Amazon’s Ring Launches AI Feature For Video Descriptions

Amazon’s home-security company Ring announced on Wednesday a new generative AI-powered feature, Video Descriptions, which provides text summaries of live events recorded by security cameras.

According to Amazon’s announcement, the new AI-powered feature will be available for Ring Home Premium subscribers in the U.S. and Canada in beta mode. Users who enable the new feature will get text notifications with a description of an event that the technology doesn’t recognize as an everyday activity.

“This new generative AI (Gen AI) feature helps you quickly distinguish between urgent and everyday activity with a quick glance at your phone,” wrote Jamie Siminoff, Ring founder and now Amazon’s Vice President of Product—who recently returned after a two-year hiatus.  “With Video Descriptions, you will see text descriptions of the motion activity your Ring doorbells and cameras see—giving you smart, real-time details on what’s happening.”

Users can expect notifications with simplified descriptions such as “Two people are peering into a white car in the driveway,” or “A person is walking up the steps with a black dog.”

Once the technology understands the customer’s home behaviour, it will be able to provide more relevant notifications. “It will learn the routines of your residence, get smarter, and deliver peace of mind by only notifying you when it is something out of the ordinary,” wrote Siminoff.

However, the methodology and the use of the generative-AI feature also raise security concerns. According to The Register, Ring has faced challenges and legal battles related to data privacy and security, including past incidents involving cybercriminals and rogue employees spying on customers.

The Register asked Ring how data from the new feature will be stored, under what circumstances it might share private information with law enforcement, and how the data is secured. The company did not provide detailed answers. “We do not log the descriptions generated from Video Descriptions,” a Ring spokesperson said.

Other tech companies have been gaining interest in the home surveillance space. Apple is reportedly working on a home-security device that will incorporate the company’s Face ID technology and will compete against Amazon Ring’s products.