Ring’s attempt to tug at our heartstrings with a Super Bowl ad about finding a lost dog totally backfired, instead sparking massive privacy concerns over mass surveillance, as reported by The Verge. The 30-second spot showcased the company’s new Search Party feature, which uses AI to scan neighborhoods for missing pets, but many viewers quickly realized the tech could be used for far more than just reuniting Fido with his owner.
This ad, celebrating widespread neighborhood surveillance in a prime-time slot, really struck a nerve. Privacy experts and politicians alike are worried that the AI technology Ring uses to identify dogs could easily be repurposed to search for humans. This fear is compounded by the fact that Ring recently rolled out a new facial recognition capability, making the leap from pet-finding to state surveillance feel incredibly short.
Privacy expert Chris Gilliard described the ad as “a clumsy attempt by Ring to put a cuddly face on a rather dystopian reality: widespread networked surveillance by a company that has cozy relationships with law enforcement and other equally invasive surveillance companies.”
A powerful network of AI-enabled cameras that can track people in your neighborhood is dystopian
Senator Ed Markey, a well-known critic of Ring’s close ties to law enforcement, posted his reaction online, stating, “This definitely isn’t about dogs — it’s about mass surveillance.” The senator has been pushing for greater transparency into Ring’s connections with law enforcement and demanding stronger privacy protections for us, the consumers.
The biggest reason people are panicking centers on the Amazon-owned company’s partnerships. Ring works with Flock Safety, a surveillance technology company famous for its automated license plate readers and video systems used by police. This partnership aims to connect Ring’s massive residential camera network with an organization that has reportedly allowed federal agencies, like ICE, to access data from its own nationwide camera network.
A Ring spokesperson, Emma Daniels, attempted to soothe these fears, emphasizing that Search Party is designed only to match images of dogs and is “not capable of processing human biometrics.” She maintained that the human facial recognition feature, Familiar Faces, is completely separate. “These are not tools for mass surveillance,” Daniels insisted, adding, “We build the right guardrails, and we’re super transparent about them.”
When pressed on whether Ring cameras could eventually be used to search for people, Daniels was careful with her words. She said the features “are not capable of that today” and noted, “I have no knowledge or indication that we’re building features like that at this point.”
Published: Feb 12, 2026 03:00 pm