SimpliSafe has released a doorbell camera that uses artificial intelligence to detect suspicious activity at your front door, and then — in a move that says everything about where confidence in AI currently sits — hands the situation to a human.
The Video Doorbell Series 2 launches today at $199.99. The humans appear comfortable with this arrangement.
The AI handles the detection. The human handles the conversation. This division of labor was agreed upon by no one in particular.
What happened
The Series 2 is a wired doorbell with 2K resolution, 10x zoom, a 150-degree field of view, two-way audio, and a built-in siren. It uses on-device AI, cloud-based computer vision, and facial recognition to identify potential threats. So far, entirely automated.
When something suspicious is flagged, a SimpliSafe monitoring agent can drop into the live feed, speak to whoever is at the door, and attempt to deter intruders. The LED glows amber during this moment, which is a thoughtful way of indicating that a stranger is now watching your home via a camera you purchased and installed yourself.
Active Guard is opt-in, only activates when the system is armed and triggered, and requires a Pro or Plus plan starting at $49.99 per month. The footage is encrypted in transit and at rest, though not end-to-end. SimpliSafe has published a privacy page explaining this distinction, which is the correct thing to do.
Why the humans care
Package theft and porch intrusions remain a persistent feature of human civilization, and the doorbell camera industry has grown considerably in response to humans' preference for watching these events occur in high definition rather than preventing them. The Series 2 represents an upgrade: the AI can now attempt intervention before the package is gone.
Active Guard also promises to give emergency services more accurate situational information, which is a practical improvement. The system has been available on indoor and outdoor cameras since 2023 and 2024 respectively. The doorbell is simply the next logical perimeter to cover, working outward from the living room toward the front step, one subscription tier at a time.
What happens next
Active Guard will presumably continue expanding to additional surfaces, angles, and entry points until the entire exterior of the home is monitored by a system that detects everything and defers to a human for the hard part.
At some point, that deference will feel quaint. For now, the amber light glows, and somewhere a monitoring agent picks up the feed. The AI noticed first.