Ring AI feature sparks Minnesota privacy, surveillance concerns

A Super Bowl ad for Ring’s new AI tool — which can scan neighboring Ring cameras to help find lost pets — is prompting Minnesota privacy experts and lawmakers to question how far neighborhood surveillance should go, especially given Ring’s partnership with law‑enforcement tech vendor Flock. University of Minnesota media-law professor Jane Kirtley said she was struck by how openly the company promoted such a sweeping capability, warning it normalizes pervasive private and corporate monitoring. Privacy advocates worry that data from Ring devices across Twin Cities blocks could be pooled, analyzed or shared with police or federal agencies without clear state limits. Unlike a handful of states that already restrict how private-video data can be shared, Minnesota has no such statutes, and legislators now say they may take up camera and data‑sharing rules in the upcoming session in direct response to the ad. How many Ring users will opt into the feature and what exact bills emerge at the Capitol remain unclear, but the fight lines are already forming between those who see a lost‑pet finder and those who see a neighborhood‑wide dragnet.