Ring has canceled a new and controversial AI-driven video-sharing feature before it even got to launch — no, not that one.
On Super Bowl Sunday, Ring unveiled a new feature called “Search Party” that utilizes artificial intelligence and footage from your Ring cameras to find lost dogs in the community. On social media, the TV spot went over like, well, dog shit. But that’s not what the video-doorbell company scrapped on Thursday.
In October 2025, Ring and security software company Flock Safety announced a partnership they say was to beef up the effectiveness of the video-doorbell company’s Community Requests feature. Flock Safety is primarily known for its automatic license plate reader capabilities, which can help local cops track a specific vehicle locally and has been adopted by the feds for nationwide searches. The AI-based law enforcement tool is a bit too big brother-y for some homeowners who just want to know if its an Amazon delivery person at their door or someone soliciting solar. (Amazon owns Ring by the way.)
You know who else hates Flock Safety software? The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union).
The ACLU says Flock Safety’s surveillance technology “has been used by ICE” to help carry out what it calls “the Trump Administration’s abusive removal program.” The organization also says Flock tech was used by a police officer in Texas to “search nationwide for a woman who’d had a self-administered abortion — illegal in the state.”
Officially, Ring says it parted ways with Flock Safety after a “comprehensive review” found the planned integration would “require significantly more time and resources than anticipated.” It was a “joint decision,” per the company line.
“We can confirm that Flock’s intended integration with Community Requests has been canceled. This integration was never live, and no videos were ever shared between these services,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement shared with The Hollywood Reporter. “Following a comprehensive review, we determined the planned Flock Safety integration would require significantly more time and resources than anticipated. We therefore made the joint decision to cancel the integration.”
Ring further hammered home in a blog post the point that no customer videos were ever shared with Flock Safety. Ring also really wants you to know that you can opt out of its Community Requests feature anytime — or just simply don’t respond to one when such a request arrives. Your Ring videos are not automatically shared with private citizens or law enforcement.
“You have complete control over whether to respond to a Community Request and what you share,” the blog reads. “Every Community Request is publicly posted and searchable for complete transparency and auditability.”
What does any of this have to do with the controversial “Search Party” feature? Nothing, and I guess something.
As advertised during Super Bowl XL, Search Party is a free feature that uses Ring videos and AI to identify and locate lost dogs. Basically, your pup runs away, you upload a picture of the sheepdog on the lam, and local Ring users are notified by a Community Request via push notification. They can then either allow their cameras to search for the escapee or simply do nothing and no videos get shared — just like the Flock thing.
Search Party, which unlike Flock actually launched, has worked, says the guy who had no takers on Shark Tank (the Ring doorbell was then called “doorbot”) but ultimately sold the company to Amazon for like a billion dollars — literally.
“Since launch, more than a dog a day has been reunited with their family,” Ring founder and CEO Jamie Siminoff says in the 30-second Super Bowl LX ad.
Since the launch of the ad, more than a mocking tweet a minute has bashed the feature, probably. And Amazon, like other advertisers with a 30-second slot during Super Bowl XL, paid between $8 million and $10 million for the privilege.
Search Party remains available and Ring has no plans to shutter it, THR is told.
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