“Skynet”: Ring’s Super Bowl ad about finding lost pets backfires into a surveillance state freakout

During Super Bowl LX yesterday, Ring (owned by Amazon) aired a glossy commercial about reuniting a family with their missing dog, Milo. The ad pitched Search Party, an AI feature that scanned nearby Ring cameras to spot lost pets.

Yet while the spot tried to lean into sentimentality, many viewers saw something darker: a glimpse of always-on neighborhood surveillance, quietly normalized during the biggest TV event of the year.

@FearedBuck tweeted, "Ring’s Super Bowl commercial is receiving backlash for being invasive, promoting a new feature for pet owners where they can upload a photo of a lost pet and AI will use nearby cameras to help locate it."

"Ring Camera introducing Search Party. AI video surveillance of your neighborhood. Constantly, everyday, always watching," @wonderousATX tweeted. "You can’t not hide or escape. Skynet 💀"

Others questioned where "optional" ended. "How much longer till the always on remote ai capabilities of your ring camera isn’t 'optional,'" @hasanthehun asked.

Meanwhile, @jennydeluxe cut to the chase, saying, "this is ….. not about dogs."

Ring launched Search Party in the fall of 2025, and in its first 90 days, it said the tool helped return 99 dogs to their families, according to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. 

"With roughly 90 million dogs in the U.S., I think this is gonna matter for a lot of families. Good example of real-world impact, and proud of what the Ring team has built here," Jassy tweeted.

Some of the more critical posts tied the Ring feature to law enforcement fears.

"They’re not really talking about looking for a lost pet," @CarrieCnh12 wrote. "They’re talking about making every house a surveillance outpost and neighbours informants spying on each other."

Similarly, @_Zeets called the pitch "Such dystopian sh*t," arguing Amazon could tap into an interconnected system and grant access to police.

Elsewhere, @82erssy wrote that "Ring offering to turn your neighborhood into an AI-fueled surveillance state under the guise of 'helping you find your lost dog' is CRAZY."

The Super Bowl amplifies long-running fears

Because the ad ran during the 2026 Super Bowl, which had over an estimated 125 million viewers according to the rough numbers, the backlash spread fast.

"Did yall see that Ring Camera commercial???" @Jani__Gee asked. "Yall we are in DANGER.” She later added, "Ring is now publicly turning Ring users into a coordinated network that can be accessed by individuals at will… Whoa whoa whoa."

Others expressed disbelief. "I’m sorry ring cameras do WHAT?????" @blaiden exclaimed.

Then @almostjingo wrote, "Well that’s an awkward way of finding out that RING cameras are remotely controlled and have facial recognition."

Pop culture comparisons followed. "This is how Batman found The Joker in The Dark Knight and I don’t like it," @KevOnStage said.

At the same time, @desusnice noted a sad irony, if it can really be called that, in tech culture. "ppl who made chatgpt caricatures are gonna love that ring camera 'lost dog finder' feature," they tweeted.

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