Thursday 7 April 2016

Facebook Launches New Feature For Disabled Users


No one can say now that Facebook doesn't care about its users; it recently launched a new feature for impaired users.

On April 5, 2016 Facebook Inc. announced that it launched its latest feature, the automatic alternative text (AAT). This new feature can create and come up with simple captions that are put under photos on the social media website. This can be considered as yet another milestone achieved by the social media network as it offers additional support to those Facebook users who use screen readers on the website.  
With the help of this latest software that has been used in AAT, users will be able to hear audible descriptions that have been made under photos (or captions) as the software will read those descriptions out loud. This will be an opportunity for visually impaired users as they will be able to hear the comments and captions made by their friends on the social media networkFacebook experience for such users will just be enhanced with the addition of this latest feature.
Previously, there was an option of audible description however it would only read out the name of the person, or mention that a photo has been posted by someone or read out the text out loud if it would appear on the user’s News Feed. That has changed with the introduction on AAT, as with the help of artificial intelligence, the users with such disabilities will be able to better communicate with their friends on the social media platform.
The main function performed by the artificial intelligence assistance is that it reads the text on the photos and comes up with catchy and simple self-made phrases for it. This object recognition feature on Facebook can detect a number of objects on the site vehicles including motorcycles, cars, buses and boats, natural things such as mountains, suns, waves etc, food objects that the AI can detect include ice cream, sushi etc.
Presently, the service has been activated for the English version of Facebook on the iOs; these users can simply activate their AAT to enjoy the new experience, they don’t have to be physically disabled to use the feature, anyone can avail this new feature on the social platform. Furthermore, this feature can point out stuff on the website which is not understood by users, for instance if a person does not understand what’s wrong or funny about a certain picture, the AI will help them identify it; it will simply say it out loud.
This push into the specific technology emphasizes on how Facebook is a philanthropic company as with the latest feature it is using technology to help disabled people. Furthermore, the Free Basic Program by the company was another effort it was making to help people in the world by providing free internet to people in rural areas who do not have access to the internet, with the help of airborne Aquila Drone.
In addition to that, this move also shows how easily the company has taken up and used artificial intelligence and integrated it into its system. It has quite rapidly adopted and progressed in the specific tech category.


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