5 ms·

Can you share some ways AI has changed your life?

darkwater 11mo ago
I guess that auto-generated audio descriptions for (almost?) any video you want is a very, very nice feature for a blind person.
- baq 11mo ago
  guessing that being able to hear a description of what the camera is seeing (basically a special case of a video) in any circumstances is indeed life changing if you're blind...? take a picture through the window and ask what's the commotion? door closed outside that's normally open - take a picture, tell me if there's a sign on it? etc.
- tippa123 11mo ago
  My two cents, this seems like a case where it’s better to wait for the person’s response instead of guessing.
  - darkwater 11mo ago
    Fair enough. Anyway I wasn't trying to say what actually changed GP's life, I was just expressing my opinion on what video models could potentially bring as an improvement to a blind person.
  - nkmnz 11mo ago
    My two cents, this seems like a comment it should be up to the OP to make instead of virtue signaling.
    - tippa123 11mo ago
      > Can you share some ways AI has changed your life? A question directed to GP, directly asking about their life and pointing this out is somehow virtue signalling, OK.
      - throwup238 11mo ago
        You can safely assume that anyone who uses “virtue signaling” unironically has nothing substantive to say.
        SV_BubbleTime 11mo ago
        >[People who call out performative bullshit should be ignored because they’re totally wrong and I totally mean it.] Maybe you’re just being defensive? I’m sure he didn’t mean an attack at you personally.
        throwup238 11mo ago
        It’s presumptuous of you to assume I was offended. Accusing someone of “virtue signaling” is itself virtue signaling, just for a different in-group to use as a thought terminating cliche. It has been for decades. “Performative bullshit” is a great way to put it, just not in the way you intended. If the OP had a substantive point to make they would have made it instead of using vague ad hominem that’s so 2008 it could be the opening track on a Best of Glenn Beck album (that’s roughly when I remember “virtue signaling” becoming a cliche).
        nkmnz 11mo ago
        Funny coming from someone who tells others not to speak unless asked, while no one asked them either.
    - fragmede 11mo ago
      From the list of virtues, which one was this signaling? https://www.virtuesforlife.com/virtues-list/ https://www.virtuesforlife.com/virtues-list/
      - efs24 11mo ago
        I’d guess: Respect, consideration, authenticity, fairness. Or should I too perhaps wait for OP to respond.
      - SV_BubbleTime 11mo ago
        [flagged]
    - foobarian 11mo ago
      Yall could have gotten a serviceable answer about this topic out of ChatGPT. 2025 version of "let me google that for you"
    - MangoToupe 11mo ago
      ...you know, people can have opinions about the best way to behave outside of self-aggrandizement, even if your brain can't grasp this concept.
      - nkmnz 11mo ago
        exactly
  - meindnoch 11mo ago
    [flagged]
    - georgebcrawford 11mo ago
      > The metaphor of assigning a literal monetary value to one's opinion reinforces the idea that contributions are transactional and that their "worth" is measured through an economic lens. That framing can be exclusionary, especially for people who have been historically marginalized by economic systems. It subtly normalizes a worldview where only those with enough "currency" - social, financial, or otherwise - deserve to be heard. No. It’s acknowledging that that perhaps one’s opinion may not be as useful as somebody else’s in that moment. Which is often true! Your first and third paragraphs are true, but they don’t apply to every bloody phrase.
    - kachapopopow 11mo ago
