WEBVTT - Talking Tech 30th April 2024 0:00:21.248 --> 0:00:25.268 Hello everyone. Welcome to Talking Tech. This edition available from 0:00:25.268 --> 0:00:29.318 April the 30th, 2024. I'm Stephen Jolly. Great to have 0:00:29.318 --> 0:00:33.248 you with us. Listening maybe through Vision Australia radio associated 0:00:33.248 --> 0:00:37.388 stations of RPA Australia or maybe the Community Radio Network. 0:00:37.568 --> 0:00:40.058 There is also the podcast. To catch that, all you 0:00:40.058 --> 0:00:42.668 need to do is search for the two words talking 0:00:42.698 --> 0:00:46.088 tech and Daniken, or come usually on a Tuesday afternoon 0:00:46.088 --> 0:00:49.238 just after it's been produced. Another option is to ask 0:00:49.238 --> 0:00:52.508 your Siri device or smart speaker to play Vision Australia 0:00:52.508 --> 0:00:57.758 Radio talking tech podcast Vision Australia Radio Talking tech podcast 0:00:58.178 --> 0:01:02.858 normally with me is Vision Australia's national advisor on access technology, 0:01:02.858 --> 0:01:06.338 David Woodbridge. Unfortunately, David can't be with us this week, 0:01:06.338 --> 0:01:10.118 so instead we'll bring you a conversation that David and 0:01:10.118 --> 0:01:15.218 I had about four months ago. Towards the end of 2023. 0:01:15.218 --> 0:01:19.358 Reflecting on the year's developments in technology, particularly from the 0:01:19.358 --> 0:01:22.418 perspective of people who are blind or have low vision. 0:01:23.138 --> 0:01:27.008 So here we go. This conversation, taken from the edition 0:01:27.008 --> 0:01:33.338 of December the 26th, 2023. So let's reflect today on 0:01:33.338 --> 0:01:36.818 what has probably been the major talking point in the 0:01:36.818 --> 0:01:42.668 tech world over the last year. And that's A.I., Artificial Intelligence. 0:01:42.698 --> 0:01:46.538 And I must say that I first really started to 0:01:46.538 --> 0:01:51.518 think about it sort of in current times, around November 2022, 0:01:51.728 --> 0:01:56.468 when a report on ABC was talking about this new thing, uh, 0:01:56.468 --> 0:02:01.868 this website open AI, and you could do really interesting 0:02:01.868 --> 0:02:04.628 things like get it to write letters for you or 0:02:04.628 --> 0:02:09.938 write essays. And it's all taken off. I think of A.I. 0:02:09.968 --> 0:02:14.318 really as taking advantage of the really high computing power 0:02:14.318 --> 0:02:16.748 that we have these days to be able to do 0:02:16.748 --> 0:02:19.928 things that we just couldn't imagine doing before, but really 0:02:19.928 --> 0:02:22.808 useful things. How would you describe it? 0:02:22.958 --> 0:02:25.568 I tend to describe it as a computer system that 0:02:25.568 --> 0:02:30.218 responds to, uh, speech or typing input. So those two 0:02:30.248 --> 0:02:33.758 modes are primarily. The second thing I always think about 0:02:33.758 --> 0:02:36.668 is the fact that it can actually make decisions based 0:02:36.668 --> 0:02:40.268 on data. And the third thing that really comes off 0:02:40.268 --> 0:02:43.958 that data is that the fact that it can recognize patterns, 0:02:43.958 --> 0:02:48.638 because it has this whole database of information, that it 0:02:48.638 --> 0:02:53.558 can look up extremely fast and recognize patterns of your 0:02:53.558 --> 0:02:57.158 own personal use or in general use around the world. 0:02:57.158 --> 0:02:59.948 So that's the main three things that always sticks out 0:02:59.948 --> 0:03:03.278 for me with computer, artificial intelligence or AI. 0:03:03.608 --> 0:03:06.398 Now if you ask some people what I use, they'd say, oh, 0:03:06.428 --> 0:03:10.088 something tech that's got the capacity to destroy civilization as 0:03:10.088 --> 0:03:12.788 we know it, but it can do a lot of 0:03:12.788 --> 0:03:15.728 very useful things, and let's not worry about the threats 0:03:15.728 --> 0:03:18.188 of it at the moment, because that's a long conversation 0:03:18.188 --> 0:03:21.008 some other time. What sorts of things is it doing? 