Amazon’s new Alexa+ feature adds conversational AI to the ability to ring your doorbell

Amazon is adding new features to Alexa+ that add conversational AI to Ring doorbells, allowing users to manage deliveries, decline salespeople, and leave messages when family and friends are not available.

The feature, called “Greetings,” helps Ring determine who’s visiting your home based on what they’re wearing, what they’re doing, and what they’re carrying, and responding accordingly. For example, if the system detects a person in a delivery suit dropping off a package, it will respond based on your instructions.

This feature adds settings that allow delivery people to specify where to place packages and direct them to water or snacks they may have left behind. If the delivery person requires a signature, Alexa can also ask the delivery person when they’ll be back and pass that message on to you.

Sales representatives and service vendors are also available. You can set up instructions like, “If someone comes to your door trying to sell you something, politely tell them you’re not interested in us.”

And even if you’re busy or away from home, Alexa can greet friends and family when they visit and ask them to leave a message.

Needless to say, this technology carries the risk of misidentifying people or responding inappropriately. For example, if your friend who works in logistics comes to see you after work in a delivery uniform, Ring might ask you to leave a package somewhere through Alexa instead of leaving a message.

The new feature follows Ring’s controversial facial recognition feature, Familiar Faces, which allows you to catalog the faces of up to 50 people you visit regularly. Once labeled, these people will see their names in your Ring app timeline and notifications when they visit.

Amazon says Greetings uses Ring’s video descriptions to determine who the main subject in front of the camera is in order to generate responses, and does not identify who that person is.

This feature is compatible with Ring Wired Doorbell Pro (3rd generation) and Ring Wired Doorbell Plus (2nd generation) and is available to Ring Premium plan users who have video instructions enabled. Rolling out to Alexa+ early access customers in the US and Canada.