Chat GPT-4: A Tool for Inclusivity or Exclusivity?

A recurring debate happens every time a new AI tool gets introduced; does AI engineering create more room for inclusivity or exclusivity? This time it is about a new tool developed with the intention to empower visually impaired communities.?

AI is a Double-Edged Sword:

For some people, AI threatens their jobs, safety, ethics, and creativity. Nonetheless, for people with disabilities, AI proposes new opportunities and solutions to demolish barriers to accessibility. On the 14th of March, Be My Eyes announced partnering with OpenAI’s Chat GPT-4 to develop the first-ever digital visual assistant that will be available soon.?

New Horizons of Independence:?

Be My Eyes is an essential application for visually impaired individuals. The application was launched in 2015 to make the world more accessible for a community of over 250 million blind and low-vision people with the help of 6.3 million sighted volunteers from 150 countries and 180 languages across the globe.

Thus, the partnership between Be My Eyes and OpenAI’s Chat GPT-4 to develop a new feature called Virtual Volunteer? has the potential to expand new horizons of independence for a sizable population of blind and visually-handicapped users. The new AI-powered tool helps users with the same level of context and comprehension as a human volunteer. Virtual Volunteer? supports them while navigating their physical environments and allows them to have access to an innovative image-to-text generator for translating, giving directions, reading menus and magazines, writing ALT text for images in the photo library…and so much more.?

AI for Social Good:

This isn’t the first breakthrough for AI to facilitate enhanced functionalities for people with disabilities. AI for Social Good is a field of research dedicated to tackling important social, environmental, and health issues using AI. In March of 2022, Envision Glasses were introduced; AI-powered smart glasses that translate and interpret everyday visuals into speech for visually impaired people.?

AI and Human Intervention Go Hand in Hand:?

For many people with disabilities, these AI-powered tools are life-changing innovations when they align with the principles set by OpenAI to develop safe and responsible AI.?

But the real question is, will AI be able to replicate human empathy and emotional intelligence that distinguishes volunteering works??

Similarly to corporate jobs, it’s still doubtful if AI will replace the human brain that allows fact-checking and safety to be reliable enough to make crucial decisions.?

AI undeniably accelerates systematic and repetitive tasks but can it ever fully replace the human intelligence that comes from years of experience??