On July 31, 2025, the final presentation of the VISUAL project took place. The initiative was launched by Prof. Dr. Oliver Bendel from the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW). It was carried out by Doris Jovic, who is completing her Bachelor’s degree in Business Information Technology (BIT) in Basel. “VISUAL” stands for “Virtual Inclusive Safaris for Unique Adventures and Learning”. All over the world, there are webcams showing wild animals. Sighted individuals can use them to go on photo or video safaris from the comfort of their couches. However, blind and visually impaired people are at a disadvantage. As part of Inclusive AI, a prototype was developed specifically for them in this project. Public webcams around the world that are focused on wildlife are accessed. Users can choose between various habitats on land or in water. Additionally, they can select a profile – either “Adult” or “Child” – and a role such as “Safari Adventurer,” “Field Scientist”, or “Calm Observer”. When a live video is launched, three screenshots are taken and compiled into a bundle. This bundle is then analyzed and evaluated by GPT-4o, a multimodal large language model (MLLM). The user receives a spoken description of the scene and the activities. The needs of blind and visually impaired users were gathered through an accessible online survey, supported by FHNW staff member Artan Llugaxhija. The project is likely one of the first to combine Inclusive AI with new approaches from the field of Animal-Computer Interaction (ACI).
BY OLIVER BENDEL
