Your Arlo Security Cam Can Detect Screams, Send AI Summaries of What It Sees

Smart home security brand Arlo Security has announced the newest iteration of its subscription-based home security system, Arlo 6, offering users some eye-catching new AI-based features. The updated system will start rolling out to users later this May.

You’ll need to sign up for a $7.99 subscription to Arlo Secure Plus to access these new features, though many of Arlo’s devices offer users a complimentary first month. Meanwhile, Arlo’s Premium subscription, which allows you to hook up an unlimited number of cameras and gives you access to human safety agents to help verify potential threats, will set you back $29.99 per month.

Arlo says the new system can use AI to generate “concise” and “accurate” descriptions of events, summarizing activity without needing to view the video footage. Arlo 6 users will also be able to search their library of video footage, allowing them to locate important moments by searching for specific keywords, descriptions, or time ranges, reducing the time-consuming task of browsing through old footage to find what you need.

This brings Arlo up to speed with its rival smart home security system, Google Nest, which has offered similar AI captions and search functionality to subscribers via its integration with Google Home since November 2024. Meanwhile, Amazon’s Ring also rolled out AI search back in October last year.

Arlo has also implemented several forward-looking video and audio detection features in the new device. The camera will send users an alert—via email or push notification to their smartphone—when it hears a scream, gunshot, glass breaking, or even a dog barking, giving them time to contact emergency services if necessary.

Users will also be able to remotely access the Arlo 6’s video feed after receiving a notification, to check if their barking pet has noticed a burglar—or just one of their neighbors.

The company did include some object recognition capabilities in the older Arlo 5 platform, including the ability to spot cars and people, but the new update builds on this, giving it the ability to detect a much more diverse set of signals.

Despite the immense competition in the space from big players like Amazon and Google, Arlo does seem to be making a success of building up its user base. The company announced earlier this week that its base of paid subscribers has now passed 5 million.

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