I doubt that seeing was ever a priviliege unique to the human.
Animals can see, in the fullest sense of the word.
Even the differences between how individual people might see are mind-boggling to consider. We are talking about such subjective things I wonder if it is possible to identify the subject. I do not want to come to a conclusion on this, but just see things open up. You talk about the processes and circuits involved in artificial vision. That is, the interest lies in the 'value' of the 'story'.