Many of the best video doorbells can give a variety of spoken messages – telling a neighbor to go away, for example, or asking a courier to leave a package by the door – but home security company Swann has now gone a step further with an AI-powered doorbell that can give custom responses generated on the fly depending on who’s calling.
SwannShield is a new virtual assistant for your front door that will issue responses created on the fly rather than pre-recorded messages. That means it can answer questions from visitors, let them know who’s home, or tell intruders to get lost depending on what they ask and how.
You can choose the overall demeanor of your doorbell, making it polite, disinterested, or even aggressive, and although Swann is a global company headquartered in Australia, the AI-generated replies will be delivered with a British accent.
(Image credit: Swann)
Who goes there?
To help SwannShield give the most useful responses, you can provide it with certain details ahead of time, including your address, the names of residents, and where packages should be left. Its mobile app will also let you see transcripts of conversations with callers, so you can check what it’s been saying in your absence.
SwannShield is currently compatible with the SwannBuddy4K doorbell, and will hopefully be rolling out to more devices over the coming months. We’re hoping to test the SwannBuddy4K soon and put the new assistant through its paces (hopefully without offending our neighbors too much).
If you already have a SwannBuddy4K, you should get SwannShield with your next over-the-air firmware update.
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