Nest Labs is adding Google’s facial recognition technology to a high-resolution home-security camera, offering a glimpse of a future in which increasingly intelligent, internet-connected computers can see and understand what’s going on in people’s homes.
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The Nest Cam IQ [pictured above], unveiled Wednesday, will be Nest’s first device to draw upon the same human-like skills that Google has been programming into its computers — for instance, to identify people in images via its widely used photo app. Facebook deploys similar technology to automatically recognize and recommend tags of people in photos posted on its social network.
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The Cost of Facial Recognition
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The new camera will set you back almost $300, and you’ll also have to pay $10 a month for a plan that includes facial recognition technology. The same plan will also include other features, such as alerts generated by particular sounds — barking dogs, say — that occur out of the camera’s visual range.
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The camera will only identify people you select through Nest’s app for iPhones and Android devices. For instance, you could program the device to recognize a child, friend or neighbor, after which it will send you a notifications about that person being in the home. It won’t try to recognize anyone that an owner hasn’t tagged.
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Even if a Nest Cam IQ video spies a burglar in a home, law enforcement officials will have to identify the suspect through their own investigation and analysis, according to Nest.
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Privacy Concerns
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Facial recognition is becoming much more common on home-security cameras. Netatmo , for instance, introduced a security camera touting a similar facial recognition system in 2015. That camera sells for $100 less than the Nest Cam IQ.
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The way that the Nest and Netatmo cameras are being used doesn’t raise serious privacy concerns because they are only verifying familiar faces, not those of complete…