{"type":"ScholarlyArticle","title":"AI-Powered Interactive Multimodal Digital Book & Online Shop For Blind and Visually Impaired Users","authors":[{"name":"Mazen Salous","slug":"mazen-salous","given":"Mazen","family":"Salous","affiliation":""},{"name":"Daniel Westphal","slug":"daniel-westphal","given":"Daniel","family":"Westphal","affiliation":""},{"name":"Wilko Heuen","slug":"wilko-heuen","given":"Wilko","family":"Heuen","affiliation":""},{"name":"Ayoub Ben Dhiab","slug":"ayoub-ben-dhiab","given":"Ayoub","family":"Ben Dhiab","affiliation":""},{"name":"Charles Hudin","slug":"charles-hudin","given":"Charles","family":"Hudin","affiliation":""},{"name":"Sabrina Paneels","slug":"sabrina-paneels","given":"Sabrina","family":"Paneels","affiliation":""},{"name":"Susanne Boll","slug":"susanne-boll","given":"Susanne","family":"Boll","affiliation":""},{"name":"Larbi Abdenebaoui","slug":"larbi-abdenebaoui","given":"Larbi","family":"Abdenebaoui","affiliation":""}],"abstract":"We present an AI-powered interactive multimodal system that enriches digital image accessibility for blind and visually impaired (BVI) users. Our demonstration showcases two application domains: (1) an educational digital book, and (2) an online shopping interface. In both use-cases, users can virtually feel material textures (leather, wood, etc.) and engage in voice-driven inquiry about images. The system integrates state-of-the-art AI components – including voice-to-voice conversational agents, vision models for object segmentation, and a custom 16-actuator vibrotactile display – to provide multimodal feedback (haptic vibrations, spoken descriptions, and audio cues).\r\nThe result is an inclusive technology with significant societal benefit, empowering BVI users to learn and shop more independently through natural multimodal interactions.","doi":"10.24963/ijcai.2026/991","url":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/2026/991","pdf":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/2026/0991.pdf","markdown":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/2026/991.md","bibtex":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/2026/bibtex/991","volume":{"slug":"2026","title":"Proceedings of the Thirty-Fifth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence","short_title":"IJCAI 2026","url":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/2026/","year":2026,"location":"Bremen, Germany","dates":"15-21 August 2026","editors":"Diego Calvanese","isbn":"978-1-956792-09-6","publisher":"International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence Organization","doi_prefix":"10.24963/ijcai.2026"},"section":"Demo Track","track":"Demo Track","number":991,"pages":{"first":8509,"last":8512},"keywords":["AI: Humans and AI","AI: Computer Vision","AI: Machine Learning"],"videos":[],"references":[],"license_note":"Copyright International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence."}