The 2023 Agenda

Previous Agendas: 2022, 2021, 2020.

  • Main Stage

    Day One: Welcome to Sight Tech Global

    Speakers

    • Karae Lisle photo
      Karae Lisle, Chief Executive Officer, Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired
    • Alice Turner photo
      Alice Turner, Director of Community and Corporate Relations, Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired
    • John Giddings photo
      John Giddings, Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship, Santa Clara University
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  • Main Stage

    Be My AI: What happens when an accessibility favorite makes the jump to AI?

    Founded in 2015 by Hans Jørgen Wiberg, Be My Eyes quickly established itself as a wildly helpful mobile phone app for people with no or limited vision. Today, more than 500,000 blind users rely on 6.8 million sighted volunteers (covering 180 languages) to take their call and, by looking through the camera on the blind user’s phone, describe what they see. The huge leaps in AI capabilities in the past year, however, have opened incredible possibilities.  Can AI do better than all those human volunteers? In September, Be My Eyes launched its chatGPT4 AI-based beta, “Be My AI” in an exclusive collaboration with the leader in generative AI, Sam Altman’s Open AI. We’ll hear from the Be My Eyes team about how they integrated AI, what they are hearing from thousands of users in the beta, and how humans are still in the loop – for now – and how they handle chatGPT’s tendency to “hallucinate.” Immediately after this session, the speakers will be available for live questions in a breakout session listed in the agenda.
    Watch Recording

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  • Main Stage

    Generative AI: What just happened?

    Since the launch of OpenAI's chatGPT in November last year, the technology and startup world have been in transfixed by the possibilities inherent in what's referred to as "generative AI," which means AI that can actually create content, whether that's very fluent sounding essays, stunning images, computer code,  and much more. Many of the sessions at Sight Tech Global discuss the impact of generative AI on accessibility, which is vast, if also problematic in some cases. At the same time, many AI experts warn that generative AI is too powerful, advancing too quickly and argue it should be regulated to prevent a potential catastrophe. Dr. Stuart Russell, Professor of Computer Science at the University of California at Berkeley, is one of the world's leading authorities on AI and author of the bestselling book,  "Human Compatible, Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Control."
    Watch Recording

    Speakers

    • Stuart Russell photo
      Stuart Russell, Professor of Computer Science, University of California at Berkeley
    • Ned Desmond photo
      Moderator: Ned Desmond, Founder and Executive Producer, Sight Tech Global
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  • Breakout

    Live AMA with the Be My AI / Be My Eyes team

    Following the Be My Eyes session on the main stage, please join the Be My Eyes team working on Be My AI for a live AMA to get answers to your questions about this breakthrough application of generative AI to one of the blind community's favorite applications.

    Speakers

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  • Main Stage

    AI gets complicated: emerging debates and surprising challenges

    For all remarkable advantages AI has brought to accessibility, there’s always been a backbeat of issues, notably around certain kinds of bias against people with disabilities. Now that AI is infiltrating more and more day-to-day experiences and generative AI is taking wing, the expanse of issues for blind people is growing fast. In some cases, it’s all about advocating for technologies like autonomous taxis (think Waymo) or facial recognition that present big advantages but are opposed by other interests in the name of privacy or public safety; in other cases, the challenge is making sure emerging generative AIs take into account the worlds of eBraille and the always emerging language of the community.
    Watch Recording

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  • Breakout

    UNICEF and the Perkins School for the Blind: Closing the accessibility gap in research

    Research tools and outputs often rely heavily on visual presentations of data, which can lead to accessibility barriers. UNICEF Innocenti partnered with Perkins Access and the developers of the EPPI-Mapper to create an evidence and gap mapping tool that not only is more accessible for users, but generates a more accessible visualization map of research evidence. Officially launching at SightTechGlobal, this breakout session will explore the motivation behind the EPPI-Mapper’s redevelopment, the accessibility considerations that enhanced its usability, the next steps to continue improving the tool’s accessibility and the implications raised for all types of research. Join the team behind the tool to learn more and get your questions answered, so you can start creating your own, accessible evidence gap maps.
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  • Main Stage

