Accessibility NYC Meetup Recap: “Aira: AR to Enhance Information Access and Cultural Experiences for the Blind.”

All right! Hello, Accessibility New York City! What a great crowd! Right?

Yes! (applause) Here at Thoughtbot, again, tonight, we really appreciate Thoughtbot for hosting most of our meetups here in New York City. We meet on the first Tuesday of every month, and sometimes sporadically, we'll add an additional event. This month, we're having a second event.

Two weeks from now, we're gonna be having another event around disability and arts access. Theater. So kind of outside of the technology spectrum. But very happy to be here tonight on our regular Tuesday night, to really talk about exciting technology.

Aira, this idea of persistent audio description or the ability for someone who is blind or low vision to get a description of the actual physical world around them, wherever they are, is extremely exciting. You know, a couple years ago -- maybe it was like three years ago -- we had a presentation from a university, kind of talking about this idea. Sort of academic research. And I remember it being very exciting, but also...

Hey. That's great. You see a demo. How is that actually gonna work?

And I'm just very excited to have Mr. Watts here from Aira to talk about us. I really believe in them. Obviously they've had a lot of success.

There's a lot of people -- they've won numerous awards. And they actually have the right idea around providing this service, providing this ability for people, and I think for us, doing our meetup, we appreciated last month with WGBH, from the National Center for Accessible Media, having Aira provide sponsorship to provide live audio description for people who are blind or low vision in our audience. If something wasn't described on our live meeting, then that type of service can provide the description, provide -- maybe the presenter forgets to add the visual description.

So for us, it's like... We're always trying to evolve. We try to be as high-tech as we can with our meetup. And it was definitely exciting to get introduced and learn about what Aira is doing in this space.

And, you know, I think we're all excited to hear more tonight, and see what you guys are up to. Thanks for coming!

Thanks for having me tonight. I certainly appreciate it. Am I on? Is that any better?

Testing? One, two, three? We have a good signal? Yeah?

MIRABAI: A little fuzzy.

Testing, one, two, three. I'll stop touching that cable.

MIRABAI: Thanks!

Good?

MIRABAI: Yeah!

Great. So...

If you're gonna carry it around, just use the other one.

So... Let's quickly kind of just set the context tonight. So my name is Marty Watts. I'm the director of sales at Aira.

I've been here with the company for the last nine months. It's just been a tremendous period of growth. And in that nine-month span, a phenomenal effort of how we need to evolve and continue to give unprecedented levels of access to people who are blind or low vision. So what we're gonna paint the picture for tonight is lots of talk around the Connected City.

Smart cities. Lots of different technologies that are empowering and enabling that. From Aira's standpoint, we're viewing a connected city in its most raw form of... Just like many places that you travel today -- probably offered you free Wi-Fi.

Aira believes that those same businesses should provide access to our service, as a courtesy to those who are blind or low vision. To take it one step further, a smart or connected city, for example, they keep the streetlights on for those who have sight to be able to navigate and walk and go where they need to go. Businesses keep the electricity running. So we believe in that same premise, in that same context, that access to information shouldn't come at a cost to that person.

So we're working hard to build the truly connected city, and we're gonna talk about different ways that we're doing that tonight. So this slide is depicting what we would envision as hospitals, transportation systems, college campuses, employers, hotels, restaurants. Basically any business entity that interacts with consumers -- and all of them do -- who may be blind or low vision, they have the opportunity to provide immediate and unrestricted access to information, using Aira.

So this is what we're striving towards. This is what we're building in all major metropolitan cities across the country, currently. In our most raw form, Aira truly is as simple as a mobile app running on your phone, a live video stream, with a highly trained remote human agent. That agent is there to do one thing, and that's to deliver immediate access to information.

And so I get out my phone. I push a button. In about 10 to 15 seconds, a highly trained live agent answers my call. Our video stream comes through our smart glasses.

And then in realtime, our agent sees exactly what that camera sees. And so at that point, really, it becomes the imagination of the Aira Explorer. So if you use Aira, we call you an Explorer, because we truly believe that you are exploring with our service. And you can use Aira to do very ordinary things, or very extraordinary things.

And so I have a few videos that we're gonna run through, that will kind of show you different use cases, that will kind of, I think, broaden the horizon with what you would assume might not be possible, being blind or low vision. And Aira... What Aira will show you will make some very unique things possible. So we're gonna start with...

One of our Aira Explorers went to Disney. And so the Disney experience -- very rich with audio. Also very rich with visual information. And we had the ability to provide that level of detail that Sheila was looking for, taking in a Disney show.

So we'll go ahead and play this right here. So...

MIRABAI: Okay. I'll caption the next one.

Okay. Got it. Thank you. So in an environment that typically wouldn't be very inviting for someone who's blind, being that all of that situational detail, all of that context, would be left out.

They would just be reliant on maybe what a friend who's with them, who's sighted, would be explaining, as far as what was happening in that show. And here Sheila was probably wearing either a wired or a Bluetooth headset. She was communicating with Max. She wouldn't have had to say a word.

