Google’s Super Bowl Ad Shows the Pixel Helping Blind People Take Photos
Google has revealed its ad for Super Bowl 2024 which shows off the Pixel 8’s feature for disabled people by following a blind man and his girlfriend.
It highlights the Guided Frame AI feature which allows the main character Javier — who is blind — to take pictures by making use of the smartphone’s ability to identify information about the surroundings.
The Guided Frame feature can recognize faces, pets, food, and even objects; the Pixel 8 speaks out loud what’s in the picture which helps Javier compose his photos.
To make the short film, Google partnered with award-winning filmmaker Adam Morse who is also blind. The film features blurry shots that are supposed to represent what Javier can see; to achieve this, Morse painted the camera lens with petroleum jelly
“Javier in Frame is a story about a man who is blind as he documents his life — from finding love to starting a family,” writes KR Liu, Google’s Head of Disability Innovation.
“To take photos of each moment, he uses Guided Frame, our AI-powered accessibility feature for the Pixel camera that uses a combination of audio cues, high-contrast animations, and haptic (tactile) feedback to help people who are blind and low-vision take photos.”
Liu says that the Super Bowl ad highlights how real people are impacted by the advances in AI technology found on the Pixel. The nifty feature will even guide the photographer on where to point the lens by saying things like, “Move your phone slightly down.”
“I’m doing my best to translate an experience of blindness that feels authentic to me, that can also be accessible for people with sight,” says director Adam Morse who uses extra-large monitors to help him see what he is filming.
“One of the biggest misconceptions of being blind is people think you have to use a guide dog or walk around with a cane.
“It’s an almost invisible disability. My actual eyeballs look fine; it’s my optic nerve that’s dead.
“Through the corner of my eye, I’ll have an influence over the framing, but not be able to pick up on the details. I rely on my team to look at the details for me.”
The Pixel 8 recently scored highly in PetaPixel’s battle of the big three smartphone cameras.
