👉 More: About This Webinar that took place on June 26, 2025 live on LinkedIn.

📽️ Recording: Available for free on YouTube here.

TRANSCRIPT:

Podcast Commentator: Welcome to podcasts by Doctor Kirk Adams, where we bring you powerful conversations with leading voices in disability rights, employment and inclusion. Our guests share their expertise, experiences and strategies to inspire action and create a more inclusive world. If you're passionate about social justice or want to make a difference, you're in the right place. Let's dive in with your host, doctor Kirk Adams.

Dr. Kirk Adams: Welcome, everybody. I am Doctor Kirk Adams, and this is my monthly live streamed webinar. And it is Supercharge Your Bottom Line through Disability Inclusion. And today we have a really special focus on technology. And my dear friend and colleague Aaron Di Blasi is here with us today. So say hi Aaron.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Hello, everyone. How are you?

Dr. Kirk Adams: And I'll ask you. I'll ask Aaron to talk a little bit about himself and what he does before he he teaches us, teaches us a thing or two. But but the focus today is really on technology and use of technology as blind people and how important and essential it is. And in preparing for this meeting, I thought of a couple things. One is the concept of the expanded core curriculum, and that is a framework that was developed by Doctor Phil Kaplan along with the American Foundation for the blind. And I had the honor and privilege of serving as president and CEO of American Foundation for the blind. Afp for a time. And I got to know Doctor Phil Hanlon, and I actually recruited him to the board of directors for the Seattle Lighthouse for the blind when I when I was in serving as the leader here. But the expanded core curriculum is is something that blind kids in school are made aware of at some point where they're told, okay, blind student, you need to learn all the things the sighted kids learn and these nine other things that you're going to have to work longer and harder than your sighted classmates, because you're going to need to learn orientation and mobility so you can travel independently and safely. You're going to have to learn self-advocacy, because you are going to have to advocate yourself in ways that your sighted classmates will not have to. You're going to have to learn to access print materials and alternative formats, whether that's braille, large print, magnification, audio, and you're going to have to master assistive technology.

Dr. Kirk Adams: And that's what we're going to talk about a bit today. It also made me think of my dissertation. I have a PhD in leadership and change from Antioch University, and employment is my passion for people with disabilities. People who are blind in particular, as only 35% of us are in the workforce. About half of the the percentage of the general population, working age adults. And that means there's a lot of poverty and a lot of bad things happen. Poverty. So all all the bad health, health outcomes, the substance use disorders and depression and you know, all, all, all the bad things. So I personally and professionally and academically try, try to address that by creating opportunities for blind people and people with other disabilities to thrive in employment settings. So my dissertation is it's called Journeys Through Rough Country and ethnographic study of blind adults employed in large American corporations. So. So I interviewed a lot of really cool blind people who self-identified as successfully employed. And when I asked them what what what's your what's your metric for success? They all said money to to earn an appropriate salary, to have the freedom and flexibility to make spending decisions and have the resources to to do the things I want to do in life. And then I ask people, what were the factors that allowed them to be successfully employed in these large American corporations? So it was it was the usual usual suspects Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, meta, AT&T, Chase Bank, Boeing.

Dr. Kirk Adams: Et cetera, et cetera. And there were some themes that emerged. There were there were eight success themes and family support was one being involved in some sort of team activity as a youth, like on a sports team or a choir or a debate team or something like that. A sense of agency, a strong internal locus of control where people felt that they could create their own pathways forward. If they had obstacles, they could figure out how to overcome those obstacles. And a lot of folks trace that back to some pivotal experience or experiences, and a lot of them that were outdoors, like rock climbing or skiing or horseback riding or something that that that gave people the feeling in their bones that they could, could do what they wanted to do in their lives, as opposed to a strong external locus of control where you feel stuff. Stuff happens to you and there's there's not much you can do about it. And, you know, my retina is detached. When I was five and I became blind very suddenly. And I went to a school for blind children first, second and third grade at the Oregon State School for the blind. And they very intentionally gave me some of these things.

Dr. Kirk Adams: That these successfully employed blind adults said led to their successes. One one was blindness skills. So I learned to read and write Braille. There was no question I had to do that because I couldn't see. And I learned how to travel confidently with a long white cane as a six year old. And I learned how to type on a typewriter. It would be keyboarding today, but they taught us how to type in first grade. So when we were ready, we could go into public school and be successful, which I, which I did on fourth grade. The the other thing they gave me along with my family, was high expectations of the people I interviewed for my dissertation. Often commented on that the school. If blindness was your only disabling condition, then you were expected to be at grade level. My parents were both teachers. My dad was a high school basketball coach. They they didn't want to see anything less than an A on a report card. They expected us to do chores and be involved in athletics and school activities. And so I was given that gift of high expectations. And, you know, unfortunately a lot of kids with disabilities aren't in that situation. They're born into families like I was. I had no experience with people with disabilities. And maybe in a school that doesn't have much of an experience. So sometimes there's there's oftentimes there's misconceptions and misperceptions about our capabilities. And you know, sometimes those low expectations get it Internalized.