She chose that to be a two-way conversation. And Max was literally just play by play, explaining everything he could, with great detail, what was happening at that show. So that's a very extraordinary thing. That's a rich media environment, and Aira is able to provide that level of detail, to let that person experience the same experience that I would, having sight.

And I think that's how we're designed. Is that that explorer was using Aira on her terms, when and where she wanted. And our agents were there to rise to the occasion, no matter what that request or task is. This is an Explorer of ours whose name is James.

And we're gonna get to watch how he experienced the eclipse this past year.

It changed. Grown so much. And so much for the better. Looking back ten years ago, I would not have envisioned that.

I'm married, have a home in Nashville, going to Vanderbilt University, have a guide dog. A family. My wife. Proper training of assistive technology.

And even though I'm blind, I'm still very visual. And so (inaudible) my environment for things to me (inaudible) I look forward to being able to appreciate (inaudible) see the eclipse...

MIRABAI: Audio cutting out?

Audible experience. It's a skill. It's the details that an Aira agent is trusted to provide. Keeping up with that quality of service is super important for Aira.

And that's where AT&T will actually come into play.

You ready for this eclipse? In the middle of... You're in the middle of a large field... I see a lady.

She's waving to you.

My glasses on. Let's put them on!

Looks like we're almost there. Because the sun is a very, very tiny little (inaudible). You can see (inaudible). It's getting...

It is (inaudible). (cheering)

Well, that was worth the cut out. So... That was a fairly... That was another use case of an extraordinary event.

And I think... Why that was so special for us at Aira is that James was once able to experience an eclipse, when he had sight. So he was referencing experiences and memories that he hadn't tapped into, in many, many years. And so it was just...

For us, it was... When the idea was first pitched, it was like... Well, what do you mean we're gonna watch the eclipse? And then it just slowly started to unfold, and it was such an amazing experience to hear Amy, who is our vice-president of customer experience, who started as one of our original Aira agents as well, provide that level of description, of that complete visual experience.

No sound other than the crowd and his family was present. So anyone who's blind or low vision with Aira -- there's not a single experience that they couldn't be able to participate in. And that's what's so exciting to us. Is that when we talk with people, and they ask us: Well, I don't understand.

What would I use Aira for? I have my routine. I'm used to doing what I do. And I think...

One of the things we really try and focus on is that you probably won't change your routine. Your skills as a cane user, as a guide dog user, are there as your core. As your foundation. Aira is not a mobility tool.

We're not a mobility aid. We don't replace those skills. We simply provide more supporting information. More details.

And so in that context of someone who, you know, is a skilled traveler, there's lots of information in between point A and point B that they simply don't have. Some great examples would be: I'm traveling from where I normally go to, and I think that the closest trip to the bank for me is all the way across town. That, for the past few years, I've been having to take a bus to get there.

So all I knew was that my Wells Fargo bank was in this location. In a street I walked on every single day. There was a local branch that we were able to make one of our Explorers aware of, just to drastically increase efficiencies. Following that path.

Very skilled traveler. But had no idea that there was something very useful to them in their daily travels. (peppy music)

Hi, Greg. Thanks for calling Aira. This is Erin.

Hi, Erin. So... I am at this corner bakery, and I am gonna grab something to eat. Can you tell me where I need to go to get the menu?

Sure. If you don't mind scanning your head slightly to the left... So the back of the line is here in front of you. So if you want to take a few steps forward...

Great. So the floor will change from carpet to tile, it looks like. And if you'll pause here... Great.

So I see the menu here. If you don't mind pausing your head, I'm gonna snap a photo, to allow me to zoom into all the content.

Let's get a cup of soup and a sandwich.

They have a long list of signature sandwiches. And it looks like it starts with a turkey avocado. Then a chicken pesto. Ham and Swiss on a pretzel roll.

And tomato mozzarella.

I'm gonna do the chicken pesto and a cup of the chili and we'll call it a day.

Awesome. If you move forward, the cashier is ready for you now.

Hi. Can I do the two options -- the chicken pesto sandwich, and then the chili?

59 is your number.

She left the fountain drink on the counter. If you want to go to your left, you'll fill up a soda. I see a sign that says beverages. The soda machine is here slightly on the right hand side.

It looks like they serve Coke products.

I'm gonna get some ice first. I think that's in the middle. And then I'm looking for Coke Zero.

You got it. It looks like Coke Zero is actually the last one on the left hand side. Yep, exactly. That one.

So it looks like the straws and lids are on the left hand side. And here if you extend one of your hands, you'll feel the lids first, and the straws are two tiers behind the lids. Great. So we're gonna continue on this path you're walking.

And you're in a tight space here, between all these tables. And then it's gonna jog slightly to the right. And then your table is here on the right hand side.

Wonderful.

Great.

Thank you, my dear. I appreciate it.

Sure. My pleasure.

So the restaurant experience is challenging, in that there's typically a lot of visual assistance that's needed. There's finding the end of a line. Understanding the menu. Again, we saw Greg trying to just navigate and find the soft drink machine.

Where cups and straws were. And again, all things that he could figure out. That he could either -- using his skills, he could find it. It would take time.

