Facebook is using AI to tag your pictures to help blind people

Facebook is using an artificial intelligence system to automatically caption photos in an effort to increase the accessibility of its website and apps. The feature, called "automatic alternative text", uses image recognition technology developed through machine-learning to identify the objects pictured. It's not perfect yet, with sample captions from Facebook, shared by The Verge, reading more like a laundry list than a descriptive overview: "Image may contain: two people, smiling, sunglasses, sky, outdoor, water" reads the caption on one picture of a couple taking a photograph on a beach, while "image may contain: pizza, food" is the caption for a picture of a tasty-looking pepperoni and olive pizza. Related: AI is already making inroads into journalism but could it win a Pulitzer? But the technology, which is launching first on iOS, will do a great deal towards making the Facebook app more usable for blind and visually impaired visitors.