Dame Judi Dench has found a groundbreaking way to study her scripts independently, thanks to high-tech spectacles featuring artificial intelligence. The Oscar-winning actress, who has age-related macular degeneration, now wears a pair of £300 RayBan Meta glasses that read text aloud through a discreet audio feed.
How the AI Glasses Work
The glasses feature a camera that scans the words on a script and converts them into speech. The audio is played directly into her ears, allowing her to hear the lines without anyone else noticing. This innovation was brought to her attention by the vision loss charity Sight for Surrey, of which she is a patron.
Extending Her Career
A source close to the actress said: 'Dame Judi has been working with the charity for a while. They are brilliant and have been working on state-of-the-art equipment to help people struggling with their sight.' The glasses are seen as the perfect tool for Dame Judi, who 'clearly doesn't want to give up work, and because of these glasses she doesn't have to.'
Dame Judi has been battling reduced vision since 2012 and has become an advocate for the blind and visually impaired. Last year, she admitted: 'I can't see on a film set any more. And I can't see to read. But you just deal with it.' She also revealed she no longer attends events alone, saying: 'Somebody will always be with me. I have to now because I can't see and I will walk into something.'
Continued Work
The 91-year-old, who played M in multiple Bond films and won an Oscar for her role in Shakespeare in Love, has reduced her workload in recent years. However, she is currently working on an adaptation of Enid Blyton's fantasy novel The Magic Faraway Tree.
