Google Home will soon get better at recognizing you Google Home will update its facial recognition feature on June 23rd to identify people using body size and clothing color when faces aren't visible, and will automatically update Familiar Faces libraries with recent images. The update also adds AI-generated video descriptions that can identify specific sounds like barking or footsteps, and introduces System Health alerts for Nest thermostats. A new update https://support.google.com/googlehome/answer/15962877?hl=en zippy=%2Cjune for Google Home could make it less likely your smart home cameras mistake you for someone else, just because you’re facing away from the camera. Starting June 23rd, Google’s expanding its facial recognition feature so that people you’ve tagged in your Familiar Faces library can continue to be identified when their faces aren’t clearly visible, using “additional non-biometric signals body size, clothing color, etc. .” Google Home will soon get better at recognizing you Google’s smart home AI will be able to use clothing to identify people and recognize specific sounds caught on camera. Google’s smart home AI will be able to use clothing to identify people and recognize specific sounds caught on camera. The Familiar Faces library will also begin automatically updating with the most recent images of everyone in your house, so you should get fewer inaccurate notifications from outdated examples. Google also says its AI-generated video event descriptions “can now identify specific sounds — like dogs barking, alarms, or footsteps” and include them in the notes, even if the audio came from something off camera. All of these updates could help address some of the quirks The Verge ’s Jennifer Pattison Tuohy noticed while trying out Google’s updated smart home system /tech/813523/gemini-for-home-google-nest-camera-hands-on last year, like event logs with detailed descriptions of people who weren’t there, and things that didn’t happen. A new update to the Google Home app in version 4.20 also adds new “ System Health alerts https://support.google.com/googlehome/answer/17017929 zippy=%2Ccheck-compressor-heads-up-compatibility%2Ctroubleshoot-compressor-heads-up ” if your Nest thermostat detects issues with your HVAC, which sounds like a Gemini-connected update to the previously existing Google Nest System Health Monitoring, and improved support for Matter switches. https://support.google.com/googlehome/answer/9984225?hl=en Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates. Most Popular - Meta launches cheaper smart glasses without Ray-Ban - The best Prime Day deals we found on our favorite gear - The Steam Machine is the most ambitious game console I’ve ever played - Valve will finally let you build your own Steam Machine with SteamOS for desktop - Valve explains why it isn’t subsidizing the Steam Machine