Ring cameras are getting an AI upgrade that can tell you what’s happening at your front door, as well as show you. Video Descriptions is a new feature that generates text descriptions of the motion activity on Ring doorbells and cameras.
Now, instead of an alert that says “Front door: person detected,” you’ll get something like “person with broom and mop is leaving.” Or instead of “Living room: motion detected,” you might get “a dog is tearing up paper towels on the rug.” You can see how this would be helpful; you probably don’t need to do anything about the first one, but the second one demands some action.
These new descriptive alerts will appear in the camera notification on your phone, so you can see at a glance if you need to bother clicking through and waiting for the video to load.
Video Descriptions is rolling out today, June 25th, in beta to Ring Home Premium subscribers in the US and Canada (English only), and will work on all currently available Ring doorbells and cameras, according to Ring.
In a blog post, Ring founder and recent new hire at the Amazon-owned company, Jamie Siminoff, said the feature is designed to deliver only the most relevant information. So, rather than a detailed description of the scene, the notification will focus on “describing the main subject that caused a motion alert and what action they are taking,” he said.
Ring is working on combining multiple motion alerts into one and developing custom anomaly alerts.
Video Descriptions joins Smart Video Search on Ring cameras, which launched late last year and lets you query your cameras about recent events via the app, such as “did the kids leave their bikes in the driveway?” Both AI-powered tools are available with the Ring Home Premium subscription ($19.99 a month), which also includes Ring’s 24/7 recording option.
Siminoff says Ring plans to use Video Descriptions to power more proactive home security features, including combining multiple motion alerts into one alert and, more ambitiously, to develop custom anomaly alerts.
This would “generate alerts only when something happens on your property that is an anomaly,” he said, explaining that Ring will be able to learn the routines of your home and only deliver notifications when something out of the ordinary happens. Meaning you might not get an alert for the person with a broom and mop leaving the house, but you will be notified that the dog is tearing up the living room.
With Video Descriptions enabled, you’ll get a more detailed description of the activity the camera saw, along with a thumbnail of the action. Image: Ring
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