Dr. Kirk Adams: And then the other thing I was given was what I mentioned before. That's that strong an internal locus of control. And they did that on purpose. Now I know. You know, they took us backpacking Three Sisters Wilderness Area and horseback riding up in the snowfields on Mount Hood. Buildings, you know, snow forts out of giant snowballs and and climbing around in the tide pools on the Oregon coast looking for sea anemones and, you know, climbing trees and making tree forts and, you know, falling down and skinning our knees and bumps and bruises and things that all little kids get. So I was given all those things and then back, back to the dissertation, one of the and reflecting back on the expanded core curriculum, one of the success factors I won't mention was the mastery of technology. And so they talked about the fact I need to be able to use the tools everyone else uses at my workplace just as well as they can. And that means I have to learn how to use assistive technology, and I have to be a master of assistive technology. And I will confess, I am not a master of of any technology. I grew up with a slate and stylus. I still have one in my briefcase. I've got a Perkins Brailler here. I do have a I use a Braille sense Android based tablet with a refreshed Braille display.

Dr. Kirk Adams: I have a 80 character, 80 character, brilliant braille display on the desk in front of me, attached to my laptop. I have a Braille embosser behind me. I have an iPhone with VoiceOver, but I am. I'm scratching the surface of what's available to us. And the people I interviewed for my dissertation were all masters. They needed to be in order to achieve what they achieved and rise to the levels they had in their corporations. So we We have so many tools available to us. It's sometimes overwhelming. There are many people. Many people. Wonderfully. Valiantly. Thank you, thank you. Trying to create new technologies that will accelerate our inclusion into all aspects of society, education and leisure and employment. Different people favor different things. People adopt different things. But I will I will say one thing I understand to be true is we all need to learn how to harness. I and I've, I've started. I used ChatGPT. I have it on my lap desktop. I have it on my phone as an app. They're linked together, which is cool, and it's starting to learn me as I write and add content. I am learning a lot from Aaron to see who has been guiding me and harnessing the power of AI in certain ways. Again, I'm I'm really scratching the surface. And Aaron asked me maybe 6 or 7 weeks ago. Are you are you using advanced voice mode? Chatgpt. And I said no. What's that?

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: I screamed.

Dr. Kirk Adams: I said, you're you're missing the screamed. You're missing the boat, my friend.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Well, I just knew you would get the most value out of it for sure. Yeah, so?

Dr. Kirk Adams: So Aaron and I thought it would be a good idea to spend some time on this monthly live stream webinar talking about that particular Resource, and I'm going to turn it over to you, Erin. And you know, ask you first to spend a few minutes to talk about what you do, what my solutions does, and your involvement, engagement with our community. And then I'll, I'll let you take take it from there, as you will. So I'm handing the talking stick to Aaron Di Blasi.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Thank you very much. Hello, everyone. Good afternoon. It's a pleasure to be here, doctor Adams. Thank you for having me. Just a bit of background about myself. My name is Aaron Di Blasi. I am the senior project management professional for a digital marketing agency out of Cleveland, Ohio that I founded in 2004 by the name of Main Vault Solutions. During that time, we encountered a man named Larry Lewis and Dean Martin now, who were starting a newsletter by the name of Top Tech Tidbits. And we worked with them for 17 years to bring top tech tidbits to the access community. And after 17 years, Larry stepped away and my company, my vault, decided to take it on and try to fund it. So I asked them my involved the board, if they would give me two years to fund it, and we were able to do it in about a year and a half. So anybody who reads that newsletter knows, you know, what we've done and how we've done it. In November of 2022, we spun off a second newsletter because the information that we were getting was so robust that it was starting to move away from assistive technology a little bit, which blind people did not appreciate because that's what they come to top tech tidbits for.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: So we spun off a new newsletter called Access Information News. And people will say to me, well, what's the difference in the news between tidbits and access information news? And then, as a tidbit, stays true to its focus of assistive technology, whereas Access Information News now covers medical breakthroughs legal cases and opinion editorials. You know, basically what blind people in the community think about certain products because they were kind of starting to clog the other newsletter. And then in 2025, we spun off a third newsletter from Top Tech Tidbits, which was AI weekly. And that's just because of the wealth of AI information that is now flowing through the community. Top tech tidbit still maintains a section which is specific to AI for assistive technology, which readers really appreciate. We get a lot of feedback on that every week. These are our primary contributions to the assistive technology community, is just stewarding these newsletters and kind of keeping them alive for the sake of the community. We don't own them. No one makes any money out of them. The community owns them, you know. We're very proud of that. Doctor Adams is very proud of that. He's a sponsor of Access Information News as well.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: So that's kind of my place in everything and how I overlap with assistive technology and artificial intelligence. On a personal level, I've been coding since I was seven years old. I got my first Tandy from a Radio Shack in the mall, and I brought it home, and I learned the basic coding language, and that was the first coding language that I learned. I've learned probably 13 or 14 more since then, which is all wonderful, but today doesn't mean much because I does a lot of that coding. So if you've heard the term vibe coding, that's a lot of what we do today, which is not really true in traditional coding. I am an engineer by degree, so I've been doing coding for a long time. I've been doing artificial intelligence long before anyone spoke about artificial intelligence or before it was popular. So I have a deep seated understanding of where assistive technology has evolved into artificial intelligence, and kind of vice versa in a couple of cases, which we can discuss, and hopefully that will open us up to a discussion of advanced voice mode. Today I have a little bit more, but Doctor Adams, do you have anything you wanted to add before we started?

