Amazon-owned Ring has announced a new AI-powered feature for its doorbells and security cameras that provides more detailed motion alerts. Instead of generic notifications, users will now receive specific descriptions of what the camera sees, such as “A person is walking up the steps with a black dog” or “Two individuals are looking into a white car parked in the driveway.” These updates aim to help homeowners assess situations more quickly and accurately without needing to open the app or view the video feed.
The new feature is currently rolling out as a beta, available only in English and limited to Ring Home Premium subscribers in the United States and Canada. The AI describes only the first few seconds of a motion-activated video clip, allowing users to decide whether to take action. Those who prefer not to use it can disable the feature in the settings menu of the Ring app. While this new level of detail may offer greater peace of mind, it also raises new questions about privacy, especially given Ring’s past concerns around data handling and law enforcement access.
Ring says this is just the beginning of a broader AI push. According to Jamie Siminoff, Ring’s founder and now Amazon’s vice president of home security, the company plans to introduce other smart features soon. One will group different motion events happening around a property into a single, more useful alert. Another feature, called a “custom anomaly alert,” will let users define what unusual activity looks like for their specific home, allowing the camera to learn and notify them when something appears out of the ordinary.
Siminoff also hinted that Ring devices will begin learning users’ daily routines, so they can detect when something deviates from the norm. While this level of automation could improve convenience and security, it may not sit well with users who are already wary of how much their devices know about them. This adds to an ongoing debate about how AI in home security can balance personal safety with user privacy.
The announcement follows Ring’s recent rollout of an AI-powered video search tool that helps users locate specific moments in their recordings. With these new capabilities, Ring is positioning itself not just as a hardware company but as a platform that uses artificial intelligence to enhance everyday life, though not without sparking concerns about how much these devices are observing behind the scenes.