    Where will AI take accessibility? A conversation with Mike Shebanek

    At META, Mike Shebanek has a ringside view of the emerging AI universe. Not only is META one of the top contenders developing the most powerful generative AI models, it is a player in hardware as well, with the rollout later this year of the META Quest 3 AR/VR headset and Ray-Ban META smart glasses.That combined with leadership on the evolution of VoiceOver at Apple earlier in his career, provides Shebanek with almost unique perspective on where accessibility and assistive tech are headed. Are we nearing a time when critical technologies, like GPUs, sensors, and generative, multimodal AI might yield remarkable agents that were once the realm of sci-fi? Will we think of those technologies as purpose-built for people with disabilities, or will they be facets of something much bigger, a vision of universal design, the realization that all tech is assistive technology, to quote the artist and designer, Sara Hendren.
    Watch Recording

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  • Main Stage

    Andrew Leland on his instant classic: "The Country of the Blind"

    To lose one’s sight to the unpredictable course of retinitis pigmentosa is an experience many people with sight loss know all too well. In the US alone, there are an estimated 100,000 people with the condition, but there are not many who happen to be authors and journalists of considerable skill who can relate in a wonderfully compelling detail the very personal experience of  losing their sight while also starting a family, maintaining social and work connections, and navigating the many perspectives on blindness swirling in the American scene. Only human, not artificial, intelligence is on tap for this conversation with the author of the remarkable new book, “The Country of the Blind.”
    Watch Recording

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  • Main Stage

    Glidance: It's not a cane. It's not a dog. It's a self-driving mobility aid.

    For years, technologists have experimented with ways to assemble powerful new technologies like computer vision, digital navigation, and a variety of  sensors to help blind and visually impaired people navigate more easily. Former Microsoft engineer Amos Miller, who is blind himself, had an idea: why not create a device that uses multi-modal AI technology to guide users by attaching the familiar concept of a cane to a small, two-wheel assembly that guides with steering and brakes a user to their destination? Could people, especially those who lose their vision later in life, easily afford the device and use it right out of the box? That’s what Miller aims to deliver with Glidance. Immediately after this session, Amos Miller will be available for live questions in a breakout session listed in the agenda.
    Watch Recording

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  • Main Stage

    Wisk: The people's autonomous (and accessible!) air taxi

    “Where is my flying car?” is a longstanding Silicon Valley lament. Almost here, is the answer, and the startup Wisk is one of many startups closing in on that promise with an autonomous (no pilot), electric, 12-prop four-seater that’s more or less like a flying Waymo, only it will initially fly only pre-set routes to destinations like LAX airport from locations around LA. Beat the traffic, right? What’s remarkable about Wisk is how they are building accessibility into the Wisk experience from the start. That narrow staircase for passengers? Guide dogs need something wider. Check.
    Watch Recording

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  • Breakout

    Live AMA with the founder of Glidance

    Join the founder of Glidance, Amos Miller, for a live AMA following his main stage session.

    Speakers

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  • Main Stage

    The Screen Reader Interoperability Gap – A Hidden Systemic Barrier

    At Sight Tech Global two years ago, we unveiled the ARIA AT initiative, which aimed to address the frustrating, damaging reality that screen readers are not interoperable on the Web, unlike their cousins for sighted users – browsers like Chrome and Safari. In other words,any developer that takes accessibility seriously has to test their code on JAWS, VoiceOver, NVDA and the rest. In this session, the people advancing the ARIA AT project  are back with a refresher, progress to report, and a call to action.
    Watch Recording

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  • Main Stage

    Waymo in San Francisco: A lesson in public advocacy for AI

    Who loves the idea of autonomous, driverless taxis best? Hard to say, but anyone who is blind will likely tell you they can’t wait. Why? The human drivers in ride-share apps turn down passengers with guide dogs, and driving with a stranger is that much more stressful when you can’t see them. And fundamentally, it’s about mobility without reliance on other people. That’s why Lighthouse and NFB took a big interest in Waymo’s San Francisco rollout and even took up the cause for the autonomous taxis.
    Watch Recording

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  • Breakout

    Live AMA with the ARIA AT team

    Join the ARIA AT team for a live AMA on their work following their session on the main stage.