Dr. Kirk Adams: No, no, no, I just I, I will reserve the right as the host of Supercharge Your Bottom Line through Disability Inclusion to interrupt you to ask clarifying questions. When you say things that I do not understand so often do.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: So that's that's that's fair. Once we start the demo I will have to control both our conversation here in the webinar, along with the conversation that we're going to be having with the bot. So just be patient with me on that. I may have to interrupt her a couple of times just to get her to stop talking. That's okay. Okay, so just to open this up let's talk about ChatGPT advanced voice mode real quick before we get started. Chatgpt advanced voice mode. We're just going to say a VM so that we don't have to take so much time saying it throughout the webinar. Avm is, in my opinion, the breakthrough technology of this decade. If anyone has heard that recently, Sam Altman and Jony Ive have gotten together to announce a product, and there's a lot of talk about what that product might be, and I think we all now know, after the lawsuit yesterday, what that product is. It's a pair of earbuds, we think. But these earbuds, people say, well, why earbuds would I have AirPods? What do I need earbuds for? These are not going to be like any other earbuds that you've ever seen. They're going to be earbuds with advanced voice mode built in to the earbuds. So if you can think about that today, you know, with Jony Ive and Sam Altman have, as we do this demonstration, I think it will give you a much bigger picture of where this can be taken. I currently am talking to this agent about 60 to 70 minutes a day, and that has started over the last 2 to 3 weeks, approximately. One more thing about packaging is if you have a free ChatGPT account, you are able to preview advanced voice mode. It'll give you like five minutes of it and then it'll cut you off. So this is why a lot of people have not seen what advanced voice mode can really do. They kind of open it up. They go, oh, that's really cool. It works like Siri and Alexa should and then it dies. So not a very good.

Dr. Kirk Adams: And what and what's the what's the cost for people who want access to the.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Certainly. Yeah. Well the $20 a month version of ChatGPT will give you one hour a day, a one hour conversation per day, 60 minutes the $200 a month version of ChatGPT, which is what we use here at the vault and what most agencies use, gives you unlimited AVM. So I could talk to AVM 24 hours a day if I wanted to. However, each conversation is limited to one hour due to inference time. So you can, but you can. Once that conversation is over, you can immediately start a new one.

Dr. Kirk Adams: And I'm a $20 a month person.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: So right now most people are. Frankly, most people are the free version. You know, they say, I've tried that. I did the five minutes. It was cool. But what am I supposed to do with five minutes a day? Not much honestly. But once this technology moves from the $200 tier down to the free tier, which I think will happen over the next year or two, I think this technology is going to become second to none, especially for blind people, simply because there is no visual interface to it. None. Sound good? You guys ready to get started?

Dr. Kirk Adams: Let's do.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: It. Okay, here we go. I'm going to be running this on an iPhone 14 Pro Max, and hopefully everyone can hear us when we get started. Here we go. Hello, ChatGPT.

ChatGPT AVM: Hey. How's it going? What can I help you with today?

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Can everyone hear her in the webinar?

ChatGPT AVM: I can hear you clearly. So I think your audio is good on your side. If you want to double check if everyone in the webinar can hear, maybe ask someone to confirm in the chat. But from what I can tell, you're good to go.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Okay, great. I can hear good. Okay, good. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Appreciate. Okay. We're here in a webinar today with Doctor Kirk Adams. My name is Aaron Di Blasi. The name of the webinar is Supercharge Your Bottom Line through Disability and Inclusion. Can you do a quick web search and tell me a little bit about Doctor Adams, please? Note that sound people.

ChatGPT AVM: There are several notable Doctor Adams out there, like Doctor Jerome Adams, who was the US Surgeon general, or Pat Adams, the physician known for his work in holistic health.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: How about Doctor Kirk Adams. Kirk.

ChatGPT AVM: To Kirk, Adams is a well-known advocate for disability inclusion. He was formerly the president and CEO of the American Foundation for the blind.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: And now definitely him. Thank you. Can you find anything about Aaron Di Blasi?

ChatGPT AVM: So Aaron Di Blasi is quite the multitalented professional. He's a senior project management professional at Mindful Solutions, which is a digital marketer.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: That's definitely him as well. Thank you very much. Real quick.

Dr. Kirk Adams: Before we did, you did you tell her to say.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: That? I did not. She pulled that from the internet professional. No, no, she pulled that from the internet. Yeah. And we can. That's part of what a marketing agency does today, too. It helps you to reflect how she sees you online. Chatgpt. I'm going to give you a list real quick that I want you to remember for later. Are you ready for that list?

ChatGPT AVM: I'm ready whenever you are.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Okay, here's the list. Ten words. Accessibility, mobility, Braille captioning, prosthetic speech input, hearing, vision and communication. Remember that for later. Okay.

ChatGPT AVM: Got it. That's a great list of words, and I'll keep them in mind if you need anything else or want to refer back to them later, just let me know.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Super. Thank you very much. Can you talk to me real quick about how memory works in ChatGPT, especially with advanced voice mode?

