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Ring’s New AI Search Tool Lets You Easily Scan Videos—With Mixed Results

The Amazon-owned home-surveillance business will offer users the ability to search footage for specific objects and actions. WIRED gave it a try.

Liz Hamren, the CEO of Amazon’s Ring camera business, often wonders whether her husband remembered to grab the package of frozen goods that is regularly delivered to their home. Hamren, who also oversees three other Amazonhometechnology units, says Ring blocks searches for content it considers “offensive, inappropriate, or harmful.” She declined to elaborate beyond saying that names of weapons and “qualitative terms about people or situations” are among those barred. The new AI models powering search, Hamren says, will eventually enable Ring to notify users about specific situations, such as a bear wandering the backyard or anomalous puddling on the patio.

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