For Dr Cecily Morrison, the research on how AI can help people who are blind or visually impaired is deeply personal. It's not just that Microsoft Principal Researcher has a 7-year-old son who is blind, but they also believe that the powerful AI technologies that will help people must be themselves personal, tailored to the circumstances and abilities of the people they support. . .
We will see new artificial intelligence techniques that will allow users to personalize experiences for themselves, "says Dr. Morrison, who is based at Microsoft Research Cambridge and whose work focuses on human-computer interaction and artificial intelligence." Everyone is different. Having a disability label does not mean that one person has the same needs as another with the same label. The new techniques will allow people to teach artificial intelligence technologies to their information needs with a few examples in order to get a personalized experience suited to their particular needs. Technology will focus on personal needs rather than disability labels. "
Dr Morrison will speak at Sight Tech Global, a virtual global event on December 2-3 that will explore how technologies related to artificial intelligence will shape the future of accessibility for blind and visually impaired people. The event, launched on ProWellTech, will be held on December 2-3 and is free for attendees. Pre-register here.
Dr Morrison is currently involved in several research projects that explore the potential of artificial intelligence to empower people who are blind or visually impaired. The Tokyo project, for example, is exploring ways to provide information about the immediate social environment to enhance people's existing sensory abilities and skills.
The team works closely with blind or visually impaired people to ensure that research is based on their experience and needs. "It is vital to imagine what technologies do for blind and visually impaired people in a way that empowers them. Many blind and visually impaired people have well-developed strategies for making sense of their environment. Artificial intelligence technology must augment these acute sense-making abilities by filling information gaps. It is important that technology is not seen as a substitute for vision, but rather an increase in the information that a person already has when dealing with their life. "
As the mother of a blind child, Dr. Morrison believes she has been able to "see the world in a different perspective, participate in communities that I otherwise would not have seen or participated in." This certainly guided his research. An inclusive design project, Turin, was inspired by the need for blind children to learn to code. The result was a physical programming language designed to teach computational thinking and basic programming to children between the ages of 7 and 11, regardless of their level of vision. The effort led to a spin-out project called Code Jumper, which is now commercially available at the American printing house for the blind.
That success came from working closely through trial and error with 7-11 year old blind people, which is also where Dr. Morrison deepened her understanding of how critical it is for researchers to work closely together. with the people they intend to help. Additionally, he points out, people with visual impairments are generally great early adopters of technology.
"In the agent space," says Dr. Morrison, "we worked with blind and visually impaired people because, at the time we started working with agents, typical people weren't heavy users of agents. In fact, most Some people thought they were toys. While for blind and visually impaired people they were early adopters and heavy users of agent technologies. They could really help push the boundaries of what these technologies can do. If you don't use the technology regularly, you can't really imagine what the next steps are. So, it's a great example of inclusive design where we can work with this cohort of very capable blind people to help us think about what the agents of the future will be for all of us. "
Dr Morrison holds a PhD in Computer Science from Cambridge University and a BA in Ethnomusicology from Barnard College, Columbia University. She shares life with her partner and two children, one of whom is blind.
Pre-registration for Sight Tech Global is now open. And the event is free.
Sight Tech Global is a sponsored event and our partners so far include Waymo, Google, Wells Fargo, ProWellTech and Verizon Media. All proceeds go to the Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired 501 (c) (3). For more information on sponsorship, please contact us at [email protected].