ChatGPT AVM: Sure. So normally I don't have memory on my defaults, which means I don't remember details from one conversation to the next, unless you specifically enable that feature in advanced voice mode. It's the same. I can keep track of things during our current chat, but once the conversation ends, I won't retain that information unless you've turned memory down in the settings. So if you ever want me to remember something for future conversations, you'd have to enable that.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: But I have memory turned off currently because here at mind we don't want it having context that we don't want it to have. So but Doctor Adams, for instance, has memory turned on. So anytime he wants to say ChatGPT, remember this, it will remember it. And not just for that conversation, but for all time. So if you go into a new chat, it will remember that information as well. That's the new memory feature of chat GPT, which makes advanced voice mode a whole different animal. To be honest, the true personal assistant in my opinion. Does anybody have anything they'd like to ask the assistant while we're on here?

ChatGPT AVM: That's a great way to put it. Memory definitely adds a whole new layer of personalization and continuity.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: And as you can see, she continues to talk even though we are here talking. And she picks up the conversation wherever it ended off at. The most beautiful part is once I start talking, she stops, which is something that Advanced voice mode did not used to allow for. Chatgpt, we're going to do a second list. Are you ready? Ten items?

ChatGPT AVM: Absolutely. I'm ready for the second list whenever you are.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Okay. Ten words. Here they go. Machine learning neural algorithm. Model. Data training. Inference. Automation. Intelligence. Just remember that for later. Okay. Thank you.

ChatGPT AVM: Got it. I've got these ten words noted as well. If you need to refer back to the list or have any questions about them later, just let me know.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Super. Can you tell the audience a little bit about how advanced voice mode benefits blind people specifically?

ChatGPT AVM: Absolutely. Advanced voice mode can be a fantastic tool for blind and visually impaired individuals, because it allows for a more natural, hands free interaction. Instead of having to rely on a screen reader or type out commands, you can just speak naturally and I can respond in real time. This makes it easier to get informations, reminders, or even just have a conversation all without needing to look at a screen.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: How does advanced voice mode compare to popular applications like be my Eyes.

ChatGPT AVM: That's a great question. So Be My Eyes is a fantastic app that connects blind and low vision users with sighted volunteers for visual assistance. It's very much about real time human to human interaction for specific tasks that require care of eyes, like reading labels or navigating a new environment. Advanced voice mode, on the other hand, is more about providing information, answering questions, and assisting with tasks through conversation. They complement each other really well, offering different types of support depending on what you need in the moment.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Would you agree that IRA fits into this category as well?

ChatGPT AVM: Yes, absolutely. Ira is another great service that provides live on demand visual assistance from trained agents. So it's similar to be my eyes in that it provides that human to human connection for tasks that need visual.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Thank you. Can blind users increase the speed of your voice during conversations. Is that possible?

ChatGPT AVM: Yes. Absolutely. Users can adjust the speed of my voice to match. Their preference is all about making the experiences comfortable and accessible as possible, so.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: That in settings, we can't do that just by asking you right now to speed up.

ChatGPT AVM: Exactly. You typically adjust the voice speed in the app settings rather than just asking me directly. That way you can set it once and it'll stay at the speed you prefer for the entire conversation, making it super convenient.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Super. What is the duration? How long can I talk to you before a chat ends?

ChatGPT AVM: It's not a super strict time limit on our conversations, but generally if there's a long period of inactivity or if you close the app, the session will end. But you can always start a new conversation whenever you want. And I'm here to help.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: So I could keep you open all day, keep my AirPods in, and just talk to you whenever I need to.

ChatGPT AVM: Pretty much yes, if you can keep me open and just chat whenever you need something and I'll be here to help.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Super. Can you give me that first list back, please? Read back those ten items.

ChatGPT AVM: Of course. The first list was accessibility, mobility, Braille captioning, prosthetics, speech input, hearing, vision and communication. Let me know if you'd like me to go over anything else.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Fantastic job. Do you have any closing remarks or recommendations for blind users for AVM before we leave you today?

ChatGPT AVM: Thank you so much. My biggest recommendation would be to explore all the settings and customization options so you can tailor the experience to your needs, and don't hesitate to experiment and ask questions. I'm here to help make things as as easy and enjoyable as possible.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: You have definitely done that before we leave. Can I have that second list, please?

ChatGPT AVM: Of course. The second list was machine learning neural algorithm Model data training, inference, automation and intelligence. If you ever need to revisit them again, just let me know.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: You have a great memory. Thank you very much. Just hold on for a second. Doctor Adams, did you have any other questions before we turn off the chat?

Dr. Kirk Adams: No, not not about that.

ChatGPT AVM: Okay. Hold on. Anyone?

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Yeah.

Dr. Kirk Adams: Not. Not pertaining to what you just reviewed. The one.

ChatGPT AVM: If anything, comes up.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Thank you very much. Goodbye. Okay, I'm going to shut her off so that we can talk.

Dr. Kirk Adams: There we go. When you and I did our briefing, and I assume you're going to get to this. But you were sure you. You gave me some instructions on how I can open ChatGPT and then open another app or website and and get image descriptions and.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Or video descriptions or.

Dr. Kirk Adams: Video descriptions. And I I've I, I will admit I have not dug into that yet.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: That's okay. A lot of people have it, but I'd love to walk through it. Yeah. Okay, let's let's talk about that real quick. Okay. I will do my best to describe this. I'm just going to launch the ChatGPT app. And when I do. I am sorry one second. Okay.

Greg Rogers: A aron, I have a quick question.

Greg Rogers: While we're here.

