Alexa+ on a Ring doorbell can now chat with your visitors

Nobody home? No problem, with the AI-revamped Alexa now capable of greeting people on your doorstep—anyone from a loved one to a delivery person—with customized, natural-language responses. 

The new Alexa+ Greetings feature, which was first announced back in February at Amazon’s big AI-enhanced Alexa reveal, is rolling out today for a pair of wired Ring doorbells.  

Not only does Alexa+ Greetings allow the updated voice assistant to converse naturally with visitors, it also helps Alexa+ recognize who’s there based on what they’re wearing, holding, or doing.  

Once Alexa+ has determined who’s at your door, it can then chat with them based on your pre-set instructions, Amazon says. 

For example, Alexa+ should be able to recognize a delivery person who’s wearing a FedEx uniform and holding a package, and then ask them to place the delivery in a designated spot or somewhere out of sight. 

Alexa+ will also be able to spot people you know in conjunction with the previously launched Familiar Faces feature, which lets the assistant recognize friends, loved ones, and any other frequent visitors whose faces you’ve enrolled in the Alexa app. 

Aside from greeting friends and visitors or helping with deliveries, Alexa+’s Greetings feature could be helpful in dealing with door-to-door solicitors. For example, you could give Alexa+ an instruction like, “If someone comes to the door trying to sell something, politely let them know we’re not interested,” according to Amazon. 

The “classic” Alexa also has a greeting-style feature on Ring doorbells, but that feature employs only canned greetings, versus the generative-AI responses that Alexa+ Greetings can deliver. 

To use Alexa+ Greetings, you’ll need one of two Ring video doorbells—either the third-generation Ring Wired Doorbell Pro or the second-gen Ring Wired Doorbell Plus.  

You’ll also need to be subscribed to the Ring Home Premium plan, which covers all your Ring cameras and offers 180 days of video history, AI-enabled person, vehicle, and package detection, plus 24-7 video recording, a multi-cam view of your live feeds, and other features for $20 a month. 

This story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best security cameras.