Michele McDonnall, Ph.D.
The National Research and Training Center on Blindness and Low Vision conducted the latest survey of our Access Technology in the Workplace Study in 2023. One of the topics covered in the survey was the use of remote sighted assistance apps (such as Aira and Be My Eyes). We included questions about using artificial intelligence for remote “sighted” assistance. This article shares some of the main findings from these survey questions.
Most survey participants, who were all blind, legally blind, or had low vision, used a remote sighted assistance app in daily life. About 64% of the 325 respondents used a remote sighted assistance app regularly (at least monthly), including both employed participants and job seekers. Many employed participants also used the apps at work. Not surprisingly, participants who were blind or legally blind with minimal functional vision were much more likely to utilize remote sighted assistance apps than participants with more functional vision.
Be My Eyes was the most commonly used remote sighted assistance app in daily life, by 83.1% of the 193 participants who answered these questions. Aira was used in daily life by 66.3% of participants, and Envision Glasses were used by a much smaller portion of people (2.0%). The following tables present information about how frequently remote sighted assistance apps are used. Most people (54.1%) use the apps once per week or less, while almost 20% use the apps once a day or more.
| Frequency of App Use in Daily Life | Percent |
|---|---|
| Less than once a week | 31.4% |
| About once a week | 22.7% |
| Several times per week | 26.3% |
| About once a day | 10.3% |
| Multiple times a day | 9.3% |
N = 194
Participants were asked to rate how important their remote sighted assistance app was to functioning in their daily lives, with options from “not important” to “essential.” Users’ responses are provided in the following table. Few people (3.6%) rated the app as not important, and 45.4% considered the app very important or essential to functioning in their daily lives.
| Importance of App Use in Daily Life | Percent |
|---|---|
| Not important | 3.6% |
| Somewhat important | 13.4% |
| Moderately important | 16.5% |
| Important | 21.1% |
| Very important | 26.3% |
| Essential | 19.1% |
N = 194
Thoughts About Assistance with Artificial Intelligence and Be My AI
We asked users of the apps whether they preferred remote sighted assistance from a human, AI, or whether it depended on what they needed assistance with. Most people (69.2%) indicated that it depended on what they needed help with; the remainder largely preferred human assistance (28.2%), with only a few preferring AI assistance (2.6%).
Be My Eyes introduced their ChatGPT-powered AI version, Be My AI, in 2023 for beta testing. We asked our participants who reported using Be My Eyes if they used this new feature, and 46.9% had tried it. More than 80% of those who had not used Be My AI were interested in trying it. Those who had tried it were asked to provide their opinion of it, and overwhelmingly, their opinions were positive.
Seventy-six users provided an opinion about Be My AI, and all but one (98.7%) offered positive comments. A majority (53.9%) of comments were enthusiastically positive, and many comments included words such as “game changer,” “revolutionary,” “phenomenal,” “amazing,” and “fantastic.” Some examples of enthusiastically positive comments are provided below.
Its features were a game changer when I first tried it, and it's getting better all the time. It's great to give feedback and watch it be implemented. I am very grateful and impressed with the development. Be My AI has already provided invaluable help and richness in my life.
It is a game changer and another layer of dignity in terms of allowing blind people to complete tasks normally requiring sighted assistance with more anonymity.
I am very impressed. It is able to help identify items like cans and packages, often with greater accuracy than other scanners or readers. In addition, it is able to describe things like articles of clothing with much more detail and accuracy than any other device I have tried.
Several people commented on the tasks they found Be My AI most useful for. Many of those comments focused on photo or image descriptions. Others mentioned learning their surroundings, reading food labels or menus, or describing clothing. One person liked using it for sensitive topics that they don’t feel comfortable talking with volunteers about. A few of those comments are provided below.
Be My AI is very impressive. It is extremely helpful in writing photo descriptions for social media and to organize my own files, matching clothes, and simply people-watching in my environment. I can ask it whatever questions I want without it getting tired of answering or thinking my question is arbitrary….
Game changer! I love finding out new things I can do with the AI, such as identifying what menu item is selected on screen, or what the markings on my stove knob are, or maybe even describing visual page canvas layouts.
Other respondents (43.4%) were positive about the technology without being overtly enthusiastic, with comments such as “Promising but still feels like a novelty…” and “It worked well.” Several people (19.7%) mentioned the detail that Be My AI can provide. A few quotes related to the detail it can provide are below.
I love it! It is very useful. I also think that it can give more details than some sighted people would give.
The image descriptions are amazing! The detail and descriptions provided by the AI are outstanding and really help me form a mental picture of the image. I never really cared about photos, such as those sent to me via text from friends and family, but now that I have Be My AI, I collect the image descriptions. It is the equivalent of my photo album.
It’s the best one yet, most accurate and most descriptive pictures; have used it for a lot of different things; it's my go-to now.
Despite the overwhelmingly positive comments, some people (14.5%) mentioned something negative, such as it being inconsistent or not as versatile as a human assistant. Other people (7.9%) noted that they cannot or will not use it for work, or that they prefer to use human assistance for work. Three people (3.9%) stated that they do not trust its accuracy. One participant described their concerns this way:
I appreciate the detailed descriptions and access to images. However, I don't feel that I can rely on the service for crucial tasks that require a high degree of reliability. Due to privacy concerns with data collection, I do not feel comfortable with using this service for work-related tasks.
Takeaways
Remote sighted assistance apps were commonly used by participants in our study—almost two-thirds of them used the apps in daily life, and many employed people used them at work too. Most people indicated a willingness to use AI for remote “sighted” assistance. Almost half of participants had tried Be My AI, and most people who had not would like to try it. Virtually all users of Be My AI had something positive to say about it.
The information presented in this article was collected in 2023 when Be My AI was utilizing ChatGPT-4. In May 2024, Be My AI incorporated ChatGPT-4o, a much more advanced AI model. See this video for a demonstration of the updated Be My AI app. As discussed in this article, the response of users to the original model was very positive, with many people indicating that Be My AI was a game changer. The incorporation of this more advanced model into Be My AI may equate to even more powerful assistance. If you have not used Be My AI, what are you waiting for? For a first-hand account of Be My AI and how to use it, see AFB’s February 9, 2024 blog post.
