Echo speakers are now smart security systems that can ‘smell' danger

One of Amazon’s recent software tweaks turns its Echo into a basic smart security system. With the new update, Echo speakers will start listening to unhealthy sounds such as a breaking glass or a smoke alarm. And as a next step, it sends a notification to your phone when you’re away from home, or to any system or service monitoring your home.

The new feature, termed Alexa Guard, can be enabled by simply telling Alexa that you are leaving. This triggers the new feature to become active and start monitoring its surroundings to send you alerts. In addition to this, Alexa will also randomize the lighting in your house by sensing the environment, for any movement or activity, - in ways that “seem natural”.

Alexa Guard is also capable of alerting the existing home security systems about your leaving. Amazon also announced that it will be further collaborating with Ring and ADT for security products and professional monitoring services respectively.

There’s a lot happening inside Amazon labs when it comes to instilling AI capabilities into Alexa-powered devices. Amazon is experimenting with giving Alexa a basic form of emotional awareness, allowing it to recognize the change in the tone of a person’s voice.

The ever-evolving Alexa voice assistant beats Google and Apple hands down by advantageously getting smarter with new AI features regularly, and Alexa Guard is an example of that. Alexa Guard will also appear in Ring and Blink smart security products.