Amazon is revamping its subscription offerings for its Ring video doorbells and cameras.
A new service, called Ring Home Premium, will include features like 24/7 recording and AI-powered video search, starting at $19.99 per month when it launches on November 5 in the U.S. Less-expensive tiers, Ring Home Standard and Ring Home Basic, will bundle in basic capabilities, but not 24/7 recording or the upgraded search.
Ring’s subscription revamp comes as the Amazon subsidiary flies high under its new CEO Liz Hamren, a former Microsoft executive. Ring is now the second-largest seller of security systems in the U.S., according to research firm Parks Associates, and it recently became profitable, Hamren told Bloomberg in May — six years after Amazon acquired the company for $1 billion.
The changes are a bit of a mixed bag for some Ring customers.
Those subscribed to Ring Protect Pro will lose local video storage, internet backup, and Amazon’s Eero secure features. If they don’t have a Ring Alarm or Ring Pro unit, they’ll also lose SOS emergency response.
For customers who aren’t subscribed to Ring Protect Pro with Virtual Security Guard, Amazon’s security plan with call center monitoring, Amazon will also begin charging an additional $10 per month for professional alarm monitoring. Ring Home Premium does not include professional alarm monitoring, nor does Ring Home Standard or Basic.
To soften the blow, Amazon is offering existing Ring Protect Pro subscribers a one-year trial of Ring Home Premium.
One of the headlining features of Ring Home Premium, Smart Video Search, can help users find specific moments in recorded video footage, Amazon says. Rolling out to select Ring customers in public beta starting today, Smart Video Search lets you type queries into the Ring app to pinpoint noteworthy moments.
“You might search for ‘raccoon in the backyard last night’ and find the answer to why those trash cans were knocked over,” wrote Eric Kuhn, Amazon GM of Ring experiences, in a blog post shared with TechCrunch, “Searching for ‘red bicycle in the driveway’ might turn up endearing videos of your oldest child teaching your youngest how to ride a bike.”
Initially, Smart Video Search will be limited to search queries about animals, locations, packages, people, time, vehicles, weather and activities (for example, jumping, running, playing, or riding). Amazon said it has implemented safeguards to block searches for potentially offensive or harmful content, and it will fine-tune the search feature over time.
Amazon didn’t say what steps it has taken, if any, to mitigate potential biases in the AI models powering Smart Video Search.
A study from MIT published in August found that commercially available models like OpenAI’s GPT-4 were more likely to recommend calling the police when shown Ring videos captured in minority communities. The study also found that, when analyzing footage from majority-white neighborhoods, the models were less likely to describe scenes using terms like “casing the property” or “burglary tools.”
“Ring is a leader in delivering privacy features for customers, and we’re also committed to developing responsible AI.” Kuhn wrote. “We have a long history of listening to and learning from our customers.”
The launch of Smart Video Search comes ahead of Google’s promised AI updates to its Nest cameras and doorbells, which will bring detailed captions for camera footage and similar natural-language search functionality.