Or he could ask for help. But now, in a very autonomous way, Greg can roll into any restaurant. Even in advance, the Aira agent could call up the menu in advance and prep him before he even arrives, so that he can just locate the counter, and make that choice completely independently. I know buffet lines are very troublesome for people who are blind or low vision.

And Aira just completely removes that barrier or that obstacle. What we're able to also see on the screen -- we kind of were flashing back and forth. You were able to see the agent's dashboard. So basically that view of what our agent sees is the live streaming view from your camera, the Google Street Map view, as well as the 3D map where I see the Aira Explorer as a dot, so I know exactly where you are.

I'm tracking you at all times. So our glasses have sensor data, including GPS. So we're always able to locate and know exactly where you are. From a navigation standpoint, there's nowhere where we couldn't provide information or context to, in terms of directions.

Just a great use case of a very common task, of being able to walk around the corner, and do it in an independent fashion. So this slide -- very visual. So I'm gonna go through and explain it right here. But I'm looking at the City of New York, as a destination city.

And so there's many things that I might want to do here. That, as someone who's blind or low vision, there may be some obstacles in my path. And so part of what Aira is trying to do is just educate people that this is a problem that exists. Because we find most of the time solving for someone who's blind or low vision in your experience, in your location, in your environment, in your business, at your campus, at your hospital, typically isn't top of mind.

And frequently is an afterthought. And so we're just trying to bring awareness to the whole experience of... If I wanted to see a show, how do I locate where I'm buying tickets? How do I find that location on my own?

I think every street I've crossed, in every city I've been, there's construction somewhere. So a typical path may often be blocked. And there's poor signage. Hardly ever in Braille, unless you're inside of a building.

And so there's just... There's many hurdles to get over. And Aira just removes those barriers in an instant. And so this slide shows me the before and after of: How would I know where to get tickets?

Find it? What's happening once I get there? If I wanted to catch a bite to eat, before the show, what are the restaurants available to me? Here in New York, there's an endless list.

What if I wanted to know all of those choices? And then decipher where I wanted to go and eat? I could ask the Aira agent I'm willing to walk five to ten minutes. Where is the best place to get sushi?

They could look up reviews on Yelp and direct me exactly to where I would want to go and eat. So we change the whole experience. With Aira, it becomes on that Explorer's terms. They truly can live in this world and have access to the same visual information that all of us with sight have.

We allow people to move independently, efficiently, with a new level of freedom. Again, they don't need Aira. But Aira certainly gives them information that may enable them to interact with their world in a different way. And that's kind of the...

That's the theme that we're hearing, is that I didn't know this was here. Or I didn't know that Aira could help me do this. A great use case that's been coming up is: Within the Aira app, we can take photos for you. And typically, those are used for social sharing.

So you could share them on your social networks. We had some users who were using it to take a picture of a white board, or an inaccessible slide, with lots of text. Like this. And in that photo, in the xif data, the Aira agent will transcribe everything that's seen.

So when they go to hit that photo again, using VoiceOver, everything in that environment, in that picture, is suddenly now accessible, and they can store it and keep it to whatever they need to do with it. So I think our users are also pushing us to evolve as well. Question? Yeah?

(inaudible)

Could you repeat the question?

So my question is just around: How do you encode that data for a photo? And what types of photos can that agent...

So basically, the agent snaps that photo. It arrives on their local dashboard. And then they basically have the ability to just edit and add that transcription into that photo right there. We can email it to you, so you can then do it and put it wherever you need to put it.

The agent snaps the photo on the device?

Yeah, so our glasses -- they're changing. But our current glasses have an 8-megapixel camera. As well as... They can stream in 680 or 480p.

So they would snap that photo. High-rez. Zoom into all the areas that might not be otherwise seen, and provide that level of transcription. Question over here?

So... First of all, Avi is my name. I have a stroke, so it's hard to communicate. But I was wondering: The blind man or woman is walking with the road, and the car is...

Like, car or bus, whatever -- how do you ask them about -- watch out or whatever? Do you understand?

Great question. Yep. So in terms of safety, which I think is kind of what you're alluding to, so Aira isn't responsible for your personal safety, because we aren't replacing your mobility tool. Your mobility skills.

And so while we will provide information -- let's talk about in terms of a street crossing -- if we can see the crosswalk signal, we would let you know what the information was that it was telling us. But we will never assess or tell you when something or some place is safe. We won't say: You can, you should, or it is safe. We will basically say: I will remain quiet while you cross the street.

While you make the decision to cross. So we know that it's not Aira that's providing that initial decision making point. It's that Explorer's mobility skills. It's what they can hear.

It's how they're using their cane. It's what their guide dog is communicating to them. We might be able to provide another layer of detail in terms of -- I see that it's a four-lane road. You are right in the middle of the pedestrian walkway.

But we won't ever tell you when you should cross or when something is safe. Does that answer your question? Okay, great. So let's talk about the people who are fielding all of our Explorers' calls.

So our agents. Aira currently has about 75 agents across the country. All of them work remotely from home. Many of them have second or third jobs.

And they basically can work when they need to work. They can pick up shifts whenever they like. The training to become an agent is quite extensive. So here's a neat stat.