    Speakers

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  • Main Stage

    See you tomorrow!

    Speakers

    • Alice Turner photo
      Alice Turner, Director of Community and Corporate Relations, Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired
    • John Giddings photo
      John Giddings, Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship, Santa Clara University
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  • Main Stage

    Welcome to Day Two of Sight Tech Global

    Speakers

    • Alice Turner photo
      Alice Turner, Director of Community and Corporate Relations, Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired
    • John Giddings photo
      John Giddings, Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship, Santa Clara University
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  • Main Stage

    Seeing AI meets Generative AI - The View from Microsoft

    Microsoft’s Saqib Shaikh co-founded the Seeing AI app, which was one of the first deployments of AI computer vision in an app to help blind users “narrate the world around you” by using AI to describe nearby people, text and objects. Shaikh’s employer, Microsoft, is a leading investor in OpenAI, the organization that created the ground-breaking chatGPT, a type of AI called “generative” because of its ability to “generate” novel content in response to questions. Today, Seeing AI can tell you there is a chair in the room because it is “trained”  to identify a chair. With chatGPT, Seeing AI might be able to answer a random question it was not specifically trained for, such as,”Is there a cat in the room?” The answers chatGPT provides can be wondrous or wildly off base “hallucinations,” in the lingo of AI specialists. Can generative AI’s quirky nature be tamed for accessibility?
    Watch Recording

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  • Main Stage

    Why did the AI cross the street? The OKO app story

    Did that mechanical voice just say it’s safe to cross the street? It’s a dilemma every blind person faces when they are about to step off the curb. What if the camera on the back of your mobile phone could assess the signals and your path to make a crossing safer? A small team of AI engineers at the startup AYES took on that challenge and created the OKO app, which uses computer-vision-based AI to “read” the signals and suggest when it’s safe to cross. How does the app work and just how safe is it?
    Watch Recording

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  • Main Stage

    dot 2.0

    With new partnerships to lean on and generative AI looking to make their dynamic tactile display more useful than ever, the founders of the DOT pad return to Sight Tech Global to discuss how their vision for the breakthrough device is fast evolving, including a new, faster Dot Pad that can refresh in the blink of an eye.
    Watch Recording

    Speakers

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  • Breakout

    Live AMA with the founder of the OKO app from AYES

    Following the main stage session with OKO, join the startup's founder, Michiel Janssen, for a live AMA.

    Speakers

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  • Main Stage

    The Timing for APH's Monarch tactile display could not be better

    At Sight Tech Global we rarely track products from year to year, but APH’s Monarch tactile display for the education market is an important exception. APH’s collaboration with Humanware and DOT is targeted at the education market to deliver not just a ground-breaking dynamic Braille tablet that can “receive digital textbooks from APH and other providers, significantly reducing the time to fingertips for our students” and at the same time render the charts and graphs crucial to STEM education. Add to that the possibilities of the past year’s breakthroughs in generative AI, and Monarch’s horizon looks even more exciting.  Greg Stilson will be available for live questions in a breakout session listed in the agenda.
    Watch Recording

    Speakers

    • Greg Stilson Photo
      Greg Stilson, Head of Global Technology Innovation, The American Printing House for the Blind
    • Dr. Joshua Miele Photo
      Moderator: Dr. Joshua Miele, Principal Accessibility Researcher, Amazon
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  • Main Stage

