Wyze Introduces AI-Powered Video Search and Descriptive Alerts for Security Cameras

Wyze cams are getting AI-powered video search

Video alerts that just read "Driveway"? So 2024. Video alerts that read "A dad and 3 boys are playing in the driveway?" Now we're talking. AI-powered video descriptions are the new hotness when it comes to security cameras. Amazon's Ring cameras and Google's Nest cams are already doing them, and now Wyze is joining the party. Available now as part of a new-and pricey-"Cam Unlimited Pro" plan, Wyze's "descriptive alerts" serve up AI-generated captions for video events captured by your Wyze cams, complete with "important details and contextual information." So, rather than getting Wyze alerts that just say "Driveway" or "Bedroom," subscribers to the new plan will get AI descriptions with details such as "Three babies are helping each other climb out of their cribs," or "Front Door caught a suspicious person walking up to the porch and picking up a package." Besides the AI-powered video alerts, Wyze users are also getting AI search, meaning you can find clips in your video history using natural-language queries. If that kind of functionality sounds familiar, it's because Amazon and Google are already in on the AI action with their respective security cameras. Last October, Amazon-owned Ring rolled out "Smart Video Search," an AI-powered feature that lets Ring users search for video events with -- you guessed it -- natural-language prompts. About a month later, Google began testing descriptive video events powered by Gemini AI for its Nest cams. Wyze's AI-generated video alerts (which are compatible with all Wyze cams except for the Wyze Cam v1, the Wyze Video Doorbell v1, and the Wyze Cam Outdoor v1) are included in the brand's just-announced Cam Unlimited Pro plan, which will set you back $19.99 a month, or $199.99 a year. The plan covers all your Wyze cameras and also offers smart object detection (including for people, pets vehicles, and packages), suspicious sound alerts, facial recognition, and a web view for live feeds and recorded events, among other features. Cam Unlimited Pro subscribers are also slated to get 60 days of cloud storage by this spring, Wyze says. For now, the limit is 14 days of video storage, same as with Wyze's $4.99/month Cam Plus and $9.99/month Cam Unlimited plans. It's worth noting that the separate $9.99/month Wyze Home Monitoring plan, which offers sensor alerts through Wyze's home security system plus 24/7 professional monitoring, is not compatible with the new Cam Unlimited Pro plan, according to Wyze. That means if you're a Wyze Home Monitoring subscriber and opt for the Cam Unlimited Pro plan, the latter plan will replace the Wyze Home Monitoring tab, you'll lose the professional monitoring, and your sensors "will no longer be tied to your security plan," a Wyze FAQ explains.

Wyze cameras can now use AI to summarize your motion events

Wyze has officially launched Cam Unlimited Pro, a new subscription that gives you access to several AI-powered features. This includes Descriptive Alerts -- text notifications generated by AI that accurately summarize motion events triggered by your camera. It's a powerful feature, and one that should give you highly detailed alerts so you can determine if you need to dive into the Wyze app to watch the full video clip. For example, an old alert from Wyze might say something like "Pet detected by Backyard Cam." With Descriptive Alerts, that'll change to "Small white dog playing with tennis ball in backyard at 4:04 PM." It can also give you accurate descriptions of folks at your front door, letting you know if they've dropped off a package or delivered groceries. Recommended Videos Essentially, it takes the guesswork out of what's happening on your property, leveraging AI technology to give you highly detailed information previously unavailable to Wyze users. Descriptive Alerts is only the tip of the iceberg, as the new Cam Unlimited Pro subscription tier also unlocks AI Video Search. This lets you enter a text phrase when searching for motion events and should let you quickly find any video you're looking for. That means you can type in "brown UPS truck" and the app will pull up any videos with content matching your description. Please enable Javascript to view this content Other features include facial recognition for familiar faces, detection for people, pets, vehicles, and packages, glass break detection, multi-cam timeline, Wyze Web View, no time restrictions for live viewing, and cloud storage for your files. The Cam Unlimited Pro subscription is supported by all Wyze cameras except for Wyze Cam v1, Wyze Video Doorbell v1, and Wyze Cam Outdoor v1. A single subscription covers all your supported cameras, and membership costs $20 per month or $200 per year. Head over to the Wyze website to learn more about the service and upgrade your account. Be sure to also check out the best home security cameras for options beyond Wyze that are great for protecting your home.

Wyze cameras will use AI to describe what they see

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement. Wyze's latest AI feature aims to reduce how often you need to manually check security footage by instead just describing what the camera has seen. The new Descriptive Alerts will send notifications that "accurately summarize motion events" with more contextual detail than simply telling users that the camera has detected movement or an object, according to Wyze. An example alert provided by the company is "a delivery driver wearing a blue hat leaves a package on the doorstep, then leaves. A green SUV is parked in the street." Rival smart home security companies like Ring, Google's Nest, and (to some extent) Arlo provide similar AI summarization features for their own cameras, but Wyze's video-to-text alerts seem to be the only service that specifies detail like color in its descriptions. Wyze's Descriptive Alerts are available to Cam Unlimited Pro members -- a new $19.99 per month (or $199.99 per year) subscription that bundles other features like facial recognition, searching videos using descriptive keywords, and simultaneously viewing live feeds from multiple Wyze cameras. The Cam Unlimited Pro subscription will also include 60 days of cloud storage, though Wyze says this won't be available until "Spring 2025." Just remember, Wyze cameras have suffered from serious security and privacy issues in the past. Choose wisely.

Wyze's new security camera subscription uses AI to compete with Ring

One of the challenges when you own one or more of the best home security cameras is sifting through all of the recorded footage to find the moment or event you're looking for. However, Ring, and now Wyze, are leveraging AI so that you can use natural language search to dig through your hundreds of hours of videos. However, using these features doesn't come cheap. Wyze's new service, called Cam Unlimited Pro, launches today (Jan. 14) for $19.99 per month or $199 per year; it's available anywhere in the world, though many features will be geo-locked to the U.S. and Canada. Wyze Cam Unlimited Pro uses AI for two features in particular: Descriptive Alerts and Video Search. Like Ring's AI-enabled version, Wyze's Video Search will let you type in a phrase, such as "person wearing orange jacket walking two dogs," and it will scour your footage for a scene fitting that description. Descriptive Alerts will give you more detailed information at a glance when one of Wyze's cameras detects motion. Instead of something like "pet detected," you'll receive a notification such as "small brown dog playing with tennis ball." Wyze Cam Unlimited Pro will work with every Wyze camera except the Wyze Cam v1, Wyze Video Doorbell v1, and Wyze Cam Outdoor v1. Among the best security camera storage plans, Wyze's $19.99/month price is the same as Ring's Home Premium service. However, one key difference is that Wyze's plan only saves videos on a rolling 14-day basis, while Ring's will store videos for 180 days; this spring, Wyze will increase the storage to 60 days, but that's still a sizable difference. To be fair, Wyze does have one of the least expensive plans, which starts at $2.99 per month for one camera, and includes person, pet, package, and vehicle detection; however, you don't get the AI features. Wyze's AI features also don't work with its Home Monitoring service, so if you're currently subscribed to the latter and upgrade to Cam Unlimited Pro, you'll lose features such as professional, and Wyze's sensors will no longer work with your system. It's only a matter of time before other security camera companies also offer AI in some respect; Arlo uses it for person, package, animal, and vehicle detection, but not to the extent that Ring and Wyze are implementing it. While Ring's cameras aren't overly expensive, now that Wyze is entering this area, it gives homeowners a lower-cost entry into home security with AI features.