Wow! Technology has come such a long way since I was 10. I've just had a quick test run of the Seeing AI app by Microsoft. It's currently only available on iPhone or iPad, but 10 year old me is totally geeking out.
We were asked to invent something new by our 5th grade teacher, and I invented a scanning device that you could install over your trash or recycles to help you generate a shopping list as you consume items from your fridge or pantry - just scan them on the way into the trash and they'll be added to your shopping list. There are so many apps out there now that are capable of this invention and so much more.
Seeing AI
The Seeing AI app can scan product barcodes, read documents (both printed and handwritten), identify objects in your surroundings, and identify people. In my initial testing, it works really well, and had a surprisingly high percentage of New Zealand food products in its scanning database. Unfortunately, it cannot yet ID New Zealand currency - only Brazilian Real, British Pounds, Canadian Dollars, Euros, Indian Rupees, Japanese Yen, Turkish Lira and US Dollars. It also thought I was 2 years older than I am - how rude! I guess I'll forgive it just this once, but only because 10 year old me is so impressed at how close it got.
Responsible AI
As artificial intelligence becomes more prevalent and advances, we need to ensure it does so responsibly. This can be something as simple as using the word 'probably' in front of each AI prediction. The Seeing AI app prefaces each photo analysis with 'probably':
- Probably a large glass ceiling
MS Learn Modules
Follow along with my learnings by completing the Get started with AI on Azure MS Learn module. It has a great interactive activity on Responsible AI and also gives some really cool examples of AI (such as the Seeing AI app) that you can check out.