0:03:21.008 --> 0:03:25.178 It's actually quite amazing because when you think about AI, 0:03:25.268 --> 0:03:28.178 we're already using it. So people get sort of blown 0:03:28.178 --> 0:03:32.468 away or get nervous about chat, GPT and other systems, 0:03:32.768 --> 0:03:36.308 but we're already using it in everyday lives. For example, um, 0:03:36.308 --> 0:03:38.978 I've got a bit of a list here. So advanced 0:03:38.978 --> 0:03:42.728 web search that's actually AI, because it also brings up 0:03:42.728 --> 0:03:49.538 suggestions for you when you do a search, when you're watching, uh, Netflix, ABC, iview, 0:03:49.538 --> 0:03:51.578 I'm assuming, because I really haven't delved in too much. 0:03:51.578 --> 0:03:54.188 When you watch a show, it then comes up with 0:03:54.188 --> 0:03:57.158 other suggestions that other things that you may want to 0:03:57.158 --> 0:04:00.728 watch in the future or now. So again, that's pattern 0:04:00.728 --> 0:04:03.428 recognition and making a bit of a decisions for you. 0:04:03.938 --> 0:04:07.688 Let's think about virtual assistants. So they're the classic A 0:04:07.688 --> 0:04:12.848 lady I won't say the name Google and Siri, um, 0:04:12.848 --> 0:04:16.238 which we always have in our smartphones. Again, to me 0:04:16.238 --> 0:04:19.988 that's a basic version of AI, uh, because it's really 0:04:19.988 --> 0:04:24.038 command line driven. It doesn't have these large language models 0:04:24.038 --> 0:04:27.338 that it can look up speech recognition. So not just 0:04:27.338 --> 0:04:30.728 talking to your smart speakers or these virtual assistants, uh, 0:04:30.728 --> 0:04:36.038 but also controlling, uh, your computer and of course, dictating 0:04:36.068 --> 0:04:40.418 to your computer, which is actually pretty amazing. Automated translation. 0:04:40.418 --> 0:04:43.448 So for those that remember Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 0:04:43.448 --> 0:04:46.568 in the famous Babelfish, which is stuck in your ear 0:04:46.568 --> 0:04:50.948 for automatic language translation, uh, systems do that automatically for 0:04:50.948 --> 0:04:54.878 you now. And that's again, I, uh, nowadays, Steven, we 0:04:54.878 --> 0:04:58.538 can get an audio file of somebody talking and get 0:04:58.538 --> 0:05:05.018 a transcription of it, uh, in text. So again, I, um, 0:05:05.018 --> 0:05:07.838 I've already mentioned smart home, but that's really in relation 0:05:07.838 --> 0:05:11.108 to virtual. But when I had this as a separate topic, 0:05:11.108 --> 0:05:15.188 your systems learn when you come home, when you want 0:05:15.188 --> 0:05:18.038 the air conditioner on, when you want the lights turned off. 0:05:18.038 --> 0:05:24.188 That's all about pattern recognition. And for industry it's predictive maintenance. 0:05:24.188 --> 0:05:28.448 So the AI systems will decide when you know the 0:05:28.448 --> 0:05:32.918 trucks need servicing or the machinery that's used for packing 0:05:32.918 --> 0:05:37.898 stuff in the warehouse needs maintenance. Natural language processing. And 0:05:37.898 --> 0:05:41.528 this is really where things like, uh, ChatGPT and Copilot 0:05:41.528 --> 0:05:44.318 and Bing stand out, because you can just have a 0:05:44.318 --> 0:05:46.328 bit of a general chat to these things now. And 0:05:46.328 --> 0:05:49.928 based on the keywords that you use, it decides what 0:05:49.928 --> 0:05:52.508 things you want to look up and give the information 0:05:52.508 --> 0:05:55.868 back to you. Content creation, which is one you already 0:05:55.868 --> 0:05:57.908 mentioned there. That's where, for example, if I wanted to 0:05:57.908 --> 0:06:01.358 write an email to a company about web accessibility or 0:06:01.358 --> 0:06:04.808 application accessibility, I can say to the AI, look, I'd 0:06:04.808 --> 0:06:08.978 like you to write a nice, gentle, but assertive email 0:06:08.978 --> 0:06:14.588 about the importance of web or application accessibility. And it's 0:06:14.588 --> 0:06:17.198 just the amazing stuff that it writes. So it says, 0:06:17.198 --> 0:06:19.718 you know, dear Sir or madam, uh, we'd like to 0:06:19.718 --> 0:06:22.458 bring to your attention, etc., etc., etc. and it. Really 0:06:22.458 --> 0:06:26.178 does have all the main points, which is really amazing. 