So we've had over 10,000 people apply to be an Aira agent. And we filled roughly 75 positions. So it's a highly sought after job. And I think part of it is that there's that allure of working from home.

But then there's just this tremendous sense of purpose and well-being, being able to connect with someone. And frankly, exciting. You never know what's gonna be on the other end of that call. And so our agents love it.

And basically the training program is that: Prescreening test is given. You have to receive a 90 or higher. That moves your resume into the pile to be able to be eligible for an actual job interview. And then from there, there's plenty of soft skills and markers that we're looking for.

But you go through a program that's online training, that we've built. It takes roughly two to four weeks. And it just shows us your ability to be superior in your navigation skills and how you're using those in the context of maybe a stressful environment. So we have mock scenarios that we'll put people through.

You have to provide agenting services for someone who has sight first, in a controlled environment. So we can assess you and how you work there. You have to provide agenting skills in an environment where you may lose your internet connection. And the last known position you saw on the map -- our Explorer was here.

You know that they're trying to get and accomplish this and go there. And then if you make your way through those, then we have you agent for... We have Explorers who donate their time to us, to help us train our agents. And so, again, controlled, closed environments, agenting for someone who's blind or low vision.

And if you pass those tests, then you reserve the right to join the ranks of the agent team and take calls from live explorers in a shadowed environment, with your agent analyst. So all of our agents roll up to an analyst. That's basically their lead. And then you are...

You go through a very strenuous evaluation process of your audio description skills, your attention to detail, and how you're communicating -- in a very clear and effective manner.

Is there a rating system for the Explorers to rate the describer? Or a way to give feedback?

Yes. So at the end of every call, I have the ability to say whether it was a good call or whether it was a bad call, and then I have a free text field, where I can type in or I can dictate why it was good or why it was bad. We take random samples of all calls, and then of course anything that didn't receive a positive rating would be reviewed for quality and for accuracy.

Good question. So what we're gonna go through here is: This is a detailed view of our dashboard. So we'll start with the live streaming view of our camera. We partner with AT&T.

AT&T lets us leverage dynamic traffic management, which -- the best way to describe that is... If we were all traveling on a crowded highway, and there was a traffic jam, when the ambulance comes through, that's DTM. And so DTM clears a path. It's a private network.

It's the same network that FEMA uses. We're not on quite as high of a priority as FEMA. But it just assures that we're not competing or jockeying for signal, and just allows Aira's stream to be unrestricted. So we see the live streaming view of our camera.

And then here we see you on the map. So we have your GPS location. So as you're moving, traveling, tracking on a bus, walking, we know exactly where you are at all times. Up here, we see profile information.

Or things that you've connected to or plugged into Aira. And I think this is really gonna be an area where we continue to grow. Is -- you talk about the smart connected home. And all the things you can connect back to your smart device.

And your smartwatch. And all the health features. So while we don't have them all connected today, there's certainly no reason why we wouldn't be able to leverage those APIs and bring all of that same data into the Aira environment. I think if we were forecasting into the future: What is Aira like in one, three, or five years, then I think...

Who knows what's gonna happen with smart devices? But certainly the way that you interface with Alexa or Google currently... We desire to have that same conversational tone. Where you can speak to Aira, and Aira can do way more than just what our agents can currently do today.

And that is gonna happen with our AI. So actually we made a product announcement today at the HIMMS conference in Las Vegas. I have a video I can show at the end. We unveiled our new glasses, but then we also unveiled our artificial intelligence engine, which is named Chloe.

Chloe is voice activated. She's able to read text, and the product demonstration was showing how Chloe can identify and read prescription medicine bottles. All of that fine print. So that's really just the first iteration of our AI.

Is reading text. Soon it will be identifying objects. Soon after, it will be identifying the emotions on your face with someone who I'm having a conversation with. And then very useful things like...

Chloe, locate the door. How do I locate the door of the room that I just walked through? So I think Aira will continue to evolve in that fashion, as well. And then we build a personal profile on you.

So we know you're not just who you are and where you live. But we know... Are you a cane user? Are you a guide dog user?

That changes how our agents communicate information to you. So our agents are skilled, knowing that if you use a cane, I don't need to... I may not need to make you aware of certain things that I would want to make you aware of, if you're a guide dog user. So our agents know those differences.

Food preferences. Food allergies. Things that you like. Things that you don't like.

Certain people enjoy different levels of description. So I might only want to be able to focus on the task at hand. I might not want any more supporting description of what's on my route today. Whereas if I wanted to purposely go out and explore a new park, I want to know all about the flowers and trees.

So I can dial up that description with the agent on a call by call basis. We integrate... This is a slightly outdated slide, but we integrate with Uber and Lyft. You call the Aira agent, and they will basically call an Uber or Lyft for you.

Providing that extra level of information that is sometimes useful, as far as... Where are you in location to your driver? Are you on the right side of the street? Does the license plate match?

So that there's less fumbling. And so typically that Explorer will call Aira to call that ride share service, and then they disconnect when they're having their trip, and when they arrive again, they'll connect to make sure that... Frequently there's not a lot of care given to where someone's dropped off. If they're on the right side of the street or even the right part of the block.

