Facebook Adds New Feature Using Artificial Intelligence To Allow Visually Impaired Users 'See' Photos

Many are hooked on social media nowadays, especially Facebook. The site is one of the popular media today for communication, information and entertainment. With its recent updates, it has gotten even better.

According to CS Monitor, Facebook has increasingly become a visual hub where users can share and stream photos and videos. However, over 39 million blind individuals and more than 246 million others who suffered from visual impairment cannot enjoy this due to their incapacities. But Facebook is making a way to help these individuals enjoy the power of social media.

PC Mag reported that Facebook includes an automatic alternative text that generates image description using object recognition technology. Previously, this feature only includes the name of the person who posted the photo and the word "photo"

However, with Facebook's latest update, anyone operating a screen reader on iOS device will hear a list of items found in each photo. For instance, it may read, "Image may contain trees, sky, people smiling," which is surely helpful to those who can't see the photos.

"We're ... making it possible for people to feel totally included in the social interaction and be able to feel part of it without having to feel awkward, without having to be annoying to all of your friends, being like, 'What's so funny in this photo?' Nobody wants to do that," Facebook accessibility specialist Matt King told Venture Beat.

According to Engineers Shaomei Wu and Hermes Pique, and Jeffrey Wieland in blog post per PC Magazine, the technology is an important step to assist visually impaired individuals in the community and enable them to enjoy the same benefits and enjoyment that everyone else gets from the photos.

The automatic alt text is already available to iOS screen readers and is set to English. They are working to make it better by offering it in other languages and platforms soon.

Are you happy with this additional feature from Facebook? Share your thoughts below.