AUC Freshman Develops ScribeMe App for People with Visual Impairments

Three years ago, freshman Mark Morad, born fully sighted, lost his eyesight completely. His dream of studying computer science seemed to slip away as he struggled to navigate documents like PDFs, PowerPoints, images and graphs for his science courses. He relied almost entirely on explanations from other people to understand the figures.

“I didn’t like that someone always had to explain these documents to me. So I got the idea of creating an app to solve this problem,” said Morad, explaining that he wanted to reclaim his independence in navigating documents and visuals online.

Five months after the idea struck him, Morad published the first version of ScribeMe on the Microsoft Store. “ScribeMe can take PowerPoint affiliates, extract all the text in these files and give detailed image descriptions using AI. So if someone has a visual impairment, they’ll be able to know all the visual content inside these files,” said Morad.

His app is at an advantage because it is able to take a large file and analyze all the images at once, a quality that he describes as unique. “If a file has 20 images, ScribeMe will describe all the images in seconds, which is faster than doing it manually, by sending one image at a time to AI.” 

Morad’s programming was a feat in itself given the challenges he faced during the process. “I was programming blind using only a screen reader, and coding is even harder when you can’t see because if you miss even one comma in a code, the whole app won’t work.”

“I didn’t like that someone always had to explain these documents to me. So I got the idea of creating an app to solve this problem."

Since its launch, the app has received a strong reception from the public, gaining users across 52 countries and winning several prestigious awards. Many foundations in the United States are also collaborating with ScribeMe to make their content more accessible.

The first contest Morad attended was the USAID-sponsored Vodafone AI Assistive Tools Hackathon, where 200 teams competed for EGP 900,000 in funding. “I was the youngest person in all of these teams,” said Morad. “My first impression when I went there was that of course we’re not gonna make it first, but at least we’re gonna try.” Morad was shocked when ScribeMe was announced as the first-place winner the next day. 

Since then, ScribeMe has gone on to win more awards. At the Empowering Inclusion in Employment competition by GIZ, ScribeMe was selected for a nine-month incubation program, with funding for the app and employee salaries provided to Morad’s team.

Morad has big hopes for ScribeMe’s future: “We’re creating a company built on ScribeMe, and we’re hoping to publish the app soon on the App Store and Google Play.” Morad is additionally undergoing the incorporation process and will soon seek investors and employees. “We’re working on improving the app and making the best possible product to help people with visual impairments be more independent,” he said.

Morad hopes to major in computer science and is enjoying his first semester at AUC, where he says the people are extremely nice and supportive. A guiding principle for Morad is to “never give up, never back down.”