So Aira is able to help them provide that level of detail and service as well. So... I just want to stake my claim that I'm dead set on enabling New York to be a smart and accessible city. And I think that the way Aira is going to do it is through partnering with everyone here in this room, who probably has meaningful and deep relationships with business owners, who may find the Aira story compelling, and may want to become a member of one of our Aira site access networks.

So I think the way that we grow is just like... The premise of Aira, which is to provide ins and access to information, is just sharing. So I would just encourage... If you're curious, or if you're wondering how we might be a fit, I would love to have a conversation with you.

So I'm gonna play our other video, which was not part of my deck, so we can look at the product announcement that came out today.

By using these glasses, by connecting to the network, both by using a remote agent, where it's appropriate, as well as the new feature that we're really excited about, called Chloe -- Chloe adds an artificial intelligent agent that can do great tasks like read things for people. One of the great design features that Aira included into this is making it completely hands-free. So now all you have to do is look at something and say: Hey, Chloe!

Read this! And the algorithm will analyze what you're looking at. Find the text. And read it to you in your ear.

Hey, Chloe. Identify.

I see a CVS pharmacy bottle. It says warfarin sodium tablet. Take one tablet every day.

Thanks, Chloe.

Some of the cooler kind of technological advances that come with these new glasses that Aira developed -- because the camera goes from the side to the middle, you get 120 degrees, both vertically and horizontally, for the agent to view or for our algorithms to analyze. So in the initial prototype we developed with Aira to get to market quickly, we provided them an LTE hotspot to use for this. Which meant the user had to carry around a couple of different devices to make this work.

In the new version, it's a single device, through a mobile phone that the glasses connect to. So one less thing for folks to carry around.

So that was released today. So they announced that today. And I think from our standpoint, our solution to date, as was mentioned in the video, is glasses.

If life is about a series of moments...

Sorry about that.

Smart glasses... Oh, it is on there. Oh, it's not. Okay.

Smart glasses. And we also are sending you a hotspot from AT&T. So we provide your data. So you run our app on your phone.

We give you the hotspot. We give you our glasses. There's no cost for hardware. Aira truly is a subscription-based service.

So it's month to month. Our plans start at $89 for 100 minutes, and basically, as long as you want to stay an Explorer, you can. There's no fees to start. There's no fees to cancel.

And so this is our wireless solution, currently. Using these glasses right here. In my hand. What will be unique with our new smart glasses is that they're tethered.

There will be a cable to a companion device that all it will do is run Aira. It will be one button, touch to call. So it lets us enter the market for people that may not ever own a smartphone. It also lets us enter the market with people that may not want to carry around their phone and the hotspot and glasses.

But most importantly, it gets us to the best camera in any smart glasses on the market. So currently, our field of view in these glasses is 45 degrees, left and right, top and bottom. And we get to move up to 120. And it also lets us now run and release our Chloe AI engine.

So I think it's gonna be just a phenomenal jump for us. And it's something that we've been waiting for, for quite some time. Any questions at all, so far, about how Aira works? Yeah?

Sorry. Do you have a business card as well?

I do. So I thought it would be good... We still have some time... If we ended with kind of a live Aira demo, so you guys can all kind of hear what the agent sees in this room, and kind of how the whole experience works.

So I'll put our smart glasses on. Should I hold the speaker to this mic? Okay. (computer chime)

Connecting to agent.

Thank you for calling Aira. This is Brianna. How can I help you?

Hi, Brianna. This is Marty. How are you?

I'm good. How are you?

So I'm here doing a demo at Thoughtbot for the a11y New York City meetup. I want you to give a description of the room. I'm sure there will be some questions for you. So all audio on this call, when I'm communicating with my agent, this happens through the phone.

So however you talk in the phone normally is how you would use Aira. There was feedback coming from the actual glasses, which is basically just to signify that a call is being made, prior to it actually being connected on this device in our app. It will also let you know battery power on power up, and then it'll make a noise when it turns on or if it shuts down. So in that aspect, it is accessible.

And then now, Brianna is connected. So Brianna, I would ask you: Assume I haven't been here for the last hour. Give me an overview of what this room looks like.

Sure. Absolutely. So there's a really long white table. On the left side of the table, I see five people sitting, two people standing on the back of the room on your left side.

If you could scan to the right just a little bit, it looks like there are... Two people sitting on the right side of the table, and it looks like there's one person... It looks like there may be a desk cut into the wall. There's someone working at a desk there.

So on the table, there are a few items. I see a couple rolls of paper towels and some green potted plants. Now, I want to bring your attention to the ceiling. If you could look up just a little bit, the ceiling in this room is really interesting.

So it's a white ceiling, but there are white beams going across, kind of in the direction that you're facing. But there are also beams that are going left to right. So it's creating a really interesting pattern. There are some really large circular light fixtures coming down from the left to right-facing beams.

Really large circles. Very bright. And there are also, toward the left side of the ceiling, some smaller bulb lights. Like, spheres.

