Facebook has increased the usefulness/capabilities of their AI which powers the detection of image contents, improving the experience for blind and visually impaired users. I use this feature often and have seen a marked improvement in the quality of the way Facebook detects people, objects, and locations in posted photos. 

A welcome addition

The feature has been on the Facebook platform since 2016, but this update makes it a more viable feature for blind and visually impaired users. The system works much like the iPhone, telling the user the number of people in the photo, text the feature adds functionality above the iPhone including the ability to tell the user where the photo was likely taken. 

Inclusion

I love to see companies taking development time to improve features like this. So often accessibility features get implemented, then forgotten. We are moving at a good pace toward the removal of reliance on sighted interpreters for social media. I love memes and it will be great when this technology takes a couple more steps so it can provide context and effectively read even the blurriest text. 

Good Job Facebook, keep up the good wor

If you would like to read more about this feature, ZDNET has a great article explaining all the capabilities of the new AI photo interpreter. Here is a link to their article:

https://www.zdnet.com/article/facebook-enhances-ai-used-to-describe-photos-for-visually-impaired-users/