Ring Search Party Super Bowl ad ignites fierce debate over AI surveillance and privacy

Why so many people hate Ring's 'Search Party' Super Bowl ad

Why is everyone so mad about the Ring Super Bowl ad? The short TV spot "Search Party" should pull at the heartstrings -- it's got a puppy, lost dogs, a father and daughter, and a happy ending. It even promises viewers they can "Be a hero in your neighborhood." Many viewers on both the right and left were disturbed by the privacy implications of the advertised "Search Party" feature. This AI tool is designed to reunite lost dogs with their owners, and the Super Bowl ad claims that one lost pet is found every day thanks to the technology. Here's how Search Party works: When a dog is lost, pet owners can upload a picture of their pet, at which point their neighbors' Ring video doorbells and security cameras will start looking for the lost pup. Of course, as viewers quickly realized, if Ring can do this for lost dogs, there's no reason it couldn't identify a human face just as easily. I was at the November 2025 Amazon event where Search Party was first announced, and the AI detection feature seemed problematic from the jump. As I reported at the time, privacy advocates warned that some of Amazon's new AI features could even violate state privacy laws. Of course, those privacy laws don't apply to dogs, which is why critics are calling Search Party a Trojan horse for mass surveillance technology. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. For progressive Americans on alert because of increased ICE activity, the ad seemed especially poorly timed. Ring's history is also working against it. In the past, progressives have criticized Ring for sharing footage with law enforcement, which the company has said it only does in rare emergencies, with customers' permission, or when required to do so by a subpoena or warrant. On top of that, back in 2023, the Federal Trade Commission accused Ring employees and contractors of accessing customers' private videos. Despite these controversies, Ring remains very popular, including among Mashable readers. Remember: for many customers, cooperating with law enforcement is a feature, not a bug, in a home security company. Regardless, it's clear that the Search Party Super Bowl ad struck a nerve. Strangely, it wasn't the only vaguely dystopian advertisement from Amazon this year. A Super Bowl LX commercial for Alexa+ showed actor Chris Hemsworth being repeatedly killed by the newly AI-powered smart home assistant.

Ring Is Facing Intense Backlash After Using Lost Puppies as an Excuse for AI Surveillance

There are few things more sympathetic than finding lost puppies. That's why Ring's Super Bowl commercial should have been a sure win. The ad, which ran during the third quarter of Seattle's win over New England, highlighted the company's "Search Party" feature, which Ring says has been responsible for saving an average of one pet per day since it rolled out this fall. It's everything right with technology. Who isn't on the side of bringing a neighbor's pet back home? Except, when you start to think about what's actually happening, the ad starts to look a lot like the normalization of AI-powered neighborhood surveillance, just packaged in the least controversial way possible. The response to the commercial was harsh, but the only surprising part is that Ring didn't see it coming. Look, at a surface level, "Search Party" sounds reasonable. A pet goes missing. The owner uploads a photo. Ring's system scans recent footage from participating cameras in the area for visual matches. If a possible sighting appears, the camera owner is notified and can choose whether to share the clip.

Amazon device debuts new feature that's dividing people

Amazon is not just one of the most recognizable e-commerce brands in the world, but also one of the most popular ones. According to YouGov's tracker, the company gets a 69% rating on popularity, while 17% are neutral, and 14% dislike the company. However, a new feature Amazon debuted is getting decidedly more mixed reviews. Introduced as a great advancement, it aims to solve a major problem. Despite this, many customers have serious concerns. Here's the feature that Amazon introduced, along with details on why some customers support the change, while others are wary of the whole idea. This is Amazon's controversial new feature for Ring cameras The service works by harnessing the power of Ring camera systems, which are on millions of homes throughout the United States. Amazon announced the new feature on Feb. 2, 2026, posting about it on Amazon News. "Ring has expanded Search Party for Dogs, an AI-powered community feature that enables your outdoor Ring cameras to help reunite lost dogs with their families, to anyone in the U.S. who needs help finding their lost pup," according to the announcement. How does Amazon's new Search Party for Dogs work? Amazon's Search Party solutions works simply. * A neighbor reports a lost dog on the Ring app. * Ring cameras in the area automatically start looking for possible matches. * AI-powered computer vision is used to scan for dogs that look similar to missing pets. * If AI spots a dog in the Ring footage that potentially matches the missing one, the camera owner is alerted. * The camera owner can compare the Ring footage of the dog to a picture that is sent to them. * If a match is confirmed, the camera owner can choose to tag the pet's owner, and can decide if they want to share the video as well. Amazon News boasted the success of the program, explaining that Search Party made it possible to find a Wichita, Kansas, dog in as little as 15 minutes. Since the pilot program launched before expansion, Amazon also said that Search Party had found at least a dog a day. Amazon's Search Party for Dogs raises concerns of privacy, "surveillance state" Finding lost pets is obviously a great cause, and it's one with which pretty much everyone can get on board. As a pet owner myself, I know that the two times (over 20 years) that I've had a dog get out of my yard, I've been frantic until I was able to find them. Some customers, including those who were featured in Amazon's news release, were also understandably thrilled about the fact that the service had helped reunite them with their missing furry family member. "I don't think we would have been able to find him if it weren't for the Ring app," said Kylee, a Ring customer whose dog was located quickly after a neighbor shared a video of her missing pup. More Restaurants However, others have concerns that Amazon may be ushering in a surveillance state, using our love of dogs as the Trojan Horse to get people to happily sign on. "While the company credits the feature with helping find roughly one dog per day, a laudable achievement, no doubt celebrated by pet owners across the country, it comes at a time when every American is trying to weigh the pros and cons of blanketing the globe with cameras watching our every move," Matt Novak recently wrote for tech news blog Gizmodo in an analysis piece titled "Amazon's Ring wants to wash away your surveillance concerns with lost puppies." Novak expressed concern that this feature is a "PR move that pulls attention from the threat of omnipresent surveillance in an ostensibly free society: the fact that every American's device can be turned against them in an instant. If you don't like it, well, I guess you like lost dogs." Some comments under the Gizmodo post echoed Novak's concerns. "A means for State surveillance abuse," said commenter Eye B Me. "Info in cloud storage can be used by law enforcement to access surveillance to solve a crime, a good thing. Or to surveil who comes to your house, who enters who leaves and when. Not their business." Commenter Tsuyoikuma also weighed in with an alternate take. "Do you think people who get Ring cameras will care about this? Some of us are adult enough to recognize that privacy in public places hasn't existed since we started living around other people and learned to grunt about what we saw others in our community doing." It seems that those who own Ring cameras will need to weigh very real privacy concerns with their desire to help their neighbors find pets as they decide if they want Search Party activated on their devices. TheStreet This story was originally published February 9, 2026 at 7:33 PM.