Go ahead and tilt your camera back down. Now, at the back of the room, it looks like... It looks almost like a bar. I see a wooden counter, and it looks like there's kind of a little walk space in between.

I'm getting waved at by someone on the right side. So yeah. At the back, there's kind of like a bar. I thought I saw maybe some bottles sitting behind the counter there.

And it looks like there is... A sliding door. If you don't mind, I'd like to snap a photo. There's either a sliding door or a window.

On the left side of the table, there's either a door or a window. And I saw something written on that piece of glass there. What does that say? Just a second here.

So I do see the label there. I'm not seeing a handle, so I think that's actually going to be... A window. So it says: GLADoS.

It's capital G as in golf, L as in Lima, D as in delta, lowercase o, and S as in Sierra. I think that's maybe Wi-Fi information.

Yep, you're right. You're right.

And then... Just to your left, I can see a white-framed door.

So Brianna, on a map right now, can you just give me a notion of where I am?

Absolutely. So you're definitely in a site access location. It looks like you are near the corner of 38th and Broadway in New York.

So right now the reason that she called that to my attention, that we're in a site access location, is: Aira's currently conducting a test, and so we've enabled site access. So similar to how we would petition and request that businesses provide Aira as a service, we're doing it as a test. So basically the entire city of Manhattan, Denver, LA, and Chicago all are enabled as site access locations for the next 30 days.

And so we're just trying to kind of open the floodgates. And see what happens. See: How does it affect usage? The other thing that's changing too is: Aira is now available to be downloaded and used as a guest by anyone.

So I would encourage all of you to download it and install the Aira app from the App Store, from the Play Store. If you're using VoiceOver, you have to pronounce it "ay-rah", versus our actual name, aye-rah. But it's completely free. And in any site access location, you have service as a courtesy right now, either of the businesses who are paying for it, or for a majority of the cities that I mentioned, it's just Aira providing it to you as an experimentation.

Brianna...

Yes?

What were some of the tasks that you assisted other Explorers with today? Just to give a general sense of how you've been assisting people today.

Sure. So my favorite call today -- we have an Explorer with a young child. And this Explorer had taken this child on a walk yesterday, and the child had dropped a really nice blue sippy cup. And so with the Explorer, I backtracked the walk, to see if we could find it, and we did find it, which was wonderful.

There was another Explorer that called while on the job. This Explorer works on vending machines. And he needed the serial number, model number, and asset number, so that he could contact the company. One vending machine needed to be serviced.

The other had actually been vandalized. Someone had punched out the place where you put the dollars to pay for your products that you're buying from the vending machines. And so this Explorer needed to contact both Pepsi and Coca-Cola to get those fixed. What else did I do today?

I did some traveling. Finding a restaurant walking from a church to a restaurant. I read some mail today.

That's a good overview, Brianna. Does anyone have any questions for her, as an agent? Got one right here. Good.

Anyone else? Oh, you typed it out? Okay, great.

So the question is: Does Chloe recognize text locally or in the cloud? How is Aira data encrypted? Good question.

Right now, all of our AI processing is happening in the cloud. So we're partnered with Amazon. And basically any connection from the Aira agent into the Aira cloud is just over a secure VPN tunnel. Does that answer your question?

Any other questions for Brianna? Okay. Brianna, thank you. Appreciate it.

Absolutely. Have a wonderful rest of your day.

Take care.

Thanks. Bye-bye.

So I just wanted to open it up for any other QA at all for Aira.

So I have a question. Right now your subscription is private pay. I work in health care. Do you have plans in the future to partner with insurance companies?

Because there are a lot of patients that are low vision and/or blind. And of course they could not afford the subscription. So what is the scenario in the future, going forward?

Great question. So we're addressing that twofold. So one: Two weeks ago, we announced the Aira employment program. And what that was is: Our effort to combat the unemployment rate amongst those who are blind and low vision, which is between 60% and 70%, currently.

So what we are committing to is: Anyone using Aira in a job-seeking capacity will do so for completely free. So those minutes won't be subtracted from your subscription. They come as a courtesy. So looking online for a job, dealing with forms that aren't accessible, helping to get your resume polished up, pick out the right outfit, and then we've even worked out with our partnership with Lyft, where we're gonna underwrite the first 100 rides to and from your job interview.

So that's kind of how we're drawing a line in the sand, saying that 70% unemployment rate is not acceptable, and we're gonna do whatever we can to make an impact. To answer your question in terms of partnering with insurance companies, we're first working on becoming approved for purchase by the federal government. So we're working on getting on a GSA schedule. We're dealing on a state by state basis, currently, with Voc Rehab agencies, looking for approval.

Literally from counselor to counselor, to be able to provide Aira as a service. And then I think our next step will be getting traction in that arena of: How do we become an approved device to be covered by an insurance carrier? So we're not yet, but we're absolutely working on it.

Because I overheard your conversation earlier when we were setting up... Are you doing deals with retailers or institutions, so people get free minutes when they're inside the institution?

Yes. So currently when you download and install the Aira app, and you navigate to the "More" tab, you'll see a list of all of our site access locations. And the app will also give you a pop- up, just like when you get close to a Starbucks, it'll let you know you're close. We'll let you know that you're close to a site access location, and that minutes here are free.

