The Power Of Purpose: How Saqib Shaikh And Microsoft Are Turning Disability Into An Engine For Innovation (Part 1)

One of the most remarkable innovations for the 253 million people around the world with low or no vision has been Microsoft’s Seeing AI app (available for free on iOS), a veritable “Swiss Army Knife” of a tool which narrates the world around you, using the power of AI to describe people (including your friends), text (like signs or restaurant menus) and objects (like currency bills or products using their barcodes).

In celebration of the United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities (December 3), Microsoft is expanding Seeing AI’s language support to 5 new languages: Dutch, German, French, Japanese and Spanish. The Seeing AI team has been working closely with local NGOs across the five markets where this language support will be most impactful to test the update with the blind/low vision community.

I caught up with the architect of Seeing AI, the humble and soft-spoken Saqib Shaikh to hear about how his personal journey helped fuel a new mindset at Microsoft, around seeing “disability as an engine of innovation” as he puts it.

“I lost my sight when I was seven and after that I started going to a school for the blind and that opened up many opportunities. In fact, that's where I learnt the power of technology to be an equalizer. We had talking computers and other gadgets and that's where I learned to program and that enabled me to go and study computer science at university and then on to do a master's in artificial intelligence. That led me to Microsoft now almost 14 years ago now. On that journey I discovered that I enjoyed software engineering, I enjoyed making things, but I realized in addition to that, it was this idea that technology could really improve people's lives and it was those two things together, which really drew me to this field.”

Shaikh joined Microsoft as a general AI engineer, but after a decade he realized that he was hungry for new challenges. “About 10 years in into my career, I think when I first joined as someone who is blind, I wanted to prove that I could be successful in the workplace–that despite being blind I could do everything and be successful. And then after 10 years in I was like, okay, I have achieved that–it's time to give back. So I started thinking about what were the opportunities to use my skill set to help other people. And I wasn't initially thinking of other people with disabilities. I was just thinking about “tech for good” in the broader sense, until the hackathon came along.”

The Hackathon Shaikh is referring to is Microsoft’s annual event, the world’s largest private hackathon where more than 18,000 people across 400 cities and 75 countries come together to bring world-changing ideas to life. “After Satya Nadella became CEO, we started having these one–week–long hackathons every summer where you're given permission to work on any of your interests. And I thought this was too good an opportunity to waste on just doing something small. So I thought, “What is the biggest thing I'd love to work on?” And very much driven by my personal experiences, I remembered this idea that I've probably had for so many years: what if there was a technology that could tell you who and what is around you and play the role, to some extent, a friend or a sighted guide or family member would play as you're walking along together, describing what's around you, and someone you can ask questions of.”

The project was launched at the 2014 Hackathon by Shaikh, but it really kicked into high gear in 2015 when other Microsoft employees, inspired by the project came on board. “In the 2015 hackathon, I was lucky enough to meet with some like-minded engineers and scientists from around the world, with over a dozen people contributing. And it was after that second hackathon that it became actually my job to do this And then, 2017 is when Seeing AI entered the marketplace and the rest is history.”

I asked Shaikh if he felt empowered by the new purpose-driven mindset in the company after Nadella arrived. “Yeah I love that term purpose, because I think that is really, really important. I think I was seeing this switch before starting working on the hackathon. This idea that it's not about doing the work, it's about what is the impact of your work. Some of that internal thinking I was having at that point in my career was, ‘What is my impact and what is my purpose?’ What is it that I can do uniquely too improve people's lives? So, I just feel in the company a lot of that shift in mindset was happening.”

Shaikh talked about the importance of the company celebrating individuality. “I remember this phrase from around that time of ‘bring your whole self to work.’ And that is something which was in my mind where during the very first hackathon. Because we are all individuals and if we bring up whole selves to work and follow our purpose, then actually the more diverse and inclusive workforce you have, the better you will represent our customers.”

I asked Shaikh whether he thought the other team members drawn to the project had also felt the same way. “So many people have touched the project from around the company and everyone has their own story on what gives them this purpose and makes them choose this to work on. But the common thread is this desire to have a positive impact on the world. Sometimes it's a relative who is blind or has low vision or maybe sometimes it’s just a more general desire to help. But yes, I think that's a common thread.”

This story is the perfect example of what I call The Purpose Flywheel. When an organization becomes truly purpose driven it does the following: 1. It sets a clearly articulated purpose of the company that is widely known and understood (In Microsoft’s case it’s ‘To empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more). 2. It creates opportunities to empower its employees to “bring their whole selves to work” and interpret that purpose according to their own purpose and passion and explore ways to bring it to life (like the Hackathon) 3. It then allows other employees (like Shaikh’s colleagues at Microsoft) to collaborate on the project because it sparks their own sense of purpose. 4. That collaboration then unleashes innovation that allows the company to bring its own purpose to life, in ways that can ultimately lead to commercial growth and success (not to mention attracting new talent drawn by the purpose of the company).

In the next part of the story, we follow the evolution of the Seeing AI app from its beginnings to it’s current functionality, and how emerging technologies like haptics and AR are also opening up new possibilities.