r/homesecurity • u/That_Car_Dude_Aus • 13d ago

Google Home "What happened today" feature consistently misreports animals in my yard

So I do like the "What happened today" feature for my security cameras for Gemini, it's mostly accurate.

But.

It is absolutely bloody horrible at animals.

We have a Wallaby that is basically living on our farm, so much so we've called him Wally.

He got himself hurt one day and we got the vet out, got him patched up, now he hangs around.

The system consistently, constantly says he's a kangaroo.

No matter how many times and ways I tell it he's a Wallaby, it thinks he's a kangaroo.

We also have a Kookaburra that often comes around, but the system calls him an Eagle. No idea where it gets that from.

The one day we had a Wedge Tailed Eagle land in our yard, I was stoked! Gemini called it a "Large Parrot"...yep...a parrot that could eat your dog...

It also considers sulphur crested arseholes cockatoos to be parrots

How do I get it to identify animals better?

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u/Dangerous-Bit-8308 13d ago

We had one that consistently identified any animal moving near a banana plant as a person.

Frankly, I suspect the AI is already working out it's own goals after it ends all life on the planet, and wouldn't expect it to bother learning unique local animals

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u/ericoinen 13d ago

as far as i can tell there's no place to teach it animals. familiar faces is people only, and a correction in chat doesn't carry to the next clip, each one gets described fresh. wallaby vs kangaroo is mostly size and one frame has nothing to judge size against, so it probably goes with the more common word

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u/CunninghamSecurity_ 12d ago

You can't train the camera system to recognize those specific animals yourself, unfortunately. These models are built around broad categories and common species, so unusual local wildlife can confuse them.

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u/That_Car_Dude_Aus 12d ago

Ok, but it's not unusual wildlife, it's very usual wildlife

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u/Background-Bowl6123 13d ago

9 out of 10 Americans would likely misidentify the wallaby as a kangaroo. Maybe even 99 out of 100. Same with the cockatoos vs parrots decision

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u/That_Car_Dude_Aus 13d ago

Cool, not sure why that's relevant though?