Greg Rogers: Or you're opening one thing that I'm looking forward to, and it's probably not there yet, but I'd like to be able to say things like compare and contrast. I need to get to this place, compare and contrast prices from my Lyft app, and book the cheapest one or.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Okay.

Speaker5: Okay, good.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Yes, it will definitely do that type of thing for you. Yeah. You're talking booking. Scheduling. Are these for flights? Scheduling, ordering?

Greg Rogers: Ordering food?

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Greg Rogers: All that stuff. And then. Okay, then actually walk me through the process.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Well, if you're if you're looking to do that today, you would be looking at the $200 a month version of ChatGPT. It has a software program called operator. An operator interacts with applications like Instacart, etc. to automate those options for you. So you can say to it, go to Instacart, place this order, go to the hotel, go to the, you know, give me a flight and it will go off and do all of that and then come back. This is what we call a stick. I kind of a different conversation. Yeah. That we're having to I know you understand. We've talked about this too. But that's how it would work today is with an operator. But that functionality is quickly moving down the chain. Yeah. So pretty soon, I think, you know, anybody will be able to use an AI to take over a computer. And once the AI can run the computer, then it can do anything the computer can do, including Instacart, Wikipedia, you know, whatever it's like to you name it. So.

Jeremy Grandstaff: Okay, I'm really sorry. I just wanted to clarify and again, my apologies. I'm in the car, so that's why I keep going on.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: I know you're on the move. That's all right.

Jeremy Grandstaff: But did you say it was ChatGPT 2.0? That could do that or some. I thought you said something could do the Instacart thing, but I missed what it was.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: It's got to do with how much you pay a month for ChatGPT. That's what it breaks down to. Do you have a free version? Do you have the $20 a month version or do you have the 200?

Jeremy Grandstaff: I got the $20. I got the $20. Yeah, well.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: For $20, you get an hour with her a day. Yeah, you'll get an hour a day to talk to her. Yeah.

Jeremy Grandstaff: That's awesome bud. Thank you.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Yeah. You're welcome. So now for Doctor Adam's request, which was that we are going to start a new chat here. Okay? And when we do. Start a new chat. I'm just going to. For anyone that can see, I don't think it's going to show it. That's okay. Okay. At the bottom of the interface, whenever we start an advanced voice mode chat, we get this bubble that is present in the center of our phone, and it fluctuates as she talks. Below this interface are three dots, which you will generally find on a screen reader as more, more. And when you hit these three dots, you're going to see three options upload photo, take photo and share screen. And share screen is what Doctor Adams is talking about. This is the incredibly powerful feature that both be my eyes. Ira. All of the big apps are taking advantage of today, which is you start what's called a screen broadcast. Now here's what happens when you do that. The advanced voice mode agent is then able to see whatever is on your phone wherever you go. So if it's a web page, it can tell you what's on that web page and read it to you. If it's an app, it can read it to you. It. If you're troubleshooting something or can't find an unlabeled button, it might be able to tell you why, what that button is labeled and what the code is underneath on that particular page on the phone. And this is why this option is so powerful. So you simply select Share Screen and then you. Well, for us, for sighted people, we flick out of that app and go into another app, and the advanced voice mode conversation remains active. So we're still talking to her, only she's looking now at whatever is on our screen and can talk to us about it.

ChatGPT AVM: That's a really handy feature, especially for troubleshooting or getting assistance with apps. Great that you can share your screen so easily and get that live feedback. If you need any help navigating that or trying it out, just let me know.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Is that something that everyone would like to see? We can do it real quick. Let's do a share screen.

Dr. Kirk Adams: Yes, please.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Okay. Screen broadcast. It says we're going to say start broadcast. Okay. We are now broadcasting. So now I'm going to.

Dr. Kirk Adams: So you're saying start broadcast or you're tapping on something.

ChatGPT AVM: So if.

Jeremy Grandstaff: You.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Tap start Broadcast you cannot speak start broadcast unfortunately. So. So that'll start it.

Dr. Kirk Adams: Yeah. So that's if once you tap on more.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: If you tap on more screen share screen and then start broadcast those start cast.

Jeremy Grandstaff: Okay.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: And now we're going to flick out, leave her active and go to a website.

ChatGPT AVM: All right. I can see you navigating to a website. Just let me know what you need help with or.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Let me know what you see. On this web page.

ChatGPT AVM: I see a web page for Sugar Kiss candies. There's a pop up to sign up for updates with fields for email name. And that.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Was good. She caught the pop up. Well go ahead, keep going.

ChatGPT AVM: Sure, below that pop up, I can see some options, like placing an order and making a payment if there's anything you want to.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Okay, great. Hold. I'm going to scroll. I'm scrolling. Hold on a second. I want you to tell me what you see right now. What's on the screen here?

ChatGPT AVM: I see some product images of chocolate covered Oreos. They look really colorful with rainbows.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Continue.

ChatGPT AVM: All right, So as you scroll further, I can see more details about the different toppings and the pricing for each treat. Let me know if you want to take a closer look at any of them, or if you need any more.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: So you were able to see everything that as I was scrolling, or are you only able to see when the web page stops?

ChatGPT AVM: I can actually see everything as you scroll. So I'm following along in.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Oh that's amazing. I didn't know that until today. I just learned something myself. That's fantastic. Okay. All right. What are the price of the Oreos? Can you tell me?

