Someone made a DIY digital doorbell greeter that talks to visitors so you don't have to

When someone rings my doorbell, it’s always at an inopportune moment. Whether I’m in the middle of an important part in a game or in the shower, I have to drop everything to see who it is. Fortunately, it seems I’m not the only one with unfortunate doorbell timing, as someone has created their own digital doorbell greeter that grills anyone who’s at the door so you don’t have to.

RinGPT is an AI assistant for your front door

This cool project was the idea of Roni Bandini on Hackster, who shared his latest endeavour for everyone to see. It’s called RinGPT, and it’s an AI assistant that lives in your doorbell and handles anyone who dares ring it during a bad time.

Priving that necessity is the mother of invention, it seems that Roni had some rotten luck with catching people at the door:

Last year, overwhelmed by the number of times my doorbell interrupted me, I decided to modify it so that ChatGPT could handle visitors directly. That project, called RinGPT, could engage in endless conversations with visitors while notifying me remotely. RinGPT also detected keywords and provided predefined responses.

That was version one; now, Roni has created a second version that acts more like a “digital receptionist.” This new version of RinGPT will give a small interview to people who ring the doorbell and ask them their name and the reason they visited. If RinGPT deems them unfit for Roni’s attention, it will turn the visitor away and inform its creator over Telegram. If the visitor has a good reason to be there, RinGPT will let them in. Yes, you read that right; if the AI thinks they’re cool, it will open the door for them.

This then begs the question: how far would you trust ChatGPT with your front door? Personally, I wouldn’t give an AI chatbot power over my fridge, let alone handing one the front door keys to my place. But as AI advances, it may not be too far-fetched to see these “AI receptionists” become more of a norm. I probably still won’t use one, though.