Accenture Develops AI Solution for Visually Impaired

Ireland based management consulting firm Accenture has reported having developed a unique Artificial Intelligence solution to help visually challenged people understand their surroundings and enhance their work productivity. The program has been named Drishti, which is Sanskrit for ‘vision’.

Also Read: Microsoft Seeing AI: Camera App For Visually Challenged

The solution was created as a part of company’s Tech4Good program which aims to find better ways to use technology for improvement of personal and work lives of individuals around the world by providing solutions for complex social challenges like blindness.

The company is soon planning to introduce Drishti to more than 100 visually challenged people working in India. The program is currently being tested at Accenture’s divisions in South Africa and Argentina (Spanish language version). The solution is likely to be available in the form of a smartphone app which will provide language and speech assistance using AI based technologies for image recognition, language processing and language generation mechanisms to describe the surroundings to a blind person.

"This project makes us excited for a not-too-distant future where the widespread use of technologies such as this will have a significant and positive impact on the blind community," said Pallavi Kadam, executive director, National Association for the Blind in India.

Accenture, in collaboration with the NAB India, developed and tested the AI solution with the help of 10 blind working professionals. Drishti has been designed with the aim to help blind people understand more about their environment and people around them. It can narrate the number of people in an area, their names, genders, ages and even facial expressions to assist the user. The application will also be able to help users identify text in a book or a currency note by narrating them and identify obstructions like walls and doors to ensure safety.

Accenture’s chief technology and innovation officer Paul Daugherty said, "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.”

Well, Accenture isn’t the only company working on AI based solutions. Microsoft also recently launched its AI-based app called ‘Seeing AI’ for iOS platform. The app can assist visually impaired people by describing the world to them. It was previously available for only smart glasses.

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