Ring\u2019s controversial, AI-powered \u201cSearch Party\u201d feature isn\u2019t intended to always be limited only to dogs, the company\u2019s founder, Jamie Siminoff, told Ring employees in an internal email obtained by 404 Media.\u00a0In October, Ring launched Search Party, an on-by-default feature that links together Ring cameras in a neighborhood and uses AI to search for specific lost dogs, essentially creating a networked, automated surveillance system. The feature got some attention at the time, but faced extreme backlash after Ring and Siminoff promoted Search Party during a Super Bowl ad. 404 Media obtained an email that Siminoff sent to all Ring employees in early October, soon after the feature\u2019s launch, which said the feature was introduced \u201cfirst for finding dogs,\u201d but that it or features like it would be expanded to \u201czero out crime in neighborhoods.\u201d\u201cThis is by far the most innovation that we have launched in the history of Ring. And it is not only the quantity, but quality,\u201d Siminoff wrote. \u201cI believe that the foundation we created with Search Party, first for finding dogs, will end up becoming one of the most important pieces of tech and innovation to truly unlock the impact of our mission. You can now see a future where we are able to zero out crime in neighborhoods. So many things to do to get there but for the first time ever we have the chance to fully complete what we started.\u201d\u201cIt is exciting to be back to Day 1, we are going to have to work hard and leverage everything we can, especially AI,\u201d he continued. \u201cThanks again to everyone who came together to make this week happen and I can\u2019t wait to show everyone else all the exciting things we are building over the years to come!\u201dAs we wrote last week, Siminoff made Ring popular by signing partnership deals with police departments around the country. The company briefly stepped away from those partnerships after Siminoff left the company in 2023, but when he returned last year, he immediately refocused on Ring\u2019s potential role in law enforcement. After the Super Bowl commercial, the company\u2019s Search Party feature was criticized as dystopian and demonstrating functionality that could be easily expanded beyond looking for lost dogs. Although it doesn\u2019t say what Search Party may specifically expand into, Siminoff\u2019s email noting that the feature is \u201cfirst for finding dogs\u201d suggests the plan is to use Ring to scan for other things. In recent weeks, Ring has also launched a feature called \u201cFamiliar Faces,\u201d which uses facial recognition to identify specific friends and family members on a person\u2019s camera. The company also released \u201cFire Watch,\u201d which uses AI to warn users about fires.\ud83d\udca1Do you know anything else about Ring? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at jason.404. Otherwise, send me an email at jason@404media.co.404 Media also obtained two earlier emails Siminoff sent to all Ring employees, about how Ring could have potentially been used to help find Charlie Kirk\u2019s killer, and about the company\u2019s \u201cCommunity Requests\u201d feature. Ring launched that feature in September and it allows police to ask Ring camera owners for footage about a specific incident. Community Requests is a feature that leverages the company\u2019s partnership with the police tech company Axon. Ring had a similar planned partnership with surveillance company Flock, but the two companies canceled that partnership following widespread criticism.\u201cCommunity requests are a foundational piece of what we do here towards our mission of making neighborhoods safer. I\u2019m excited to see our to see [sic] the results of our public agencies using this tool and the impact it will have on our communities,\u201d Siminoff wrote on September 4. \u201cAlso, if in your perusing of social media and other sites, you see something that you feel is not correctly, or even intentionally miss-representing [sic] the community request feature please ping me with a link so we can respond.\u201d\u00a0Siminoff replied all to his own email the day after Charlie Kirk was assassinated: \u201cYesterday was a very sad day. I was really just sad on so many levels,\u201d he wrote. Siminoff sent employees this Instagram Reel about the Kirk investigation, then said \u201cit just shows how important the community request tool will be as we fully roll it out. It is so important to create the conduit for public service agencies to efficiently work with our neighbors. Time and information matters in these situations and I am proud that we are working to build the systems to help make our neighborhoods safer.\u201d\u00a0In an emailed statement, a Ring spokesperson said \u201cWe\u2019re focused on giving camera owners meaningful context about critical events in their neighborhoods\u2014like a lost pet or nearby fire\u2014so they can decide whether and how to help their community. For example, Search Party helps camera owners identify potential lost dogs using detection technology built specifically for that purpose; it does not process human biometrics or track people. Fire Watch alerts owners to nearby fire activity. Community Requests notify neighbors when local public safety agencies ask the community for assistance. Across these features, sharing has always been the camera owner\u2019s choice. Ring provides relevant context about when sharing may be helpful\u2014but the decision remains firmly in the customer\u2019s hands, not ours.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"