ChatGPT AVM: Sure. The Oreos with the rainbow sprinkles are $2.25 each. And the plain ones are $2 each.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: What do I have to do to place an order?

ChatGPT AVM: To place an order, you can tap on the place and order button that was at the top of the page, and that should take you through the steps to select your treats and complete your purchase.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Wow. Incredibly helpful. So if I pull up a photo, you'd be able to look at that as well, right?

ChatGPT AVM: Yes, absolutely. If you open a photo on your screen, I'll be able to see it and help you out with anything you need related to that photo as well.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: How about a video? What if I pulled up a video? Would you be able to see that video and describe it as well?

ChatGPT AVM: Yes, I can also see your video if you play it on your screen and I can describe what's happening in real time. So feel.

Jeremy Grandstaff: Free.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Okay. Last question. If I turn on my camera and point my phone at something in real time, will you be able to see that and describe it as well?

ChatGPT AVM: Yes, exactly. If you turn on your camera and show me something, I'll be able to see it and help you out by describing what I'm seeing.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: So you could tell me what's in my fridge, or you could tell me what's in my medicine cabinet if I needed to know.

ChatGPT AVM: Exactly. If you point your camera at your fridge or your medicine cabinet, I can help you identify what's there and give you any details you need.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: It's excellent. You've been very helpful. Thank you again. Okay.

Dr. Kirk Adams: Aaron and ChatGPT. Let's let's describe a photo of video and what your camera.

ChatGPT AVM: Sees if you.

Dr. Kirk Adams: See some. Here are some examples.

ChatGPT AVM: For assistance with anything else. Just let me know. Have fun exploring all these features.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Okay. Okay. Hold on one second. Let's see what we got here.

ChatGPT AVM: All right. I'm here for it. Just let me know what you're trying out, and I'll do my best to help you. With what?

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Okay, I've pulled up a photo. Let me know what you see.

ChatGPT AVM: I see a photo of a package of lamb. It's a bonus lamb roast. And I can see the label.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Excellent. I just purchased it yesterday. Can you let me know how long I'd have to cook it in the oven based on the instructions on the package.

ChatGPT AVM: I don't see specific cooking instructions.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: No. I want you to give me instructions. I know they're not specific. You create them. Look them up, please.

ChatGPT AVM: To cook your boneless lamb roast. Preheat your oven to 425°F. Place the lamb in a racing pan. Season it well and roast it for about 15 minutes at that high temperature.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: What if I want a slow braise? I usually do 4.5 hours of 300.

ChatGPT AVM: That sounds like a great method. Slow. Braising it at 300 degrees for about 4.5 hours will definitely make it super tender.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Excellent. Thank you very much. Okay, we're going to move on to the next item now. So we're flicking out. We are going into our camera.

ChatGPT AVM: All right. Sounds good I'm here and.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Okay my camera is open. Can you let me know what you see?

ChatGPT AVM: I see a tall green plant with long, slender leaves. It looks like it's indoors.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: And you know what kind of plan it is?

ChatGPT AVM: It looks like a type of palm. Possibly a parlor palm.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Or is it real or fake?

ChatGPT AVM: It looks pretty realistic, but I think it might actually be artificial. The leaves look perfect and uniform, so I'm guessing it's a profile.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Excellent. You've been wonderful. Thank you very much, ChatGPT. We'll be back with you. And that's that. Okay.

Jeremy Grandstaff: I got to ask, can you do a video?

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Can I do a video? I don't have one.

Jeremy Grandstaff: I know that's a tougher answer. Yeah, okay.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: I just don't have one ready. Well. Hold on. Can we do. Let's see. Can we go to YouTube? Maybe. Let's see if it'll do a video. Yeah, I would love to see it do a video. Okay.

Greg Rogers: Aaron, while you're trying to sort of pull that, by the way, my name is Greg Rogers, by the way, out of Kansas City. Aaron and Kirk. You guys know me, but for anyone else on the call, I do accessibility and interested in product development. Have other tech ventures. Also have a business major minors in music and sight. That's just a little bit about me, but one. One question I have is so the screen sharing stuff is pretty awesome. Is there stuff where, you know, if there's an inaccessible website chat and you say, hey, is there some type of submit button or is there some type of thing? Can you fill this in for me with the appropriate information? Because it's not, you know, because I can't activate control.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: So you're talking about troubleshooting accessibility issues using AVM. I have tried to a little bit myself and here's what I'll say. If you speak to it properly, it not only sees what you're scrolling through in the way it sees the code in the background. So it can tell you can say, is this button labeled, is this button not labeled? And it depending upon the code and how they've locked down, sometimes they can see it and tell you what the button is labeled or where it's at, or why it's not labeled and how to click it. I've had a little bit of success troubleshooting that way just a bit, you know? But is there anything is there anything out there on it? I've read nothing so far.

Dr. Kirk Adams: But as far as actually writing in an edit box, I'm.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Oh. I'm sorry. What do you mean, writing? What do you mean, writing in an edit?

Dr. Kirk Adams: Oh. So your credit card number, your name, your address on a form.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Okay. I'm sorry. Explain to me where this is at.

Dr. Kirk Adams: Can ChatGPT actually perform the function of, oh, paying for.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Something for you and filling in your information? Okay. Again, he's moving to the we're talking about operator, which is something that we're not talking about today.

