What will AI mean for the popular app Be My Eyes?
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Hans Jørgen Wiberg in his furniture studio.Be My Eyes -
On the Be My Eyes app, blind and low-vision users connect with volunteers through video, to complete tasks like follow a recipe.Be My Eyes -
Be My Eyes users can ask volunteers to describe necktie patterns, list the brands and types of sunscreen in a store, and identify the correct building for a certain address.Be My Eyes
Brian Fischler is blind. He can tell whether it's light or dark outside, but that's about it.
"I grew up sighted like everybody, and I was diagnosed at 13 with retinitis pigmentosa," Fischler says. "And for me, the lights went out about 2009."
Fischler, a New York-based standup comedian and podcaster, has used the app Be My Eyes since it first came out eight years ago.
It relies on sighted volunteers to do tasks like describe holiday cards sent in the mail, or tell you whether that can in your cupboard is coconut milk or chicken soup.
Or, in Fischler's case, to find an address in New York. "Here in New York City, you have a lot of businesses right on top of each other," Fischler says. "My guide dog can get me close to where I want to go, but he doesn't necessarily know what door I want to go to, especially if it's my first time going to a business."
The eyes of Be My Eyes? They come from the site's more than 6 million volunteers.
One of them is Steven Ellis of Goldsboro, North Carolina. Because he has visually impaired family members, he learned about the challenges of getting through life without the use of all five senses. When he signed up to volunteer for the app, Ellis connected with a user who couldn't connect his TV. The only way to tell the wires apart was by differentiating them by color, and he couldn't see.
Hans Jørgen Wiberg, a Danish furniture craftsman, created the app after he got tired of calling his friends and family to ask for help identifying things. (Wiberg is visually impaired.) He spent a couple years developing it, and the app launched in 2015.
But eight years later, there's a twist. As artificial intelligence, or AI, becomes more accessible, app creators are experimenting with an AI version using tech as well as human volunteers. Be My Eyes CEO Mike Buckley says the argument for AI is that it can do things people cannot.
"What if the AI ingested every service manual of every consumer product ever?," says Buckley. "And so you could tap into the AI and say, 'How do I hook up my Sony stereo?'" Furthermore, Buckley says, "we took a picture of our refrigerator and it not only told us what all the ingredients were but it told us what we could make for dinner."
But, he insists that AI won't completely replace the volunteers who make Be My Eyes so popular.
"I hope it ends up being 50-50 because I do think that there is going to be a desire for continued human connection," Buckley says. "There's some volunteer feedback we've gotten [that] when they actually get a call they talk about it as the best day of their week."
Brian Fischler, the stand-up comedian, is among a handful of users given early access to the AI portion of Be My Eyes. That part of the app is set to launch in a few months. So far, Fischler is impressed by its speed.
"It goes so above and beyond," he says. "It scanned the entire menu. But then I was able to ask follow up questions. I was in the mood for chicken and I was able to say, 'Just read me the chicken dishes.'"
But Fischler considers the AI portion to be a good complement to the app's human volunteers, rather than a replacement of them.
"I was a Terminator 2 kind of a guy where the machines rose up and they weren't exactly lovely and cuddly and helping us," Fischler says, referring to the 1991 film Terminator 2: Judgment Day. "So to have a tool like this which is going to be so valuable to so many millions of people around the world, and the fact that it's free is really, absolutely spectacular."
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Transcript
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
People who are blind or visually impaired are using apps on their phones to help them navigate the world. The apps can identify objects and read text aloud. One of the most popular apps helps people borrow the vision of someone else. Here's NPR's Claire Mishima.
CLAIRE MURASHIMA, BYLINE: Brian Fischler is blind. He can tell whether it's light or dark outside, but that's about it.
BRIAN FISCHLER: I have a piece of mail here, and I'm not sure who it's from. I was hoping you might be able to just tell me.
MURASHIMA: Sure. Do you mind moving the camera to the left a little bit?
FISCHLER: Not at all.
MURASHIMA: So it looks like it's your energy bill.
FISCHLER: Oh, how funny. I'm signed up for...
MURASHIMA: He's using an app called Be My Eyes. It relies on volunteers to do things like describe holiday cards or tell you if that can in your cupboard is coconut milk or chicken soup.
FISCHLER: I grew up sighted like everybody, and I was diagnosed at 13 with retinitis pigmentosa. And for me, the lights went out about 2009.
MURASHIMA: Fischler is a New York-based podcaster and stand-up comedian. He's used the app since it first came out eight years ago.
FISCHLER: Especially here in New York City, you have a lot of businesses right on top of each other. So my guide dog can get me close to where I want to go, but he doesn't necessarily know what door I want to go to, especially if it's the first time that I'm going to a business.
MURASHIMA: More than 6 million volunteers are providing the eyes of Be My Eyes. Steven Ellis (ph) lives in Goldsboro, N.C. He has family members who are visually impaired and started volunteering because he just wanted to give back.
STEVEN ELLIS: A man had called me to help him try to set up some wires that he was using for his TV, but they were color-coordinated. He just wanted to make sure that he was connecting the right colors.
MURASHIMA: But the app that depends on humans is going to start using artificial intelligence. Be My Eyes CEO Mike Buckley says the AI can do things that people cannot.
MIKE BUCKLEY: What if the AI ingested every service manual of every consumer product ever? And so you could tap into the AI and say, how do I hook up my Sony stereo?
MURASHIMA: The artificial intelligence is also handy in the kitchen.
BUCKLEY: We took a picture of our refrigerator. And it not only told us what all the ingredients were, but it told us what we could make for dinner.
MURASHIMA: But will the AI replace the volunteers who make Be My Eyes so popular?
BUCKLEY: I hope it ends up being 50/50, because I do think that there's going to be a desire for continued human connection. There's some volunteer feedback we've gotten. When they actually get a call, they talk about it as the best day of their week.
MURASHIMA: Fischler has been using a beta version of the app with artificial intelligence. And so far, he's impressed.
FISCHLER: This goes so above and beyond in the speed that it does it at. It scanned the entire menu. But then I was able to ask follow-up questions. Like, I was in the mood for chicken. And I was able to say, just read me the chicken dishes.
MURASHIMA: Fischler says that the AI is a good complement to the app's human volunteers.
FISCHLER: I've been a little skeptical about this, AI. I was a "Terminator 2" kind of a guy where the machines weren't exactly lovely and cuddly and helping us. So to have a tool like this is really absolutely spectacular.
MURASHIMA: Whether the helpers are real or artificial. Claire Murashima, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SLOW MEADOW'S "ARTIFICIAL ALGORITHM") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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