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In an ad during the Super Bowl on Sunday night, Amazon’s Ring touted the establishment of an AI-powered surveillance network through their camera systems, which the company whitewashed under a feel-good narrative about finding lost dogs.

The ad for Ring’s free “Search Party” program urges users to “be a hero” by using their surveillance cameras to help identify lost dogs in their neighborhood. It aired to millions of viewers during Super Bowl LX on Sunday night.

“Pets are family, but every year, 10 million go missing,” narrated Ring founder Jamie Siminoff, over uncanny, seemingly AI-generated clips of lost dog posters adhered to poles. A huge proportion of the ads during the Super Bowl were for or featured AI, frustrating many viewers.

“Search Party from Ring uses AI to help families find lost dogs,” he said, while the video showed Ring camera footage in which the software detects a dog in the frame. The company’s website says that the Search Party app can also be used by non-Ring camera owners.

Amazon’s website also........

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