Home security provider SimpliSafe has announced the addition of Active Guard Outdoor Protection to its monthly subscription service. This new tier of service adds 24/7 monitoring to home security, offering extra protection. The cost of the Outdoor Protection Pro is $50 per month, which includes the company's standard $32 indoor monitoring service based in Boston.
This new service will only be available through a new hardware device, the Outdoor Security Camera Series 2. SimpliSafe stated that the reason for restricting the use of new hardware is that its previous generation products cannot run its "familiar faces AI" feature, which ensures that users do not trigger false alarms in their own homes.
If the system cannot recognize a person based on previous training, it will alert a human agent. Depending on the situation, response, and other factors, SimpliSafe employees can issue warnings to the monitored person, trigger alarms and floodlights, and notify authorities if necessary.
Hooman Shahidi, Senior Vice President of Product, told TechCrunch that SimpliSafe decided to involve human agents in the process to ensure that the final decision is not made solely by AI. "The AI is all about assisting the agents," Shahidi explained. "We have trained our agents to be racially unbiased, and our monitoring center has a fairly diverse staff. It's really just to help them, not to replace them."
CEO Christian Cerda added that although SimpliSafe, like other companies on Earth, is testing generative AI solutions, the company is cautious in deploying these technologies.
The Outdoor Security Camera Series 2 is priced at $200, the same as its predecessor. This camera is waterproof and designed to be mounted on walls or other surfaces. It can be battery-powered or hardwired. The system shoots in high definition with a 140-degree field of view, capable of capturing details up to 15 feet away. It also has built-in microphones and speakers for two-way communication.
Founded in 2006, SimpliSafe is one of the top three home security companies in the United States, alongside ADT and Vivint. Over the years, as smart home cameras like Amazon's Ring and Google's Nest have become popular, the company has faced increasing competition. Most of SimpliSafe's business is conducted in the United States, and it established its first international office in the UK in 2019. In April 2023, the security company moved its headquarters to a larger office space in Boston. The company also employs many former iRobot employees, including Cerda, who was previously the Chief Operating Officer of the Roomba manufacturer.