      people put too much weight onto words, the first lesson I learned on the internet is that words are harmless, might be deeply painful for some, but because people as my self put no weight behind them we don't even have a concept of keeping such things mindful since it never crosses our minds and it's really difficult to see if any other way even if we try to since it just seems like a bad joke. And when I say 'it never crosses our minds' I really mean it, there's zero thoughts between thinking about a message and having it show up in a text box. A really great example are slurs, for a lot of people they have to double take, but there's zero extra neurons fired when I read them. I guess early internet culture is to blame since all kinds of language was completely uncensored and it was very common to run into very hostile people/content.
    - Moomoomoo309 11mo ago
      The two cents are not literally monetary - your opinion is literally the two cents. You're contributing your understanding to the shared pot of understanding and that's represented by putting money into the pot, showing you have skin in the game. It's contributing to a larger body of knowledge by putting your small piece in - the phrases you suggest don't have that context behind them and in my opinion are worse for it. The beauty of the phrase is because the two cents are your opinion, everyone has enough, because everyone can have an opinion. The lens through which you're analyzing the phrase is coloring how you see it negatively, and the one I'm using is doing the opposite. There is no need to change the phrase, just how it's viewed, I think.
gostsamo 11mo ago
Not the gp, but currently reading a web novel with a card game where the author didn't include alt text in the card images. I contacted them about it and they started, but in the meantime ai was a big help. all kinds of other images on the internet as well when they are significant to understanding the surrounding text. better search experience when Google, DDG, and the like make finding answers difficult. I might use smart glasses for better outdoor orientation, though a good solution might take some time. phone camera plus ai is also situationally useful.
- dzhiurgis 11mo ago
  As a (web app) developer I never quite sure what to put in alt. Figured you might have some advice here?
  - gostsamo 11mo ago
    The question to ask is, what a sighted person learns after looking at the image? The answer is the alt text. E.g if the image is a floppy, maybe you communicate that this is the save button. If it shows a cat sleeping on the windowsill, the alt text is yep: "my cat looking cute while sleeping on the windowsill".
    - michaelbuckbee 11mo ago
      I really like how you framed this as the takeaway or learning that needs to happen as what should be in the alt and not a recitation of the image. Where I've often had issues is more for things like business charts and illustrations and less cute cat photos.
      - travisjungroth 11mo ago
        It might be that you’re not perfectly clear on what exactly you’re trying to convey with the image and why it’s there.
        11mo ago
devinprater 11mo ago
Image descriptions. TalkBack on Android has it built in and uses Gemini. VoiceOver still uses some older, less accurate, and far less descriptive ML model, but we can share images to Seeing AI or Be My Eyes and such and get a description. Video descriptions, through PiccyBot, have made watching more visual videos or videos where things happen that don't make sense without visuals much easier. Of course, it'd be much better if YouTube incorporated audio description through AI the same way they do captions, but that may happen in a good 2 years or so. I'm not holding my breath. Google as a whole is hard to get accessibility out of more than the bare minimum. Looking up information like restaurant menus. Yes it can make things up, but worst-case, the waiter says they don't have that.

