Google announces new accessibility features

Google has announced AI-powered accessibility features marking Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), the company said in a blog post.

The tech giant has made its live captions feature available to more users on Chrome, Android and Google Meet to generate real-time captions.

Meanwhile, Google is also testing a new ‘caption box’ for Android tablets.

Google launched a new feature within Lookout called ‘image question and answer’ for select individuals from the blind and low-vision communities. Lookout, established in 2019, uses AI to help individuals accomplish everyday tasks.

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The latest development allows Lookout to process an image and provide a description even if it does not contain of captions or alt text. The feature is powered by an advanced visual language model developed by Google DeepMind.

The tech giant is making the icon showing ‘wheelchair-accessible places’ visible for everyone on Maps.

The feature is accessible under ‘about’ features of a venue on Google Maps. Users can also contribute by adding inputs in the ‘about’ tab.

Google Maps shows wheelchair accessibility

Google will introduce Wear OS 4 with a new text-to-speech experience later this year.

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In addition, the tech giant has tweaked its Chrome browser. The browser will now detect URL typos and suggest websites based on the corrections.

Google said the feature is available on Chrome desktop and will roll out to mobile in the coming months.

Chrome recently added new functionality for TalkBack users on Android to manage and organise tabs easily.

Meanwhile, the tech giant has stepped up to delete inactive Google accounts, including Google Workspace (Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, and Calendar), YouTube, and Google Photos, without any activity for at least two years.