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Visionary innovation? From a payment card that ‘talks’ to GenAI powered text-to-Braille conversion, the tech industry is making daily life easier for visually impaired users. … 

Individuals with some form of physical impairment make up a considerable proportion of the world’s population. The World Health Organization estimates there are 1.3 billion people in this group, and that the number of people in need of one or more assistive products is likely to rise to 3.5 billion by 2050.

Everyday tasks still present daily hurdles for these citizens. Of course, technology helps. Indeed, over the years, a range of innovations has enabled people with impairments to lead more independent lives. 

This is certainly true for those with sight loss. According to the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), 295 million people live with moderate to severe visual impairment. 

One important breakthrough for this group has come in the world of voice assistance. Smart speakers are perhaps the most visible example of this technology. These household devices help users to carry out activities that would previously require a screen and keyboard: play music, navigate the news, send messages, control a smart home environment and more.

But now new services are taking voice assistance for everyday tasks even further.
 

The speaking payment card says what you pay

Take shopping. In August 2024, Brazil’s Itau Unibanco launched a payment card that talks. The solution, designed by Thales, connects the enhanced card with the user’s smartphone via Bluetooth. During the payment process, the card sends the amount to the bank’s dedicated app, which reads it aloud before validation. Once the user enters their secret code, the app confirms the correct entry and completes the transaction.

This solution is proving very useful for users with disabilities, giving them a means to manage their everyday payments autonomously and safely. The safety part is especially important, given that research says 89 percent of visually impaired people have been victims of fraud or made errors when paying for goods and services. The Itau Unibanco product is based on technology developed by Thales that encrypts the data exchanged between the card and the phone.

Mario Miguel, Payments Director at Itau Unibanco, says: “We have a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion. We developed this card so that we can help thousands of the bank's customers make their card payments with much more autonomy in face-to-face transactions.”

 

Introducing the GenAI 24-hour-a-day virtual assistant

So where will the next wave of innovation for visually impaired citizens come from? Generative AI is the obvious candidate. Since ChatGPT brought this tech to the mass market in 2022, there has been a surge of interest in its potential to help those with sight loss. One particular area of focus is in speaking AI-powered assistants.

According to Ethan Mollick, a professor at University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, the best way to think about AI is as a helper. In 2023, he compared AI to a hard-working intern. He wrote: “It is better to think of AI as a person than a piece of software. In fact, perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of our current AI moment is that several billion people just got free interns.”

Mollick's analysis raises the question: how much could a resourceful 24-7 AI intern improve voice tech for the visually impaired?

Companies in the space are already finding out. Take the popular app Be My Eyes. It pairs visually impaired users with sighted volunteers. In a live video call, the volunteers describe what they see to help users understand their environment better. 

In 2023, the Danish app maker enhanced its product with GenAI. It introduced Be My AI – a first-of-its-kind digital visual assistant. The feature lets users take a picture, which Be My AI then describes. Users can even respond to the bot by asking further questions. 

Michael Buckley, CEO of Be My Eyes, believes the AI enhancement will make visually impaired people more self-reliant than before. He described scenarios such as the AI assistant examining a picture of a fridge’s contents and giving recipe ideas. 

“The implications for global accessibility are profound,” he says. “In the not-so-distant future, the blind and low vision community will utilize these tools not only for a host of visual interpretation needs, but also to have a greater degree of independence in their lives.”  
 

Innovation at your fingertips: re-booting Braille for the digital era

In addition to innovations around voice, tech firms are also working on enhancements to touch. Visually impaired people have been using touch – in the form of Braille – to read since the idea was invented nearly 200 years ago. However, Braille users do face barriers in the digital age. The key question is: how to convert the vast array of screen-based writing into readable haptic text?

Refreshable digital Braille displays offer one solution. They work by raising and lowering small pins in response to electronic signals, creating dynamic characters that can be read by touch. This means that any digital text – email, webpage, e-book – can be instantly translated into Braille.

But in parallel GenAI is ushering in new advances such as real time multi-language translation, better voice-to-Braille conversion, and even the ability to describe images and convert visual information into tactile Braille representations. A sizeable range of mobile apps is now taking these features to smartphone users all over the world.

Meanwhile the ability of AI assistants to converse with users is also helping to tackle the shortage of Braille teachers in some parts of the world. For example, a company called ObjectiveEd developed Braille AI Tutor, which listens as a student reads from their refreshable braille display. It then gives feedback and rewards the user before the game moves onto the next sentence.
 
 
The best tech innovation is all about making simple tasks easier. However, for visually impaired people, the gains are even greater. Tech can genuinely transform the way people with blindness and limited vision interact safely with the world.
 

Related content:

At Thales we know innovation has the potential to solve a range of challenges. We are dedicated to making payment solutions accessible to everyone. 

Read how our latest innovations focus on enhancing financial inclusion here.

Also: A world first from Papara: Voice card for visually impaired use