Drishti: Accenture's AI-powered initiative to help the visually impaired

Accenture Friday said it has developed an artificial intelligence powered solution to help visually impaired people improve the way they experience the world around them and enhance their productivity in the workplace.

The solution, called Drishti, was developed as a part of Accenture's focus on Tech4Good, which aims to apply technology to improve the way the world lives and works by solving complex social challenges, a company release said.

Accenture, plans to introduce Drishti to more than 100 visually impaired employees in India.

The solution is currently being piloted at Accenture in South Africa, and a Spanish language version is being tested with Accenture employees in Argentina.

Drishti, which means 'vision' in Sanskrit, provides smart phone-based assistance using AI technologies such as image recognition, natural language processing and natural language generation capabilities to describe the environment of a visually impaired person.

Initially developed and tested with 10 blind professionals through a collaboration with the National Association for the Blind in India, the solution provides narration to the user on the number of people in a room, their ages, genders and even emotions based on facial expressions.

It can also be used to identify and narrate text from books and documents, including currency notes, and identify obstructions like glass doors to improve the safety of the user.

"This Tech4Good solution is a great illustration of how AI technology can empower humans by augmenting their capabilities so they can achieve more for themselves and the world around them," said Paul Daugherty, chief technology and innovation officer, Accenture.

Pallavi Kadam, executive director, National Association for the Blind in India said, "This project makes us excited for a not-too-distant future where the widespread use of technologies such as this will have a significant and positive impact on the blind community."