As social virtual reality (VR) grows more popular, addressing accessibility for blind and low vision (BLV) users is increasingly critical. Researchers have proposed an AI "sighted guide" to help users navigate VR and answer their questions, but it has not been studied with users. To address this gap, we developed a large language model (LLM)-powered guide and studied its use with 16 BLV participants in virtual environments with confederates posing as other users. We found that when alone, participants treated the guide as a tool, but treated it companionably around others, giving it nicknames, rationalizing its mistakes with its appearance, and encouraging confederate-guide interaction. Our work furthers understanding of guides as a versatile method for VR accessibility and presents design recommendations for future guides.

翻译：随着社交虚拟现实日益普及，解决视障与低视力用户的无障碍问题变得愈发关键。研究人员已提出一种人工智能"视力向导"，帮助用户在虚拟现实中导航并回答其问题，但尚未基于实际用户开展研究。为弥补这一空白，我们开发了一个由大语言模型驱动的向导，并邀请16名视障与低视力参与者在包含伪装成其他用户的实验助手在内的虚拟环境中开展使用研究。我们发现，当参与者独处时，他们将向导视为工具；而在他人面前，参与者会以同伴态度对待向导，为其起昵称、以向导外观为其错误辩解，并鼓励实验助手与向导互动。本研究深化了对"向导"作为虚拟现实无障碍化通用方法的理解，并为未来向导设计提出了建议。