Latest news with #Siminoff
NBC News
6 hours ago
- Business
- NBC News
Amazon's Ring launches AI-generated security alerts
Amazon 's Ring video doorbell division is rolling out AI-generated notifications alerting users to unusual or suspicious activity around their home, the company said Wednesday. The tool uses artificial intelligence to generate text summaries of motion activity captured by Ring doorbells and cameras, which are then displayed as a phone notification. The summaries describe only the main subject that triggered the alert and are 'intentionally concise' so that users can quickly discern whether it's urgent, Ring said. The feature is rolling out in beta starting Wednesday to Ring premium subscribers in the U.S. and Canada. The Amazon division is launching the tool as part of a broader push by the doorbell maker into AI, Ring CEO Jamie Siminoff said in a release. 'We are just starting to scratch the surface of AI,' said Siminoff, who founded Ring in 2011. Siminoff returned to run Ring in April after exiting in 2023. Amazon acquired Ring in 2018 for a reported $1 billion, giving it a stronger foothold in the smart home and home security categories. Ring is primarily known for its connected doorbell devices, which allow users to record activity in front of their homes, though it has expanded to include a portfolio of products ranging from camera-equipped floodlights and alarm systems to flying security camera drones. 'I see unlimited potential for new experiences we can invent for our neighbors,' Siminoff said. The company has long sparked controversy about privacy due to its controversial partnerships with hundreds of police departments across the U.S. Privacy advocates have expressed concern that the program, and Ring's accompanying Neighbors app, have heightened the risk of racial profiling and turned residents into informants, with few guardrails around how law enforcement can use the material. Ring in 2024 removed a feature that allowed police to request footage from users directly. Other tech companies have injected generative AI features in their products only to encounter flaws with the technology. In January, Apple disabled last year paused the rollout of its Gemini AI image generator after it produced 'inaccuracies' in historical pictures.
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Ring cameras and doorbells now use AI to provide specific descriptions of motion activity
Amazon-owned Ring announced on Wednesday that it's introducing a new AI-powered feature to its doorbells and cameras, which offers users specific text descriptions of current motion activity. Now, when users receive real-time notifications about happenings at their property, the updates will be more descriptive. For instance, 'A person is walking up the steps with a black dog,' or 'Two individuals are looking into a white car parked in the driveway.' The feature aims to improve upon the vague notifications that were previously available. Now, users will be able to know exactly what is happening and can quickly decide whether it requires immediate attention. It should be noted that the AI only describes the first few seconds of the motion-activated video clip. The feature is being rolled out today as an English-only beta for Ring Home Premium subscribers in the U.S. and Canada. Users can choose to disable the feature by going to settings in the Ring app. According to a blog post by Jamie Siminoff, Ring's founder and now Amazon's VP of home security, the company plans to introduce additional AI features. One of these combines several motion events happening in and around a home into a single alert. Ring also intends to implement a 'custom anomaly alert' that allows users to define what constitutes an anomaly for their property, enabling the camera to notify them when such an event occurs. Additionally, Siminoff mentioned that Ring will 'learn your routine,' so it can inform users when something is out of the ordinary. This may be unsettling for some users, especially considering Ring's past privacy concerns. 'We are just starting to scratch the surface of AI. I feel like we are back to the very early days of Ring again—I see unlimited potential for new experiences we can invent for our neighbors,' Siminoff wrote. This announcement follows the recent launch of Ring's AI-powered search feature, which enables users to locate specific moments within video recordings.
