Amazon-owned smart home device maker Blink is taking cues from Google and Ring to introduce a new AI-powered feature that gives users smarter, more descriptive alerts for events captured by its security cameras. Like Ring’s AI Video Descriptions and Google’s Gemini-powered AI descriptions, Blink’s new feature uses AI to analyze security camera footage and generate natural-language summaries of the events.
Currently available as an early beta preview in the US for Blink users with a basic or plus subscription, the feature is designed to offer more helpful alerts. Instead of a generic notification like “motion detected in the backyard,” the feature will offer a more detailed description that, according to Blink, will “focus on describing the main subject that caused a motion alert and what action they are taking.”
These glanceable summaries will make it easier for users to decide if an alert requires their immediate attention or can be safely ignored without opening the app. While more useful than generic alerts, Blink’s Video Descriptions lag behind what Ring and Google have on offer. PCWorld notes that Blink’s summaries aren’t searchable like Ring’s, so users can’t quickly look up specific events with natural language queries. Additionally, unlike Google’s Gemini, which can generate daily briefs of all activity, Blink’s descriptions are limited to individual events.
Nonetheless, for anyone invested in Blink’s ecosystem of video doorbells and security cameras, the feature will be a welcome change. It will eliminate the need to open every single security alert and make monitoring security cameras less of a hassle. While Blink’s Video Descriptions may not yet match the capabilities offered by competitors, the company could enhance its offering by the time the feature comes out of beta.
If you own a Blink security camera, you can try out the Video Descriptions feature by updating to the latest version of the Blink app and navigating to Settings > Notifications > Blink Video Descriptions. Blink’s support page for the feature states that it’s only available if the language is set to English and is not compatible with Blink XT, XT2, and Indoor (1st Gen) cameras.
