“In the short time we’ve had access, we have seen unparalleled performance to any image-to-text object recognition tool out there," says Michael Buckley, CEO of Be My Eyes. “The implications for global accessibility are profound. 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.”

Suddenly, the image someone sends of, say, the contents of their fridge, GPT‑4 technology not only recognizes and names what’s in there, but extrapolates and analyzes what you can make with those ingredients. You could then ask it for a good recipe. The use cases are almost unlimited.

“That’s game changing,” says Buckley. “Ultimately, whatever the user wants or needs, they can re-prompt the tool to get more information that is usable, beneficial and helpful, nearly instantly.”

In early February, the company started beta-testing the GPT‑backed assistant with a small group of employees; the results have been so positive the feature will be in the hands of users in weeks.