Blind people turn to AI-powered app using phone camera as "mirror"

The implementation of artificial intelligence in mobile apps is enabling blind people to access visual feedback about their appearance — in some cases for the first time — but the emotional and psychological implications of this shift are only beginning to surface.

An increasing number of blind users are turning to mobile apps such as Be My Eyes, which takes a photo and answers users’ questions about what it shows, as highlighted in a recent BBC report.

"All our lives, blind people have had to grapple with the idea that seeing ourselves is impossible, that we are beautiful on the inside, and the first thing we judge about a person is their voice, but we know we'll never be able to see them," says Lucy Edwards, a blind content creator who rose to fame on YouTube.

"Suddenly we have access to all this information about ourselves, about the world, it changes our lives."

The technology behind Be My Eyes and similar apps goes beyond simply describing what appears in a photo. It can offer critique, draw comparisons and even provide advice — reshaping how some blind users perceive themselves.

The BBC article recounts how the author applied skincare and asked the app for feedback. "Your skin is hydrated, but it definitely doesn't look like the almost perfect example of reflective skin, with non-existent pores as if it were glass, in beauty ads," the AI said.

For many people with visual impairments, such capabilities can be empowering. But specialists caution that heightened awareness of physical appearance — driven by apps like these — could also contribute to lower body image satisfaction and increased anxiety.

"When we started in 2017, we were able to offer basic descriptions, just a short sentence of two or three words," says Karthik Mahadevan, chief executive of Envision, an early adopter of artificial intelligence tools designed for blind users. Envision initially launched as a mobile app that used character recognition to read printed text aloud. It has since integrated advanced AI models into smart glasses and developed an assistant — accessible via web, smartphones and the glasses themselves — to help users engage more fully with their surroundings.

"Some use it for obvious things, like reading letters or shopping, but we were surprised by the number of customers who use it to do their makeup or coordinate their outfits," Mahadevan adds. "Often the first question they ask is how they look."

There are now at least four apps specialising in this kind of service. At a user’s request, some can evaluate a person’s appearance against what AI systems interpret as conventional beauty standards, compare them to others and suggest specific changes.

Researchers note that there is still limited data on how such tools affect blind users over time. However, body image experts warn that AI-generated feedback may not always be constructive. Image-generating systems, for example, have been shown to reinforce idealised Western body standards — a reflection of the datasets on which they are trained.

By Nazrin Sadigova