    Salesforce: The Office of Accessibility - four years on

    Nearly four years ago, Salesforce stepped ahead in the tech and corporate world by announcing the formation of an Office of Accessibility, charged with pulling together all the strands of accessibility across the CRM giant, including workforce development, product development and design, and customer relations. Sight Tech Global touched base with the fledgling effort in 2020 and in this session we’ll hear what the accessibility team has learned after three years work to ensure every aspect of Salesforce embraces accessibility.
    Watch Recording

    Speakers

    • Kristian Burch photo
      Kristian Burch, Director of Accessibility Programs and Compliance, Salesforce
    • Derek Featherstone, VP of Accessibility & Inclusive Design, Salesforce
    • Paige Gulacy photo
      Paige Gulacy, Accessibility Support Engineering Manager, Salesforce
    • Larry Goldberg photo
      Moderator: Larry Goldberg, Accessibility Sensei & Technology Consultant
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  • Breakout

    Live AMA with Greg Stilson on APH's Monarch tactile display

    Following his session on the main stage, join Greg Stilson for a live AMA focused on the APH Monarch rollout.

    Speakers

    • Greg Stilson Photo
      Greg Stilson, Head of Global Technology Innovation, The American Printing House for the Blind
    • Andrew Flatres photo
      Andrew Flatres, Braille Product Manager, HumanWare Technologies
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  • Breakout

    Live AMA on alt text with Scribely's Caroline Desrosiers

    Join Scribely's CEO and Founder Caroline Desrosier for a live AMA on alt text and Scribble's groundbreaking work to improve the quality and quantity of alt text for images online.

    Speakers

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  • Main Stage

    Can we enlist AI to accelerate human-led work in alt text and audio description?

    To watch the recently released “All The Light We Cannot See” with audio descriptions “on” is a revelation, at least for a sighted person. The audio description uses words sparingly to augment the obvious soundscape and to call out subtle details anyone might easily miss. It’s art only a human team could produce (sorry AI proponents), but then it’s also expensive and time consuming. In that regard, producing alt text for images online or audio descriptions for video face the same challenge: how to do more and do it well. At Scribely and MAX, the human-first approach is uppermost, but they are also exploring how AI and related tech can be narrowly channeled to speed up their vital work.
    Watch Recording

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  • Main Stage

    Envision: What happens when smart glasses really get smart?

    Envision is a pioneer in the effort to connect computer vision with everyday life in the form of tech-enabled glasses that can tell a blind user about their surroundings. Using the Google glass platform, Envision found a market with blind users who value a hands-free interaction, and the experience only got better with the launch of scene description AIs in the past two years. But what’s really changed the game for Envision is generative AI, and the tantalizing possibility of a multimodal AI that’s more like an all-around personal assistant. Immediately following this session, Karthik Mahadevan will be available to take questions live in a breakout session.
    Watch Recording

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  • Breakout

    Behind-the-Scenes With Max: A Q&A Session with Max’s Angela McIntosh on the Streaming Platform and the Future of Accessibility

    After the session on AI and Media, join Warner Brothers Discovery's Angela McIntosh for a live AMA on audio description at Max®. Warner Brother Discovery's Max®, which launched May 23 2023, is an enhanced streaming platform.  Listen in to live answers to your questions regarding audio description on Max and the future of accessibility in streaming platforms.

    Speakers

    • Angela McIntosh photo
      Angela McIntosh, Senior Product Director for Accessibility, Warner Bros. Discovery
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  • Main Stage

    Thank you and final remarks

    Speakers

    • Alice Turner photo
      Alice Turner, Director of Community and Corporate Relations, Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired
    • John Giddings photo
      John Giddings, Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship, Santa Clara University
    • Karae Lisle photo
      Karae Lisle, Chief Executive Officer, Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired
    Concluded
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  • Breakout

    Live AMA with Envision's Karthik Mahadevan: The Future of AI Smartglasses

    Immerse yourself in a 30-minute online session focusing on the innovative world of AI smartglasses. Discover the latest advancements, future potential, and real-world applications from an industry expert. The session includes an interactive Q&A, offering a unique opportunity for deep engagement and learning.

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