How Can Generative AI Enhance the Well-being of the Blind?

The paper „How Can Generative AI Enhance the Well-being of the Blind?“ by Oliver Bendel is now available as part of the „Proceedings of the AAAI 2024 Spring Symposium Series“. The Zurich-based scientist presented the paper at the symposium „Impact of GenAI on Social and Individual Well-being“ in March 2024. From the abstract: „This paper examines the question of how generative AI can improve the well-being of blind or visually impaired people. It refers to a current example, the Be My Eyes app, in which the Be My AI feature was integrated in 2023, which is based on GPT-4 from OpenAI. The author’s tests are described and evaluated. There is also an ethical and social discussion. The power of the tool, which can analyze still images in an amazing way, is demonstrated. Those affected gain a new independence and a new perception of their environment. At the same time, they are dependent on the world view and morality of the provider or developer, who prescribe or deny them certain descriptions. An outlook makes it clear that the analysis of moving images will mean a further leap forward. It is fair to say that generative AI can fundamentally improve the well-being of blind and visually impaired people and will change it in various ways.“ It was Oliver Bendel’s ninth consecutive appearance at the AAAI Spring Symposia, which this time consisted of eight symposia on artificial intelligence. The paper can be downloaded at ojs.aaai.org/index.php/AAAI-SS/article/view/31232.

Fig.: GenAI for blind people (Image: DALL-E 3)