What you need to know
- Microsoft's Seeing AI accessibility app expanded beyond English with its latest update.
- The app now works natively with Dutch, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish.
- Native speakers can now use Seeing AI to interpret the world around them in their own language.
Microsoft has steadily increased the capabilities of its Seeing AI app since 2017, and now it's getting even more accessible. The app, which helps those with visual impairments interpret the world around them, received native support for five new languages with its latest update. The app now supports Dutch, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish.
Previously, Seeing AI only worked with English, which, despite its goals for making the world more accessible for everyone, limited its use outside of English-speaking countries. Now, anyone who speaks any of the five newly supported languages can use Seeing AI to explore the scenery around them, have photos described to them, and read written text out loud.
"Now I will be able to read in Japanese. And I can also read my mail and other communication and correspondence on paper, so that will be super exciting," Seeing AI user Akiko Ishii told Microsoft in a blog post (opens in new tab) announcing the new feature. "If any communication was on paper, I would have to have somebody read it to me, [b]ut now I'll be able to read it myself."
In addition to the newly supported languages, Seeing AI can now recognize Japanese Yen in the currency channel. It has also picked up the usual batch of bug fixes.
Seeing AI is only available for iOS devices. You can donload and try the app now for iPad and iPhone at the App Store (opens in new tab)
Seeing AI is an accessibility app for people with visual impairments, allowing them to interpret the world around them using the camera on their phones.
