Many of the best video doorbells can deliver a variety of voice messages – for example, telling a neighbor to leave or asking a courier to leave a package at the door – but home security company Swann has now gone a step further with an AI-powered doorbell that can give customized answers generated instantly depending on who is calling.
SwannShield is a new virtual assistant for your front door that provides on-the-spot responses instead of pre-recorded messages. That means it can answer visitors’ questions, let them know who’s home, or tell intruders to get lost, depending on what they ask and how.
You can choose the general behavior of your doorbell, making it polite, disinterested or even aggressive, and although Swann is a global company headquartered in Australia, the AI-generated responses are delivered with a British accent.
Who goes there?
To help SwannShield provide the most helpful responses, you can provide certain details in advance, including your address, residents’ names and where to leave packages. The mobile app also lets you view transcripts of conversations with callers, so you can check what was said while you were away.
SwannShield is currently compatible with the SwannBuddy4K doorbell and will hopefully be rolled out to more devices in the coming months. We hope to test the SwannBuddy4K soon and try out the new assistant (hopefully without offending our neighbors too much).
If you already have a SwannBuddy4K, you should purchase SwannShield with your next over-the-air firmware update.