0:06:26.898 --> 0:06:29.208 This is the one that I particularly like when I'm 0:06:29.208 --> 0:06:33.648 using and doing research for the show is automatic text summarization. 0:06:33.648 --> 0:06:36.198 So I can actually ask a AI to summarize an 0:06:36.198 --> 0:06:38.958 article for me, or some text that I've given it, 0:06:38.958 --> 0:06:42.858 and it will give me the main points. When we 0:06:42.858 --> 0:06:48.408 access our smartphones, we're using facial recognition. Again, I spell 0:06:48.408 --> 0:06:51.618 checking you might not think this is AI, but I 0:06:51.648 --> 0:06:56.118 is indeed one version of spell checking word suggestions. So 0:06:56.118 --> 0:06:58.548 this is not so much about word prediction, which is 0:06:58.548 --> 0:07:02.268 another form of AI. This is where you partially type 0:07:02.268 --> 0:07:04.728 in a word, and then the computer comes back and 0:07:04.728 --> 0:07:07.488 gives you a list of other words that are similar 0:07:07.488 --> 0:07:09.408 to the word you just started typing in, which is 0:07:09.408 --> 0:07:14.688 actually really amazing. Uh, cybersecurity is another major one weather prediction, 0:07:14.688 --> 0:07:17.748 because when you ask your weather system or your weather app, 0:07:17.748 --> 0:07:21.108 what's the weather going to be? That's based on computer 0:07:21.108 --> 0:07:24.108 generated weather tables around the world and looking at trends 0:07:24.108 --> 0:07:28.218 and that sort of stuff. Uh, health and well-being, automated 0:07:28.218 --> 0:07:30.468 customer systems. You know, when you ring up those phone 0:07:30.468 --> 0:07:33.138 system and it says, how would you like to chat to? 0:07:33.138 --> 0:07:36.108 And you might say, well, for a mobile, you might 0:07:36.108 --> 0:07:39.018 say mobile or mobile internet. And then it'll keep asking 0:07:39.018 --> 0:07:42.498 you these questions, and I'll just say these ones quickly, 0:07:42.498 --> 0:07:46.158 because they're all sort of similar aviation, shipping trains and 0:07:46.158 --> 0:07:50.118 other forms of public transport, all again driven by AI 0:07:50.118 --> 0:07:54.798 automatic self-driving cars. Who doesn't want one of those automated drones? 0:07:54.798 --> 0:07:58.908 And finally, robotics, which is the the one that scares 0:07:58.908 --> 0:08:01.398 people about, you know, you think of, um, Isaac Asimov 0:08:01.398 --> 0:08:04.068 and other famous science fiction writers. That's the one that 0:08:04.068 --> 0:08:05.988 always gets people worried because they think, well, robots are 0:08:05.988 --> 0:08:07.818 going to take off the world. That'll be the end 0:08:07.818 --> 0:08:09.858 of the human race. So there are all the main 0:08:09.858 --> 0:08:10.818 general ones. 0:08:10.818 --> 0:08:15.318 Let's talk now then, about specifically where it's making a 0:08:15.318 --> 0:08:17.388 difference for people who are blind or have low vision, 0:08:17.388 --> 0:08:19.338 where AI is making a difference. 0:08:19.338 --> 0:08:21.348 So the ones that are making a huge difference, and 0:08:21.348 --> 0:08:23.148 the ones that have already said sort of cover these, 0:08:23.148 --> 0:08:25.248 but these are more specific ones that I guess to 0:08:25.248 --> 0:08:28.758 remind people. So object recognition and of course these are 0:08:28.758 --> 0:08:32.058 mainly all based around your camera and your smartphone. So 0:08:32.058 --> 0:08:35.118 that's tell you what sort of objects may be around you. 0:08:35.958 --> 0:08:38.718 And then we've also got distance from objects. So how 0:08:38.718 --> 0:08:42.048 close is the object away. So that's almost like you 0:08:42.048 --> 0:08:44.988 know a good old orientation mobility to you know beep 0:08:44.988 --> 0:08:49.908 beep or now someone's away indoor navigation as opposed to GPS. 0:08:49.938 --> 0:08:53.658 This is indoor navigation where systems learn a route inside 0:08:53.658 --> 0:08:57.798 a building and then can take identification markers of items 0:08:57.798 --> 0:09:01.068 around you to position you in a, in a building 0:09:01.158 --> 0:09:05.058 sort of very similar to object recognition is scene detection. 