Facebook yesterday
<https://ai.facebook.com/blog/how-facebook-is-using-ai-to-improve-photo-desc
riptions-for-people-who-are-blind-or-visually-impaired/> announced a major
update to its Automatic Alt Text (AAT) system, which automatically generates
photo descriptions for people with visual impairments. Based on AI, the
system can now recognize 10 times more objects and scenes in photos shared
on Facebook and also Instagram, providing detailed descriptions for screen
readers like Apples VoiceOver.
According to Facebook, the artificial intelligence technology developed by
the company can now identify activities, landmarks, types of animals, and
various other details in the photos. This will make it easier for blind or
visually impaired people to understand the context of a photo shared on
social networks.
Instead of just describing whats in the photo, the updated AAT system can
also specify the composition of the image, such as saying that there are two
people in the center of the photo and three others in the sides instead of
just saying that there are five people in the photo.
Or, instead of simply describing a lovely landscape with May be a house and
a mountain, we can highlight that the mountain is the primary object in a
scene based on how large it appears in comparison with the house at its
base.
Taken together, these advancements help users who are blind or visually
impaired better understand whats in photos posted by their family and
friends and in their own photos by providing more (and more detailed)
information.
As pointed out by
<https://www.cnet.com/news/facebook-improves-alternative-text-photo-descript
ions-for-blind-visually-impaired-users/> CNET, the new AAT system will be
available on Facebook for photos in News Feed, Profiles, and Groups, while
on Instagram the generated descriptions will be available for photos in
Feed, Explore, and Profile. The feature is compatible with 45 different
languages.
To access the detailed photo descriptions on iOS, users must use the new
custom actions through VoiceOver. On Android, you just have to long-press
the image. The update is still being rolled out for users.
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