In recent weeks, I’ve started receiving hilariously specific, AI-powered alerts from my home security cameras. Even though Amazon has lagged behind competitors in consumer AI, this feature may be the most useful one the company has launched yet.
Article contents:
- Introduction: Silly and useful alerts
- How it works: From general motion to text summaries
- Skepticism turns to praise
- Amusing novelty and occasional flubs
- Genuinely helpful alerts
- The downside: Unnecessary precision
- The best part: Retroactive availability
- Conclusion: Simplicity is the key to success
Introduction: Silly and useful alerts
Previously, Ring devices only sent general motion alerts to my phone so I could manually review captured video clips. But now, the Ring app is able to send text summaries of scenes, such as letting me know that the family dog “with black and brown coloring” is “sniffing near the entrance” or that a “USPS mail carrier” by the mailbox is “delivering a magazine.”
These real-time updates come courtesy of a new subscription tool from Amazon, which enables its AI to analyze video clips and send detailed descriptions to users via phone notifications.
How it works: From general motion to text summaries
To unlock this feature, you need a top-tier Ring subscription plan costing $20 a month. Previously, Ring had a smart alerts option that could vaguely tell you there was a “person” or “vehicle” in the frame, but the AI-upgraded alerts convey far more detail—such as if a child is playing on the lawn or a pickup truck is leaving the garage.
Skepticism turns to praise
Aside from privacy concerns, I was skeptical when Ring first announced the update. Amazon has lagged far behind its competitors in consumer AI, with its virtual assistant Alexa failing to keep pace with the likes of ChatGPT and its e-commerce AI integrations proving disappointing. I doubted my older Ring cameras would deliver better performance. But after living 24/7 with this beta version over the past month, I’ve found it to be the most useful AI I’ve yet tried from Amazon.
Amusing novelty and occasional flubs
At first, the AI summaries felt like an amusing novelty, especially since some of them were a bit off. My wife and I laughed at a Ring notification saying someone was lounging in a hot tub outside. (Actually, our daughter was swimming in her kiddie pool.) Another alert told me someone was carrying a chicken at the front door. (Apparently, Ring’s AI had confused my gardening gloves for a chicken).
Genuinely helpful alerts
But these mistakes were rare, and we soon realized that many of the smarter alerts are extremely useful. While we used to ignore old Ring motion alerts because they were constant and vague, the new AI notifications provide a concise log of events throughout the day. It’s nice to know, for example, if grocery bags or a large Amazon box have just been delivered. It has also been a time-saver to get alerts about routine things that spare my wife and me from texting each other with annoying questions.
The downside: Unnecessary precision
If there’s a downside to the AI, it’s that it tries to be unnecessarily precise. Although we only have one dog, Ring alternates between describing it as a black and/or brown dog, a German Shepherd, a Rottweiler, and once by mistake, a deer. Similarly, we don’t need to know that Ring has spotted a squirrel in the yard, let alone that it’s “gray.”
The best part: Retroactive availability
Ultimately, the best part about the AI is that it’s available retroactively on our older Ring hardware. Amazon is taking a similar approach with its new AI-powered voice assistant, Alexa+, which arrived a few days ago on older-generation Echo speakers and Fire TV devices as well. These AI interactions are simple, informative, and automatically improve existing experiences rather than forcing me to add or learn new digital habits.
Conclusion: Simplicity is the key to success
By contrast, in order to use Apple’s new AI, I would have to replace my current iPhones and iPads and buy the latest new hardware. By improving products customers already own, Amazon may have struck upon a clever strategy for catching up in the AI race: focusing on simple, tangible utility rather than grand promises that require new investments.