We are working with... My goal is every major retailer across the country. Every major hotel chain. Every destination location.

So art museums, in places where they're of culture interest for tourists. Transit systems. So we have active conversations with the City of New York, with how do we make the city more accessible to everyone? So I think there's not a single business entity that wouldn't be a viable candidate to join one of the eight Aira site access networks.

So I think my answer would be: Yes. We aren't providing enough access. Businesses aren't providing enough access, currently. And that's what we're working on changing.

How many different languages do your agents speak? Because here in New York, you know, we have many different ethnicities, and many different languages.

Our agent base currently -- we have about 10% of them that speak multiple languages. The primary additional language is Spanish. I think with each round of hiring that comes of more agents, we're looking... How do we bring in multilingual skilled people, so that we can begin to build that agent base, and be truly multiple languages.

And I think as we expand into other countries too, that will also dictate where we look to hire first, as far as people with this skill set. Can't win with this thing. You had a question too?

Thanks. First, thanks for the presentation. I actually use with some friends... I use Aira.

And I think it works great. I think you have a great idea with these site access locations. Because I'm thinking that it's a way to hook Starbucks, for example, if you think that people are going to read their mail in the Starbucks and maybe get a coffee. So something like that.

It works. I have two questions, actually. One is: What are your thoughts regarding the competition? Maybe OrgCam?

NewEyes, InSight, for example. Big brands. And in the mobile site, for 100% AI apps, like the Microsoft app that was released recently... So what is your opinion regarding those things?

Sure. So I would say in terms of the competitive space that Aira plays in... I think all of those companies are doing phenomenal things. They're changing lives in a very tremendous way.

I think what's unique about Aira -- and it will continue to be unique, because we're first to do it -- is we're human- focused. So the strength of our product isn't in our technology. It's in our agents. It's in those people that sit in their home office and answer the calls from our Explorers all day long.

And I think that's the beauty of Aira, is that the human element can never be underlooked. Can never be ignored. I think what will make us more uniquely special is that we're going to build our product to always have a human in the loop. So we're AI with human in the loop.

So as you're interacting with our AI, if we sense or you reach a point where you're not receiving the data that you need, the agent is there, seamless, to provide that information to you. So very unlike today, with how you might ask Alexa the same question with a few different words ten times, and you don't get what you want. We're gonna design Aira so that we're sensing that. And that we know that we can have that agent come alongside in a very seamless capacity, and provide access to the information that Explorer needs.

So I think our competitors' technology is great. I just think it doesn't quite have the ubiquitous utility that Aira does, because we truly can be leveraged in any situation, and I think from an Explorer's standpoint, we will only become smarter, using more of that information that we know, to let our AI provide faster access to information than maybe even our current agents can. Good question.

My other question is: So from the presentation, the feeling that I got is that Aira is moving towards becoming a complete assistant for everything. Maybe in the future adding things like Alexa, regarding where you eat... Where you are, how you can purchase X or Y. So my question is: In your...

From the Explorer's standpoint, what do they think about independence? Because they are kind of... For some, maybe, they are relying too much on someone else, and they don't feel independent enough. So what's your feeling towards that?

I mean, I think we would always tell the Explorer that you can use Aira in any way that you want. And so if it's in the confines of how you're currently living your life, but you're finding some utility in certain use cases... I mean, to us, that's a win. And then we hear stories on the complete opposite end of that same spectrum, that...

I'm doing this, that I wasn't doing before. I'm doing this without asking for visual assistance. So we're allowing them freedom that they might have felt more comfortable, having someone there who was sighted, to give them data that now Aira can give them. We still know at the end of the day that we aren't replacing any of those mobility skills.

So their core skill set with their cane or their guide dog, or if they have enough usable vision to not need either... We're there basically as support. So I think there's so much visual information in this world that now Aira has the ability to deliver that, in a very seamless fashion, to that Explorer. That was wrong.

Does that answer your question? It does? Okay. We have a question here in the back.

I'm gonna bring you the mic.

Just curious. How did the idea of Aira come up? And who created this Aira thing? And was anyone who created or come up with the idea...

Had vision impairment or not?

Great question. So our CEO and founder, Suman Keneganti, basically was connected with a friend of his, who was another technical person. He was an engineer who was blind. And they were doing the reverse camera FaceTime.

At the same time, Suman was a part of the Google Glass Explorers' Program. So he had Glass. So he employed some family and some friends. Saw the problem.

And leveraged the current smart glass platform available to connect to the console for someone to provide that level of description. So Suman has sight, as does the three other individuals who co-founded Aira with him. Who he was introduced to at a very early stage was a serial entrepreneur from the San Diego area. His name is Larry Bock.

So Larry Bock is legally blind. And he helped shape the direction of Aira at a very early stage. And he breathed a level of confidence into what was being built. And that really is what enabled us to go to market.

Was Larry's help, and basically his assistance. And so Larry passed early last year from pancreatic cancer. And so now Aira's challenge and our legacy and what we're charged with is making Aira a complete success. To basically let Larry's vision live on.