0:09:05.058 --> 0:09:08.508 So scene detection is a way where you can take 0:09:08.508 --> 0:09:12.888 a picture of somebody's backyard or a park, and then 0:09:12.888 --> 0:09:15.678 it will tell you the position of things in the park, 0:09:15.678 --> 0:09:19.308 for example. So where the swings are, they'll identify the trees, 0:09:19.308 --> 0:09:20.568 the seats and so on. 0:09:20.568 --> 0:09:23.238 Now this next one really appeals to me on your list. 0:09:23.238 --> 0:09:26.148 The barcode or QR code identification. 0:09:26.148 --> 0:09:30.078 Again, being able to point your camera. And particularly there's 0:09:30.078 --> 0:09:32.658 an app that makes it very easy to access barcodes. 0:09:32.808 --> 0:09:34.548 I don't believe it does QR codes at the moment, 0:09:34.548 --> 0:09:38.718 QR codes, but again, that's actually very effective. The one 0:09:38.718 --> 0:09:41.658 that I don't like because it's it's a factor of light, 0:09:41.658 --> 0:09:45.078 is color recognition because the based on what the light's 0:09:45.078 --> 0:09:47.568 bouncing back from the object, you can get different versions 0:09:47.568 --> 0:09:49.308 of color. So that's a thing that I think needs 0:09:49.308 --> 0:09:52.608 to be worked on. Uh, speaking about light, light detection. 0:09:52.608 --> 0:09:55.518 So you can tell whether a light's on or off 0:09:55.518 --> 0:09:57.468 or a device is on and off by the little 0:09:57.468 --> 0:10:00.648 LED lights on the device. Pebble detection. And I use 0:10:00.648 --> 0:10:04.248 this quite a lot handwriting recognition as opposed to the 0:10:04.248 --> 0:10:07.368 other one, which is also optical character recognition OCR for 0:10:07.368 --> 0:10:12.588 reading text. So handwriting is very cool. Voice control. So again, 0:10:12.978 --> 0:10:16.428 this is probably more advanced than just general speech recognition. 0:10:16.428 --> 0:10:20.028 This is also being able to control your assistive technology, 0:10:20.088 --> 0:10:24.288 whether it's a screen reader or screen magnifier, switch control, etc. 0:10:24.288 --> 0:10:27.558 and interact with the computer. So you're using the computer, 0:10:27.558 --> 0:10:33.108 the program and your assistive technology. It's really, really amazing. 0:10:33.348 --> 0:10:35.688 And tell us about some of the apps that really 0:10:35.688 --> 0:10:37.548 excel with AI. 0:10:37.578 --> 0:10:41.088 These apps are actually going to be quite well known 0:10:41.088 --> 0:10:44.058 to people. And the first one we have to mention 0:10:44.058 --> 0:10:47.508 for both iOS and I'm pleased to say Android now is, 0:10:47.508 --> 0:10:50.568 of course, the Seeing Eye app from Microsoft. And that's 0:10:50.568 --> 0:10:54.618 a suite of applications inside it called channels. So you've 0:10:54.618 --> 0:10:57.978 got things like short text, OCR, document text for OCR 0:10:58.008 --> 0:11:02.478 product recognition, which is barcode. Um, you've got people detection, 0:11:02.478 --> 0:11:07.758 you've got scene detection, light detection, currency detection, color detection 0:11:07.758 --> 0:11:08.808 and so on. 0:11:08.808 --> 0:11:10.968 I just want to put in a quick word here 0:11:10.968 --> 0:11:15.018 for the document reader in seeing AI, because seeing AI 0:11:15.018 --> 0:11:18.708 is really improved. I put my rates notice in front 0:11:18.708 --> 0:11:22.828 of it the other day and. Instead of it reading 0:11:22.828 --> 0:11:25.498 me the whole document, I said, can you tell me 0:11:25.498 --> 0:11:29.488 when the due date is? Can you tell me the amount, 0:11:29.518 --> 0:11:32.578 total amount owing, etc.? It's really good. 0:11:32.578 --> 0:11:35.578 Yeah, it does work really well, particularly when you can actually, uh, 0:11:35.578 --> 0:11:37.648 I don't like the word interrogate, but you