SimpliSafe is introducing live monitoring to its outdoor cameras, complementing the indoor live monitoring service it launched last 12 months. The new live outdoor security service allows SimpliSafe agents to view live feed from an outdoor camera when the system is armed, the camera detects an individual, and artificial intelligence and facial recognition algorithms determine that the person is probably going a stranger. The idea is that SimpliSafe can prevent intrusions more proactively than traditional alarm systems, which usually only trigger when a house’s perimeter is breached.
The do-it-yourself smart home security company’s new service uses a mix of on-device artificial intelligence, cloud computer vision and facial recognition to find out when someone is approaching your own home after which determine whether or not they ought to be there or not . “We have created an AI pipeline that filters out people with profiles set up in the app,” SimpliSafe vice chairman of product Hooman Shahidi told The Verge.
According to Shahidi, if the camera identifies a face with no user-created profile associated with it, it triggers the live security system and the agent accesses the live image and may take further obligatory steps. These may include talking to the person and warning them, turning on the siren and sending emergency services. The homeowner also receives a notification within the SimpliSafe app with a recording of the interaction.
The SimpliSafe outdoor camera works with the new live monitoring feature, but you will need an external power cable ($30) and an audio amplifier provided by SimpliSafe (pictured). Photo: Simplisafe
For the primary time, the corporate introduced biometric identification into its security service. The live indoor security guard monitoring service, which works with an indoor AI-powered security camera, relies on PIR motion and other people detection – it doesn’t have facial recognition. The new outdoor security feature uses SimpliSafe wireless outdoor cameras and the Video Doorbell Pro.
Amazon-owned Ring offers an analogous outdoor camera monitoring service for $99 a month using its Ring Alarm home security system. However, this service doesn’t use facial recognition; as a substitute, it relies on AI-powered motion detection and person alerts.
SimpliSafe has not announced pricing for outdoor live guard protection, which is a component of the early access program (current customers can request to affix by signing up for email updates at SimpliSafe.com). The company says it would be available to all customers later this 12 months.
Live indoor monitoring is included in the corporate’s $29.99-per-month Fast Protect package, but Shahidi says there’ll likely be a further fee for the surface service because “it will be expensive to provide.” He says the corporate is considering two tiers: one which covers your property 24/7, and a less expensive option that only prompts the service at night.
Live Guard Outdoor Security means that you can create and delete profiles of friends, family and regular guests in your own home to forestall them from triggering the alarm. Photo: SimpliSafe
SimpliSafe says all live videos and recordings are securely encrypted and should not accessible to monitoring agents once the event has been reviewed and closed. “All recordings are encrypted during transmission and storage to ensure that a bad actor cannot access any information,” Shahidi said. “We give the user 100 percent control over what the agent sees, and the agent only has access to the cameras when the system is armed and the event has triggered it, and at no other time.”
Shahidi said SimpliSafe is one in all the few smart home security corporations with its own monitoring centers, and all its agents are vetted and trained by the corporate. In states like Illinois, where biometric identification is protected by privacy laws, Shahidi said agents will manually match your profiles to camera footage.
This style of proactive security monitoring, which helps prevent crime or disaster, is an interesting development within the connected home, and I expect we’ll see more of it as the total capabilities of AI are tested. However, facial recognition – while useful (I tested it on Google Nest and Eufy cameras and thru Apple’s HomeKit Secure Video service) – raises many privacy concerns. While implementing SimpliSafe is meant to scale back false positives and could be very useful in some situations, it might be overkill for most individuals.
Credit : www.theverge.com