I guess that auto-generated audio descriptions for (almost?) any video you want is a very, very nice feature for a blind person.

baq 11mo ago
guessing that being able to hear a description of what the camera is seeing (basically a special case of a video) in any circumstances is indeed life changing if you're blind...? take a picture through the window and ask what's the commotion? door closed outside that's normally open - take a picture, tell me if there's a sign on it? etc.
tippa123 11mo ago
My two cents, this seems like a case where it’s better to wait for the person’s response instead of guessing.
- darkwater 11mo ago
  Fair enough. Anyway I wasn't trying to say what actually changed GP's life, I was just expressing my opinion on what video models could potentially bring as an improvement to a blind person.
- nkmnz 11mo ago
  My two cents, this seems like a comment it should be up to the OP to make instead of virtue signaling.
  - tippa123 11mo ago
    > Can you share some ways AI has changed your life? A question directed to GP, directly asking about their life and pointing this out is somehow virtue signalling, OK.
    - throwup238 11mo ago
      You can safely assume that anyone who uses “virtue signaling” unironically has nothing substantive to say.
      - SV_BubbleTime 11mo ago
        >[People who call out performative bullshit should be ignored because they’re totally wrong and I totally mean it.] Maybe you’re just being defensive? I’m sure he didn’t mean an attack at you personally.
        throwup238 11mo ago
        It’s presumptuous of you to assume I was offended. Accusing someone of “virtue signaling” is itself virtue signaling, just for a different in-group to use as a thought terminating cliche. It has been for decades. “Performative bullshit” is a great way to put it, just not in the way you intended. If the OP had a substantive point to make they would have made it instead of using vague ad hominem that’s so 2008 it could be the opening track on a Best of Glenn Beck album (that’s roughly when I remember “virtue signaling” becoming a cliche).
      - nkmnz 11mo ago
        Funny coming from someone who tells others not to speak unless asked, while no one asked them either.
  - fragmede 11mo ago
    From the list of virtues, which one was this signaling? https://www.virtuesforlife.com/virtues-list/ https://www.virtuesforlife.com/virtues-list/
    - efs24 11mo ago
      I’d guess: Respect, consideration, authenticity, fairness. Or should I too perhaps wait for OP to respond.
    - SV_BubbleTime 11mo ago
      [flagged]
  - foobarian 11mo ago
    Yall could have gotten a serviceable answer about this topic out of ChatGPT. 2025 version of "let me google that for you"
  - MangoToupe 11mo ago
    ...you know, people can have opinions about the best way to behave outside of self-aggrandizement, even if your brain can't grasp this concept.
    - nkmnz 11mo ago
      exactly
- meindnoch 11mo ago
  [flagged]
  - georgebcrawford 11mo ago
    > The metaphor of assigning a literal monetary value to one's opinion reinforces the idea that contributions are transactional and that their "worth" is measured through an economic lens. That framing can be exclusionary, especially for people who have been historically marginalized by economic systems. It subtly normalizes a worldview where only those with enough "currency" - social, financial, or otherwise - deserve to be heard. No. It’s acknowledging that that perhaps one’s opinion may not be as useful as somebody else’s in that moment. Which is often true! Your first and third paragraphs are true, but they don’t apply to every bloody phrase.
  - kachapopopow 11mo ago
    people put too much weight onto words, the first lesson I learned on the internet is that words are harmless, might be deeply painful for some, but because people as my self put no weight behind them we don't even have a concept of keeping such things mindful since it never crosses our minds and it's really difficult to see if any other way even if we try to since it just seems like a bad joke. And when I say 'it never crosses our minds' I really mean it, there's zero thoughts between thinking about a message and having it show up in a text box. A really great example are slurs, for a lot of people they have to double take, but there's zero extra neurons fired when I read them. I guess early internet culture is to blame since all kinds of language was completely uncensored and it was very common to run into very hostile people/content.
  - Moomoomoo309 11mo ago
    The two cents are not literally monetary - your opinion is literally the two cents. You're contributing your understanding to the shared pot of understanding and that's represented by putting money into the pot, showing you have skin in the game. It's contributing to a larger body of knowledge by putting your small piece in - the phrases you suggest don't have that context behind them and in my opinion are worse for it. The beauty of the phrase is because the two cents are your opinion, everyone has enough, because everyone can have an opinion. The lens through which you're analyzing the phrase is coloring how you see it negatively, and the one I'm using is doing the opposite. There is no need to change the phrase, just how it's viewed, I think.

gostsamo 11mo ago

Not the gp, but currently reading a web novel with a card game where the author didn't include alt text in the card images. I contacted them about it and they started, but in the meantime ai was a big help. all kinds of other images on the internet as well when they are significant to understanding the surrounding text. better search experience when Google, DDG, and the like make finding answers difficult. I might use smart glasses for better outdoor orientation, though a good solution might take some time. phone camera plus ai is also situationally useful.

dzhiurgis 11mo ago
As a (web app) developer I never quite sure what to put in alt. Figured you might have some advice here?
- gostsamo 11mo ago
  The question to ask is, what a sighted person learns after looking at the image? The answer is the alt text. E.g if the image is a floppy, maybe you communicate that this is the save button. If it shows a cat sleeping on the windowsill, the alt text is yep: "my cat looking cute while sleeping on the windowsill".
  - michaelbuckbee 11mo ago
    I really like how you framed this as the takeaway or learning that needs to happen as what should be in the alt and not a recitation of the image. Where I've often had issues is more for things like business charts and illustrations and less cute cat photos.
    - travisjungroth 11mo ago
      It might be that you’re not perfectly clear on what exactly you’re trying to convey with the image and why it’s there.
      - 11mo ago

devinprater 11mo ago

Image descriptions. TalkBack on Android has it built in and uses Gemini. VoiceOver still uses some older, less accurate, and far less descriptive ML model, but we can share images to Seeing AI or Be My Eyes and such and get a description. Video descriptions, through PiccyBot, have made watching more visual videos or videos where things happen that don't make sense without visuals much easier. Of course, it'd be much better if YouTube incorporated audio description through AI the same way they do captions, but that may happen in a good 2 years or so. I'm not holding my breath. Google as a whole is hard to get accessibility out of more than the bare minimum. Looking up information like restaurant menus. Yes it can make things up, but worst-case, the waiter says they don't have that.