[Athen] AI tool question

[Top Tech Tidbits via athen-list]

I could not agree with you more Debee. While there isn’t yet a widely known tool that fully automates the process of describing all images in a Word document or PDF at once, there are some promising approaches and partial solutions:

 

1.	Microsoft 365’s Accessibility Checker & Alt Text Auto-Generation

*	Word and PowerPoint in Microsoft 365 have an automatic alt text generation feature. It can generate descriptions for images, but it requires manual review and editing.
*	You can run the Accessibility Checker (Review > Check Accessibility) to find missing alt text and fill in some of it automatically.

 

2.	Adobe Acrobat Pro (for PDFs)

*	Acrobat has "Auto-Tag Document" in its accessibility tools, which sometimes adds descriptions, but they are basic and often need improvement.
*	You can also extract all images and process them separately with an AI tool.

 

3.	Seeing AI & Lookout (for scanning documents)

*	If the document is printed or saved as an image-based PDF, Seeing AI (iOS) and Google Lookout (Android) can scan pages and read out descriptions of images alongside the text.

 

4.	Custom AI Workflows (Python + GPT-based models)

*	If you're open to a more technical approach, you can extract images from a document using Python (with PyMuPDF or pdf2image for PDFs, or python-docx for Word) and run them through AI vision models like OpenAI's GPT-4V, Google Vision AI, or Microsoft Azure Computer Vision to generate descriptions automatically.

 

5.	Be My Eyes (AI-Powered Virtual Assistant Mode)

*	The latest AI-powered "Virtual Volunteer" mode in Be My Eyes (powered by GPT-4V) allows users to upload an entire document with images and get descriptions—though still not fully automated.

 

Possible Future Solutions

 

It would be amazing if JAWS, NVDA, or another screen reader implemented a feature where you could just press a button, and it would automatically describe all images in a document in one go. Hopefully, developers will take note of this need!

 

Aaron Di Blasi,  <https://www.pmi.org/> PMP

 

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From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of Deborah Armstrong via athen-list
Sent: Saturday, February 1, 2025 5:04 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: [Athen] AI tool question

 

Has anyone found a tool that will automatically describe all pictures in a word document or PDF, such as a class handout, a slide ceck or a textbook chapter?

I know JAWS has a great picture smart AI feature that lets you locate a graphic on a web page or in a document and have it thoroughly described, but the user has to locate the picture, focus on it, and hit the right keystrokes.

And users of other screen readers can download the free Be My Eyes app for Windows to do the same thing.

A variety of iPhone and Android apps also describe pictures and scenes for the visually impaired including Seeing AI, Lookout, Speak-A-Boo, Focus Assist and and Be My Eyes. And of course the Meta smart glasses are super for this as well if properly prompted. 

But I know of no tool that has automated this for an entire document.

It would be so cool if such a tool existed.

--Debee

 

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