Speaker5: It's it comes back to agent again. Okay.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: That means you have to have an AI agent that takes over the computer. The AI agent cannot place Instacart orders. It cannot itself book flights. It cannot itself book hotels. All of that has to be done identically through the computer by the AI taking over the machine, and that is done using operator or other things that do the same thing. But we're just not really talking about that today.

Dr. Kirk Adams: All right.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Thank you. That's all. Yeah.

Jeremy Grandstaff: Okay.

Speaker5: Sorry, Aaron.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: No no no no worries. No, I don't I don't mind at all. I just don't want to clog it with too much.

Dr. Kirk Adams: Greg and my family. We say no, sorry. No sorry.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Yeah. Okay. Let's see. Oh, why are we having trouble? Let's get us a let's see here. Okay. We're on YouTube. What do we have? Let's play something nice for the webinar. $30,000, robot. Oh, no. Here we go. Let's do this.

YouTube Video Audio: It's been a fun week.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Okay, okay. Stop talking. All right. Let's we're going to here's what we're going to do. We're going to go to ChatGPT. We are going to start a new conversation. So you may hear her three dots. Share. Screen. Start. Broadcast. Confirm. Start. Broadcast. We are now broadcasting looking out. And we are now going to go to YouTube. And we're going to play the Matt Wolf video. Chatgpt, are you there? It does not look like this is working. Let's see if she's there

ChatGPT AVM: I can see and.

YouTube Video Audio: Have her video model.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Can you see the video? Can you hear what he's saying?

YouTube Video Audio: The model is a huge leap.

ChatGPT AVM: Yes, I can see the video playing and I can hear what he's saying. Everything seems to be working perfectly. Let me know if you need any help with it.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Great. Can you describe the video and what he's talking about, please?

ChatGPT AVM: Sure, the video is about GPT five and some new AI video tools. The presenter, Matt Walker, is talking about advancements in in AI and how these tools are becoming more useful and generating a lot of interest. Let me know if you want more detail.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Can you tell me more about Matt?

YouTube Video Audio: Sure. And then once that image is.

ChatGPT AVM: Matt Wolf is a content creator who focuses on technology, AI, and digital tools.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Great. Do you know how long the video is?

YouTube Video Audio: Images of a wolf howling at a moon.

ChatGPT AVM: Yes, the video is about 24.5 minutes long.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: So where are we at right now in the video?

YouTube Video Audio: Which is that it generated right now.

ChatGPT AVM: You're about a couple of minutes into the video. The presenter is currently talking about some AI generated visuals and how these tools work.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Are captions on or.

YouTube Video Audio: Off, and it will create four different videos.

ChatGPT AVM: Right now it looks like the captions are turned off. If you want to turn them on, you can just tap the caption button on the video player.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: What if I can't see? What do I do.

YouTube Video Audio: Then is you could actually extend the.

ChatGPT AVM: You can't see the button. I can help guide you. Usually the caption button is in the top right corner of the video player, or sometimes in the settings menu. Just let me know if you need more help finding it.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Are you able to tell me what the name of the button is within the code on the page.

YouTube Video Audio: We can see up here. It opens up our prompt box.

ChatGPT AVM: I can't see the actual code behind the page.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: That's YouTube.

YouTube Video Audio: For you.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Okay. Thank you. Chair GP2. We're going to exit at this point.

ChatGPT AVM: Yep.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: And we are out there in the.

Dr. Kirk Adams: This is Kirk. And you know, I don't even know enough to know what to ask.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Sure. No, of course it's a brand new technology. No one does. I didn't either when I when I first encountered it, but that's what's special. And what is so great to build on is I'm sure you'll have your own questions. Jeremy will have his own questions, Greg. We'll have his own questions.

Dr. Kirk Adams: Well, back to kind of the opening framing.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Sure.

Dr. Kirk Adams: As people with visual impairments. Sometimes we're in disabling situations because our impairment does not allow us to interact with the environment. Whether it's a built environment, a digital environment, or.

Dr. Kirk Adams: A.

Dr. Kirk Adams: Social environment. And in order to thrive, we want to reduce the number and severity of those disabling, disabling situations as much as possible. So we want to be in situations where our impairment doesn't matter as far as accomplishing what we want to accomplish, whether it be formal or informal. I think that is serious or silly. Yes. So mastering the mainstream technologies and being able to use technology as well as everybody else that doesn't live or characteristics of impairment or better. And that necessitates using our assistive or accessibility technologies with with mastery. And I really appreciate your basically pounding the table and telling me I need to start using.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: I appreciate.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: You.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Listening.

Dr. Kirk Adams: Advanced voice mode.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: You can pound all you want, but they don't listen. It doesn't matter.

Dr. Kirk Adams: And I will I will be endeavoring to be conscious of incorporating use of this technology into my daily activities. And I think it will help understanding how these technologies can support my, my efforts to be in as few disabling situations as possible.

YouTube Video Audio: Agreed.

Dr. Kirk Adams: Agreed. And, Jeremy.

Jeremy Grandstaff: Aaron, thank you very much for catching that. I could not get to the button in this situation. So first of all, I have. One more call to teach you, and I just wanted to say thank you for that. And that goes for both of you, not just Aaron.

Dr. Kirk Adams: There you go. You're breaking up quite a bit. Yeah. Back for now.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: But we got to thank you. I must.

