I joined BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours to discuss Amazon’s new Neighbours by Ring service, including its AI-powered Search Party for Dogs. Listen on BBC Sounds
While acknowledging the benefits of helping people find lost pets and sharing local safety information, I explored the wider implications of turning neighbourhoods into digitally connected surveillance networks.
The discussion examined how AI makes recorded streets searchable, how network technologies can encourage both connection and fragmentation, and how commercial platforms may increasingly become part of our digital public infrastructure — raising questions about trust, accountability and who governs our shared spaces.
The central question: Are we building neighbourhoods where people look out for one another, or networks where people watch one another?