can ask 0:11:37.648 --> 0:11:41.308 questions about the document that it's just read, and you 0:11:41.308 --> 0:11:45.148 can really narrow down on the information that it's got. Uh, so, 0:11:45.148 --> 0:11:47.458 so to me, that's the main one that stands out, 0:11:47.458 --> 0:11:50.668 you know, really for the last 12 months, um, of course, 0:11:50.668 --> 0:11:54.118 the one, the main one. Besides seeing I now on Android, 0:11:54.118 --> 0:11:57.748 you've got the lookout app, which does stuff primarily very 0:11:57.748 --> 0:12:02.548 similar to seeing a I. And then there's other, you know, 0:12:02.548 --> 0:12:05.458 assistive tech ones and of course, the, the couple of 0:12:05.458 --> 0:12:08.878 the main ones that I use for, you know, I 0:12:08.908 --> 0:12:13.078 chat type stuff is of course the chat GPT because 0:12:13.078 --> 0:12:15.988 it's got that voice mode now where you can speak 0:12:15.988 --> 0:12:19.318 to it and it speaks to you, uh, being the 0:12:19.318 --> 0:12:23.278 new version that's now called copilot, that's a live search, 0:12:23.278 --> 0:12:25.558 plus a large language model, and the one that I 0:12:25.558 --> 0:12:27.688 use on the Mac all the time now is actually 0:12:27.688 --> 0:12:31.288 Copilot itself via the web page on the Mac, which 0:12:31.378 --> 0:12:35.998 of course is built in to Windows 10 and 11 now. 0:12:35.998 --> 0:12:37.468 So that's actually pretty cool. 0:12:37.468 --> 0:12:41.278 Perplexity is another very popular one that certainly works in 0:12:41.278 --> 0:12:45.028 the iOS environment. And we mustn't forget to acknowledge the 0:12:45.058 --> 0:12:48.058 be my eyes virtual assistant. Be my eye. 0:12:48.058 --> 0:12:50.848 Yeah, that's actually really set the bar extremely high. And 0:12:50.848 --> 0:12:52.798 of course, that's where you can take a photo of 0:12:52.798 --> 0:12:54.808 something and it gives you back all the information. And 0:12:54.808 --> 0:12:58.318 you can also ask it questions as well. So I think, 0:12:58.318 --> 0:13:00.748 you know, given that this stuff's jumped up in the 0:13:00.748 --> 0:13:02.968 last year or so, um, I think it's going to 0:13:02.968 --> 0:13:05.848 be really amazing where this stuff goes in the next, 0:13:05.848 --> 0:13:07.348 you know, next year or so even. 0:13:07.768 --> 0:13:08.128 Um. 0:13:08.668 --> 0:13:11.848 All right. So that's, uh, I and I wonder what 0:13:11.848 --> 0:13:14.158 we'll be saying about it in 12 months time. 0:13:14.458 --> 0:13:16.288 I think we'll have our socks blown off in another 0:13:16.288 --> 0:13:20.998 12 months. Besides the web and mobile phones, this, for me, 0:13:20.998 --> 0:13:24.388 is the next third thing in 30 years of doing 0:13:24.388 --> 0:13:27.298 my job. Then I'll be really, really, really excited about. 0:13:27.298 --> 0:13:31.078 So that's I our take on it at the moment. 0:13:31.138 --> 0:13:34.258 Before we go, a reminder of where people can find 0:13:34.258 --> 0:13:36.898 details of what we've been talking about in this and 0:13:36.898 --> 0:13:38.458 previous editions of the program. 0:13:38.728 --> 0:13:41.728 As always, you can check out my blog site, which 0:13:41.728 --> 0:13:46.318 is David Wood Beard Podbean pod ban.com. 0:13:46.318 --> 0:13:51.178 David Wood beard Podbean pod b e a Encom to 0:13:51.178 --> 0:13:52.228 write to the program. 0:13:52.228 --> 0:13:56.128 You can write to me at David Dot Woodbridge how 0:13:56.128 --> 0:13:58.018 it sounds at Vision Australia. 0:13:58.198 --> 0:14:04.858 Org David Woodbridge at Vision Australia. Org or jolly Stephen 0:14:04.858 --> 0:14:11.248 at gmail.com. Jolly Stephen j o l l e y 0:14:11.428 --> 0:14:17.068 s t e p h e n at gmail.com. This 0:14:17.068 --> 0:14:20.158 has been talking tech. We've been hearing from Vision Australia's 0:14:20.158 --> 0:14:25.228 National Advisor on Access Technology, David Woodbridge, reflecting on developments 0:14:25.228 --> 0:14:29.578 in technology throughout 2023. I'm Stephen Jolly. Take care. We'll 0:14:29.578 --> 0:14:31.138 talk more tech next week. See you.