Wyze’s AI-powered person detection feature will ‘temporarily’ disappear next year

Wyze’s security cameras will temporarily lose their person detection feature in January 2020 after the AI startup it partnered with on the feature abruptly terminated their agreement. In a post on its forums, Wyze said that its agreement with Xnor.ai included a clause allowing the startup to terminate the contract “at any moment without reason.”

Although Wyze admits that it has made “mistakes,” it says that the loss of person detection functionality should only be temporary. It says it plans to launch its own in-house version of the technology next year, and it will still be offered free of charge to its users. Wyze first added the person detection functionality to its Wyze Cam V2 and Wyze Cam Pan back in July.

Wyze’s cameras have always had the advantage of being very cheap, with its entry-level camera costing just $20 compared to Nest’s $199. But the loss of person detection less than one year after it was first introduced, as well as temporary delay to the roll-out of its subscription service this month, shows that Wyze’s low prices come with risks.