‘We don’t want to leave people behind’: AI is helping disabled people in surprising new ways

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When Matthew Sherwood goes shopping for clothes, he needs help to ensure that what he’s picking up is the color or style he’s looking for.

Sherwood has been blind for more than 15 years; he has a family, a successful investing career and a dog, Chris, who helps him navigate the world. But he says everyday tasks like shopping still present hurdles to his independence.

Artificial intelligence could soon help.

Currently, Sherwood says he sometimes uses an app called Be My Eyes, which pairs visually impaired users with sighted volunteers who provide help, through live video, with things like checking whether a shirt matches the rest of an outfit or if a carton of milk has expired. But advancements in AI technology are already beginning to remove the need for volunteer helpers on the other end.

B e My Eyes partnered with OpenAI last year to enable its AI model, rather than another human, see and describe what’s in front of a user. In OpenAI’s latest product demo, the company showed a clip of a person using the AI-powered version of Be My Eyes to hail a taxi — the app told the user exactly when to raise their arm for the car. Google in May announced a similar feature for its app “Lookout,” which is designed to help visually impaired users.

Applications for blind users are just one area where AI is helping to advance what’s known as “assistive technology,” tools designed to help people who are disabled or elderly.

Apple, Google and other tech companies have rolled out a growing slate of AI-powered tools to make life easier for people with a range of impediments, from eye-tracking tools that let physically disabled users control their iPhones with their eyes to detailed voice guidance for blind users of Google Maps.

Since the stunning launch of ChatGPT more than a year ago, it has been clear that AI will change our world by upending how we work, how we communicate and even what we perceive as reality. But for people with disabilities, AI also has the potential to be life-altering in an entirely different way.

“It used to be that if you were in business and you were blind, you had to have an administrative assistant reading to you,” Sherwood said. “But now, you have this new power … For some, this is great technology. For blind people, this is an opportunity to gain employment and an opportunity to compete in business, an opportunity to succeed.”