Your Doorbell Camera Wants a GPU and Your Wallet Pays

Your security camera is getting a price hike because it “needs more RAM.” Like it’s about to render Toy Story 5 instead of catching porch pirates.

Vendors are warning that “AI-powered” cameras, network switches, and cybersecurity boxes now require more compute, more memory, and more expensive chips—so the bill goes up across the entire pile of stuff you used to buy once and forget.

This is the hidden tax of the AI era: everything has to cosplay as a data center. Cameras don’t just record anymore, they “analyze.” Switches don’t just switch, they “optimize.” Security appliances don’t just block threats, they “detect anomalies” like they’re a therapist with a firewall fetish.

And the incentives are deliciously evil. More “AI” means higher price tags, fatter margins, and a subscription bundle stapled on top because the model “improves over time.” Improve what, exactly? The camera already knows what a human looks like. It’s staring at one right now.

Meanwhile, businesses get the real treat: upgrading cameras means upgrading switches, which means upgrading security gateways, which means the IT guy quietly googling “how to fake my own death” at 1:47am.