ForseeWe’re working on a faster way to reply when you communicate with your eyes.
Forsee is an experimental keyboard for people who use eye control to communicate, starting with people with ALS who can no longer speak. We’re exploring whether suggestions for whole replies can make it easier to keep up with a conversation.
“Would you like to go outside?”
Select a reply to hear it spoken aloud.
Here’s the approach we’re exploring.
The idea is to reduce how much someone has to type while keeping them in control of what they say.
Start with a few possible replies.
The keyboard offers AI suggestions for whole responses. Someone might choose a reply directly, or steer the suggestions towards a different tone or direction.
Select an option with eye control.
The intended interaction is to select a reply by holding your gaze on it. We’re exploring how that can work with camera-based eye tracking and the practical limits of gaze selection.
Have the chosen words spoken aloud.
The keyboard speaks the selected response. Someone can also write their own reply when the suggestions don’t express what they want to say.
The words still need to be yours.
When selecting letters takes time, a conversation can move on before someone has finished their reply. That can mean missing the chance to ask a question, disagree, or make a joke.
We’re looking at whether whole-reply suggestions can shorten that process. The difficult part is making suggestions useful without making someone settle for words they didn’t mean.
This is early work. We’d especially like to hear from people who use eye control every day, as well as speech and language professionals and others working in augmentative and alternative communication.
A few questions about Forsee.
Is Forsee ready for everyday use?
It’s an early prototype, and we’re still working on the interaction and the quality of the suggestions. Get in touch if you’d like to discuss the work or share experience that could help us develop it.
Does the illustration on this page track my eyes?
The illustration uses example replies that you select with a mouse or touchscreen. On a computer, you can also try holding the pointer over a reply to see how dwell selection works. It does not track your eyes.
Does AI choose what the person says?
The person chooses whether to use a suggestion, steer it in another direction, or write their own response. That control is central to the approach we’re developing.
Who would you most like feedback from?
People who rely on eye control to communicate, people who support them, and professionals with experience in communication aids. We’d like to understand what makes live conversation difficult and where existing tools fall short.
Do you use eye control to communicate?
I’d like to learn from your experience, hear what you need from a conversational keyboard, and get your feedback on this approach. If you support someone who uses communication aids, I’d like to hear from you too.
Forsee is an early prototype. The illustration on this page shows the idea using example replies; it does not use eye tracking.
Email Jean-Marc about Forsee Visit forseeapp.com