Jeremy Grandstaff: And I was saying that was to both of you, but especially to you, Aaron. So the other comment I had was, did anybody catch that? At one point, ChatGPT said. And I just thought that was kind of fascinating.

YouTube Video Audio: Actually.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Brand new that we can talk about. That's about a week old, she now says. She pauses. She has breaths. And yeah, this is all brand new things that they have done to try to emotionally ties her responses, which I think are amazing, especially the breaths, you know, which it didn't used to have and I didn't realize made it sound very mechanical without the breaths. Yeah.

Jeremy Grandstaff: Well, one of the things that I am gonna. And I love the screen capture, one of the things that I really want to see if I can get it to do is to actually describe, like, those Instagram reels where it's just music and you can't tell. Right. Like that's. Yes, I think exactly.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: It's accessible today. Correct. Yeah.

Jeremy Grandstaff: I think you will.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: And I think she will.

Jeremy Grandstaff: Yeah. For he.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Will whichever voice you choose.

Jeremy Grandstaff: Or whatever. Right. It will, it will. Thank you for that.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So, so, so glad you like it for sure.

Dr. Kirk Adams: Well, Aaron, let's let's get a little philosophical here for a minute. What I think thinking about the various spheres of life leisure, family, recreation, education, employment and what you know Around the evolution of technology, assistive technologies, accessibility and I. And can you can you do it? Can you do a little theorizing about what might be on the horizon or reflect upon certain dynamics that we as blind people should be particularly conscious of?

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Absolutely. Absolutely. What a great question. Yes. Obviously, I think today is the big indicator advanced voice mode. Watch AVM. Watch it closely. I think it is the best voice model in the world currently. There are others. Google is trying to catch up. I haven't had as good of an experience with them. These tools once. I mean, if you can imagine what you've seen today, I think everyone's really excited with what they've seen. I know the $200 a month is a choke point, and it's intended to be, but at some point, that choke point will be removed and this will be on every single phone, every person will have it. So it just becomes, as the saying goes, with people being very worried about jobs. I will not take your job right now, but someone who knows I will. So think about that. Learn these tools. Be better with these tools than anyone else, so that when that price barrier drops to zero and everyone else is going, oh my God, this is amazing, what do I do? You've already got a workflow built to use it. And as a blind person, that workflow would be beautiful because it's absolutely voice based in my opinion. It's everything that blind people always wanted Amazon and Siri to be. I have listened for 20 years about people complain, and I have 6 or 7 Alexa devices in my house, one in every room, including the bathroom for memory purposes because I add things to lists all the time, even though I'm not blind, I find that very useful and advanced voice mode kind of blends into that, because I can then tap into those lists, link my Amazon account, and talk to ChatGPT anywhere in my house eventually, And for prognostication purposes.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: As I said in the beginning, everyone's wondering what Jony Ive and Sam Altman are up to, what their magic product is going to be. There was a case, a legal case brought against them last week by a company called IO I o instead of their I o. And this company makes earbuds, which makes everyone think that Sam and Jony are trying to make a pair of earbuds. Which kind of solves the hardware portion? I don't think anyone is in question that the software portion is going to be advanced voice mode or some more advanced version of advanced voice mode, such as ChatGPT five, which is supposed to come out this summer. So we can only imagine what you saw today under the hood of ChatGPT five. That would be amazing. That's what's coming. I would definitely focus on AVM if you're able to do so as a blind person and able to get ahead of the pack before the price drops.

Dr. Kirk Adams: Okay. Putting it on my daily work plan. Spend an.

Jeremy Grandstaff: Hour.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: You already do.

Dr. Kirk Adams: Spend an hour with AVM.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Just talk.

Speaker9: To her. That's how you do that every day.

Dr. Kirk Adams: So how can people get in touch with you, Erin? How can they access the three newsletters that that.

Jeremy Grandstaff: Oh, absolutely awesome community.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: Well, you can reach me. The easiest email address to reach me at is publisher at Top Tech Tidbits. Com. You can also look us up at access information, News.com or AI weekly.

Dr. Kirk Adams: Wonderful. And as for me, Doctor Kirk Adams, my website, which Aaron helped me build.

Aaron Di Blasi, PMP: It's a great site.

Dr. Kirk Adams: is www.DoctorKirkAdams.com. So DRKirkAdams.com. I'm also very active on LinkedIn. @KirkAdamsPhD. I will happily talk with anybody who is interested in helping accelerate.

Dr. Kirk Adams: Inclusion.

Dr. Kirk Adams: Of people with disabilities in society and creating situations in which we can thrive as people who are blind and have other disabilities. So thank you. Thank you for those who are live with us today. Thank you to those. Thanks for being with us, everybody. Viewing the archived recording and the final Thursday of every month at 11 a.m. Pacific time, I am here with supercharger auto lines for disability inclusion. Thank you so very much. And we'll see you next time.

Jeremy Grandstaff: Thanks, everybody.

Greg Rogers: Thanks, everyone.

Podcast Commentator: Thank you for listening to podcasts by Doctor Kirk Adams. We hope you enjoyed today's conversation. Don't forget to subscribe, share or leave a review at. Kirk Adams. Together, we can amplify these voices and create positive change. Until next time, keep listening. Keep learning and keep making an impact.