Amazon is adding a new feature to Alexa+ that adds a conversational AI to doorbells, allowing users to manage deliveries, reject sellers, and let family or friends leave a message when they’re not around.
Called Greetings, the feature helps Ring identify who’s visiting your home based on their clothing, actions and what they’re holding, and respond accordingly. For example, if the system sees a person in a delivery suit dropping off a package, it will respond based on your instructions.
The feature adds settings that let you specify where delivery people can leave packages and direct them to water or snacks you might have kept out. If a distributor needs a signature, Alexa can also ask them when they can come back and pass that message on to the user.
It can also handle sales representatives or service vendors. You can set a directive like “If someone comes to the door trying to sell something, politely let them know we’re not interested.”
And if you’re busy or away from home, Alexa can greet your friends or family when they visit and ask them to leave a message for you.
It goes without saying that the technology carries the risk of misidentifying people and responding inappropriately — if, for example, a friend works in logistics and comes to see you after work in a delivery outfit, Ring can, via Alexa, ask them to drop off a package somewhere instead of letting them leave a message.
The new feature follows a controversial facial recognition feature for Ring called “Familiar Faces” that lets you create a list of the faces of up to 50 people who visit you regularly. Once tagged, these people will be named in your Ring app’s timeline and notifications when they visit.
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Amazon says Greetings uses Ring’s video descriptions to determine who the main subject in front of the camera is to generate responses, and doesn’t identify who the person is.
The feature is compatible with Ring Wired Doorbell Pro (3rd Gen) and Ring Wired Doorbell Plus (2nd Gen) and is available to Ring Premium users who have video descriptions enabled. Rolling out to Alexa+ early access customers in the US and Canada.
