Yandex’s AI-powered security cameras just got smarter: owners can now ask the company’s voice assistant Alice to identify what’s happening in the frame. Whether someone’s standing by the front door, the yard gate is open, or a houseplant needs watering, Alice will provide an instant update. You can pose questions via Yandex Station smart speakers, TV Station, Yandex Drops earbuds, or directly in the Alice AI chat.
- No subscription means you get up to 20 Alice queries per month; subscribing to the ”Extra” or ”Standard” plan removes limits.
- Object recognition runs on Alice AI’s visual-language model (Alice AI VLM), which combines image analysis with natural language processing.
- The camera can trigger recordings automatically based on custom conditions and search its video archive using text descriptions.
Voice commands let users skip opening the mobile app to check their cameras. For example, wearing Yandex Drops earbuds on your way home, you might ask, ”Alice, is the baby asleep?” before buzzing the doorbell to avoid waking them. Alice can also handle more nuanced requests like ”Does this outfit look suitable for an interview?” using the camera’s live feed.
The visual-language model Alice AI VLM powers this new feature by interpreting camera footage and generating answers in plain English or Russian. Users with the ”Extra” or ”Standard” subscription tiers enjoy unlimited queries, while free users are capped at 20 monthly questions.
Adjust Yandex AI camera angles and enable automatic recording
User control over Yandex AI cameras just got easier. You can now set up to three preferred camera angles-such as pointing at the front door, hallway, or living room-and switch between them with voice commands, bypassing the need to open an app and adjust manually.
The camera also supports automatic recording triggered by specific events. For instance, you can have it start filming when someone approaches your front door or when a pet enters the frame. This makes it easier to capture important moments without constantly monitoring the live stream.
Search camera video archive using text descriptions
Yandex AI cameras now let users search through recorded footage by describing what they want to see in text. Type or say something like ”people playing guitar” or ”dog playing in the yard,” and the system will find matching clips from the archive.
This video search feature is available exclusively to subscribers of the ”Extra” or ”Standard” plans. Yandex has shared demo images illustrating the update on Yandex Disk.
Yandex’s AI camera updates bring a more conversational, hands-free approach to managing home security and smart home interaction. While global tech giants like Apple and Google offer object recognition and voice control features in some smart cameras, Yandex’s integration of Alice AI VLM aims for a more nuanced, language-driven experience tied to its broader ecosystem.
The next steps to watch for will be how deeply Yandex can expand Alice’s vision-language understanding to support more complex queries and automation-potentially rivaling or surpassing Western competitors as AI models grow more capable. For users invested in the Russian tech ecosystem, this signals a step toward smarter, more intuitive home AI devices.