Woowa Brothers, the operator of food delivery app Baedal Minjok (Baemin), said Wednesday it has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) feature that describes food photos in detail to help visually impaired users navigate the app, ahead of Korea's Day of Persons with Disabilities on April 20.
The feature uses AI to analyze images within the delivery app and vividly describe the color of the food, the degree to which it is cooked, and the visual form of key ingredients, delivering the descriptions through voice. The company collaborated with AI startup ConnectBrick to enable visually impaired users to select menu items conveniently and intuitively.
Baemin began developing the feature in February. Together with social venture Missionit, the company conducted tests on 30 visually impaired participants at the Siloam Center for the Visually Impaired in Gwanak-gu, Seoul, from March 31 to April 2. Participants gave the feature a score of 4.5 out of 5 in a usefulness evaluation. Baemin plans to review ways to apply the AI food-photo description feature to its actual service.
"Beyond simple social contribution, we will actively fulfill our corporate social responsibility of improving accessibility by strengthening the core functions of our service to realize social value and ensure that everyone can enjoy the benefits of technology without discrimination," a Woowa Brothers official said.
