According to Hans Jørgen Wiberg, the founder of the app for blind and visually impaired people, Be My Eyes plans to make video data from conversations between blind users and sighted volunteers available for training AI models. This was revealed in an email he sent to all users. The initiative takes place under a strict privacy policy that gives users the option to opt out of data sharing. Photos and their AI descriptions are not used for AI training in order to avoid perpetuating existing prejudices. According to Wiberg, AI models should reflect the actual experiences and abilities of blind people. Bryan Bashin, Vice Chairman of Be My Eyes, emphasizes that blind testers have improved the OpenAI models, which for him proves how important their participation is. Be My Eyes caused a sensation in 2023 with the new Be My AI feature. Prof. Dr. Oliver Bendel wrote the first paper on this topic in November 2023, submitted it in December 2023, and presented it at the AAAI Spring Symposia at Stanford University in March 2024 (Image: DALL-E 3).
BY OLIVER BENDEL
