Smartphones for the visually impaired have already made their presence felt in the Indian market. Now, Accenture has revealed its new creation called "Drishti" — an AI-powered solution to help the visually impaired enjoy a better experience of the world around them as well as achieve better productivity at work.
According to the company, Drishti is a part of Accenture's Tech4Good project, which helps the blind improve their overall experience of the living world with the use of technology that works by solving complex social challenges.
The solution is currently being imparted to a pilot batch of Accenture employees with visual disabilities in South Africa, while a Spanish language version is also being tested with the company's employees in Argentina.
Drishti will be a smartphone-based solution that implements AI technologies such as natural language processing, image recognition and natural language generation to detail the environment of a visually impaired person. The company also plans to test the solution sometime later on more than 100 visually impaired employees in India.
The solution is reportedly developed and tested by 10 blind professionals in association with the National Association for the Blind in India. Drishti is capable of describing to or educating a blind user on a certain ambient information such as the number of people in a room, their age, gender and even emotions based on their facial expressions.
Furthermore, the AI-based solution will help the blind recognise and read text from books and documents, including currency notes, and identify obstacles in their path to ensure safety of the user.
"This Tech4Good solution is a great illustration of how AI technology can empower humans by augmenting their capabilities so they can achieve more for themselves and the world around them," explained Paul Daugherty, chief technology and innovation officer, Accenture.
