visually Impaired Community

Microsoft's mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, which includes creating and delivering technology for people of all abilities. As a part of this effort, last week at the Microsoft Build Conference, we debuted a new research project in development – Seeing AI – aimed at helping people who are visually impaired or blind to understand more about who and what is around them. Seeing AI will use computer vision, image and speech recognition, natural language processing and machine learning from Microsoft's Cognitive Services and Office Lens to help describe a person's surroundings, read text, answer questions and even identify emotions on people's faces. Seeing AI might be used either as a mobile app or via smart glasses from Pivothead. Although Seeing AI would not replace mobility aids such as guide dogs and canes, it will add another layer of information that could further enable people of all abilities to use technology in a more personal and enjoyable way.