Ring, Amazon's home security subsidiary, is democratizing its AI-powered pet finder. The company just opened Search Party to anyone with a smartphone, not just Ring camera owners, through its free Neighbors app. Since launching in September, the feature's helped reunite more than one lost dog daily with owners, according to Ring. The expansion comes as the company commits $1 million to equip animal shelters nationwide with camera systems and prepares a Super Bowl commercial despite ongoing privacy concerns.
Ring is betting big on lost pets. The Amazon-owned doorbell giant just threw open the gates to Search Party, its AI-powered pet detection service, letting anyone in the US hunt for missing animals through its free Neighbors app - no Ring hardware required.
The move marks a significant shift in strategy for a feature that launched just five months ago exclusively for Ring camera owners. Now anyone can upload a photo of their missing dog or cat, tapping into a sprawling network of AI-enabled Ring cameras that scan for matches and ping owners when their pet wanders past a neighbor's front door.
Ring claims the service has reunited owners with "more than one lost dog a day" since September - over 365 successful recoveries if you do the math. The company's pushing that heartwarming narrative hard, even planning a Super Bowl commercial to showcase stories like Truffle, a chocolate lab found through the system.
But the expansion comes with baggage. Search Party sparked immediate backlash when it defaulted to opt-in at launch, automatically enrolling Ring owners' cameras in the pet-scanning network without explicit consent. Critics questioned whether people understood their devices were now running object detection algorithms on neighborhood animals.
The privacy concerns run deeper than pets. Ring's - including partnerships that let police request doorbell footage - has civil liberties groups on edge about expanding surveillance capabilities. The company's CEO Jamie Siminoff has as a community safety tool, but skeptics see a slippery slope from lost pets to facial recognition.