So great question. So the question was: What was Larry doing prior? I think Larry was part of close to... Helping to found or start or develop more than 40 biotech companies in the greater La Jolla area.

So he was an investor. So yes. Aira, of course. AIRA, AI, artificial intelligence, and then RA, some people say it's "remote assistance".

But what we like to explain: The RA part is... The Eye of Ra is an Egyptian god, which was responsible for healing. All things seen and unseen. So it plays very well into what Aira does.

So that is what Aira means. Question?

One more thing. Is disability sport... I will... You can look it up.

No Barriers Summit. But next year is in New York City. Everybody to go to website for No Barriers Summit and look it up, because it's awesome. And next year is in New York City.

So we... We're partnered with them. Eric Weinmeir, I think, is his last name. He is an Aira Explorer.

So yeah. He's used Aira in many adverse conditions, as he is a crazy outdoorsman. So yeah. So I'm sure that we'll absolutely be present at that event here.

For sure. Awesome. John, yeah?

I don't know if he should ask this question, but with that extreme sport kind of perspective... And legal liability? And things? How does your company come around that?

Sorry to put that into the equation.

No, that's a great question. Liability is definitely a concern. So I'll go back to what I said earlier. Is that...

Aira is not a safety device. We don't assess safety. We don't provide opinions. So we just state the facts.

And so when you sign up for Aira, and you install our app, our terms of service will appear on the screen. And it's your obligation to read through them. But basically Aira in the context of... Aira in the context of your personal safety: We are absolved, in that...

Because we aren't providing those objective viewpoints, it basically puts the responsibility in the hands of our Explorer. So... If they're using us in a sporting environment, a crazy... Scaling a mountain, and you have access...

Aira is not there to keep you safe during that endeavor. Aira is there to describe your surroundings. To basically, again... Visual information that you wouldn't have access to.

We're there to give it to you. So it's only under the careful guise of how our agents are trained to interact with you. Is that you aren't able to put that burden on us. And so we clearly let you know that it's up to you and your skills to basically maintain and keep a level of safety that you demand.

That answer your question? Okay. We had a question in the back again. I'm gonna bring you the mic.

So I think you said before that 60% to 70% of the unemployed people are visually impaired? Or something like that? What is the reason behind this? I mean, from that perspective of the...

I don't know. Like, the Aira management.

Sure, sure. So we assessed and met with partners, and met with several of the blind civil rights organizations that we're partnered with. And just came to the conclusion that this is a statistic that everyone agrees on. That it's somewhere between 60% and 70%.

And that Aira wants to draw a line in the sand and reduce that to under 7%. And so our first attempt is basically to let anyone who's an Aira Explorer -- to use Aira to find a job, and to do so at no cost to them. So if you are a subscriber of Aira, and it's gonna take you an hour to look through job boards, and another two hours to get your resume up to snuff, and then you want to go and pick out a nice sweet new suit and make sure everything looks good...

And then all of that time, all that time comes from Aira. So it won't be using your personal subscription minutes.

I think my question wasn't clear enough. What I was saying: What is the reason that led... That led this high percentage? Now how it will be tackled.

I want to know like the reason first, or the problem first.

Got it. I mean, I think it's a misperception by people. Right? Businesses don't...

They don't immediately recognize that there's many roles within their organization that could be filled by someone who's blind or low vision. So I think it just comes down to an awareness issue. And I think part of Aira's mission is to make people aware. And that when we're talking to business owners on a day-to-day basis, to make sure that we're making them aware of that statistic, and that exists.

And then asking them directly: How can you impact that? How can you help us lower it? What positions do you have within your current organization that, if you're not thinking of... Could be filled by someone who's blind, why aren't you?

And so we're gonna continue to ask those same questions, and to generate awareness, to let people know that it's a problem that exists, and they can easily solve it, and that we are an enabling technology. We're a supportive piece of that puzzle. So you as the human have the skills. Aira as a technology is going to enable you to function in that work environment, without waiting for or requiring or needing visual assistance.

And so it's making those employers aware that those two things, which your skills are your skills... You're highly trained. The same as everyone else. Except when you couple that with Aira, they don't have to then say: Well, someone who's blind is gonna need this.

Or is gonna need that. And that's just simply an awareness issue. Does that answer your question? So his response was that it does, but that he's not convinced.

Okay. Another question right here? I'm gonna give you the mic again. I'll read it.

So he's helping to respond. Reasons include sigma, lack of access to skill building and quality training, lack of access to information because of barriers like inaccessible sites and equipment. Anyone else?

Well, I thought that that would make a good place to wrap up. I wanted to thank you for coming and giving the presentation. If we could all... Round of applause!

(applause) And thank you to White Coat Captioning and the Internet Society of New York, and of course, Thoughtbot for hosting. We have another meetup in March. We have a surprise two meetups in one month. Making up for January.

So this is Diversity and Inclusion in the Arts. This will be here at Thoughtbot on the 19th. I'll be out of town, but the others will see you, and we'll have the live stream. So thanks for coming!

We have some time to hang out, if you want. A little bit of time. Feel free to hang out, ask questions, chat, and then bye. Thanks so much!