Engadget
11 hours ago
- Business
- Engadget
Ring's AI video descriptions tell you who's doing what
Here's a use of artificial intelligence that could be handy. Ring is adding AI-generated text descriptions of alerts. If it works well, a glance will be all it takes to tell whether something requires your attention. Ring founder Jamie Siminoff gave some examples of the new notifications. "A person is walking up the steps with a black dog" could tell you it's just the dog walker returning. Or, "Two people are peering into a white car in the driveway" could indicate it's time to call the fuzz. Siminoff wrote in a press statement that the descriptions are "intentionally concise." They only describe the main subject that triggered the motion alert and what they're doing. The Ring founder hinted that AI features were on the way when he returned to Amazon in April. "We're just scratching the surface of what we can do with AI — and I look forward to digging into this with the team even more," he said. The feature is only available to Ring Home Premium subscribers. That's the company's most expensive tier ($20 monthly or $200 annually). Fortunately, you don't have to buy new hardware to use the feature. It's available on all currently available Ring doorbells and cameras. Video descriptions are only available in English. The feature begins rolling out today. Once available, you'll find the setting to toggle it on in the Ring app.
CNBC
11 hours ago
- Business
- CNBC
Amazon's Ring launches AI-generated security alerts
Amazon's Ring video doorbell division is rolling out AI-generated notifications alerting users to unusual or suspicious activity around their home, the company said Wednesday. The tool uses artificial intelligence to generate text summaries of motion activity captured by Ring doorbells and cameras, which are then displayed as a phone notification. The summaries describe only the main subject that triggered the alert and are "intentionally concise" so that users can quickly discern whether it's urgent, Ring said. The feature is rolling out in beta starting Wednesday to Ring premium subscribers in the U.S. and Canada. The Amazon division is launching the tool as part of a broader push by the doorbell maker into AI, Ring CEO Jamie Siminoff said in a release. "We are just starting to scratch the surface of AI," said Siminoff, who founded Ring in 2011. Siminoff returned to run Ring in April after exiting in 2023. Amazon acquired Ring in 2018 for a reported $1 billion, giving it a stronger foothold in the smart home and home security categories. Ring is primarily known for its connected doorbell devices, which allow users to record activity in front of their homes, though it has expanded to include a portfolio of products ranging from camera-equipped floodlights and alarm systems to flying security camera drones. "I see unlimited potential for new experiences we can invent for our neighbors," Siminoff said. The company has long sparked controversy about privacy due to its controversial partnerships with hundreds of police departments across the U.S. Privacy advocates have expressed concern that the program, and Ring's accompanying Neighbors app, have heightened the risk of racial profiling and turned residents into informants, with few guardrails around how law enforcement can use the material. Ring in 2024 removed a feature that allowed police to request footage from users directly. Other tech companies have injected generative AI features in their products only to encounter flaws with the technology. In January, Apple disabled a feature that used AI to aggregate and summarize news notifications after it erroneously characterized some outlets' headlines. Google last year paused the rollout of its Gemini AI image generator after it produced "inaccuracies" in historical pictures.
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ring founder Jamie Siminoff is back at Amazon to run its video doorbell unit
Jamie Siminoff, who founded Ring and started the company in his garage, is back at Amazon after leaving the company as its CEO in 2023. Siminoff joined Amazon when the e-commerce website acquired Ring in 2018, but he left in 2023 and founded another startup that he sold to lock maker Latch Inc. When he left Amazon two years ago, he said that invention was his true passion. Now, he's taking on the role as the vice president in charge of not just Ring, but also Amazon's smart home camera unit Blink, the company's in-garage delivery operations called Key and the Amazon Sidewalk low-bandwith, long-range shared network. Siminoff is replacing Elizabeth Hamren, who took over his role two years ago. Hamren used to be the COO of Discord and was also an executive at Microsoft and at Meta. According to Bloomberg, she's still looking for new opportunities from inside and outside the company. In a post welcoming him back posted on the Amazon website, Siminoff briefly and broadly talked about his plans for the divisions he's heading. He plans to focus on security, on making people feel their "homes are safe, even when they're thousands of miles away." Siminoff also wants to make sure Amazon's experiences related to home security "work seamlessly across different types of devices." In addition, he talked about how he's going to explore the use of artificial intelligence in Amazon's products and services in the future. "The AI transformation happening right now is a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and I think we're super well positioned with helpful and practical AI features like Smart Video Search," he said. "It's just the start here — we're just scratching the surface of what we can do with AI — and I look forward to digging into this with the team even more."
