This starts out "yaknow, that sounds like a good idea" but gets creepier and creepier as you read more:
Ring doorbells and cameras are using AI to "learn the routines of your residence," via a new feature called Video Descriptions.
...Once they do this, as Ring founder and Amazon VP of product Jamie Siminoff wrote in a blog today announcing Video Descriptions:
Ring notifications will provide more meaningful information like, 'A person is walking up the steps with a black dog,' or 'Two people are peering into a white car in the driveway.'
The aim, according to Siminoff, is to shift more of the heavy lifting involved with home security to Ring's AI. This will also include "custom anomaly alerts," which are generated when "something happens on your property that is an anomaly to your property."
So far, so good. Getting alerts only when something is unusual is generally considered A Good Thing when it comes to security. But there's a downside:
And here's where it gets a little bit creepy: "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."
This gives us pause, as opposed to peace of mind, and sounds like super-charged snooping wrapped in an AI bow. If this kind of information is not properly secured, it could be a treasure trove for thieves, burglars, stalkers, and all other sorts of mischief-makers. In December 2022, a grand jury indictment charged two US men with breaking into Ring accounts to make fake emergency calls to police ("swatting"), then streaming the audio and video as the police arrived.
How long until AI will hack into your AI-enabled Ring account? Asking for a friend.
Ring's response to The Register's reporter does not reassure:
The Register asked Ring where this information about users' home routines is stored, how it's secured, and under what circumstances it might be shared with law enforcement.
"We do not log the descriptions generated from Video Descriptions," a spokesperson emailed in response to our questions.
In the meantime, your humble vulture will continue to stick with dumb doorbells and barky dogs to deliver peace of mind about out-of-the-ordinary occurrences at home.
Endorsed. Particularly the barky dog bit.
