Technology can greatly help blind people find their way in such a complex and, at times, even dangerous world. Facebook is making many steps forward to bring technology to those who cannot see, and from today it seems that it will also be able to "tell" the photos.
The new service is launched today to act as a guide for those who cannot see all the photographs that social networks are flooded with. The system works using artificial intelligence: in short, Facebook servers are now able to decode and describe images uploaded to the site, making them available in a form that can be read by screen readers, i.e. the software used by blind people to access online content.
Screen readers have never, at least until now, been able to read images. To inspire the Facebook system was Math king, a Facebook engineer who lost his sight following retinitis pigmentosa. The option launches today on iOS and will soon be available for Android. You must activate the already inserted screen reader, VoiceOver, on the iPhone to allow the photographs to be read. An example of reading: "in the photo there are two people who are smiling". Of course, not a very detailed description, but still a step forward in the accessibility of social media.
