tech
December 9, 2025
Amazon's Ring rolls out controversial, AI-powered facial-recognition feature to video doorbells
The feature lets you identify the people who regularly come to your door by creating a catalog of up to 50 faces. The company says the Ring feature is opt in and the biometric data isn't used to train AI models.
TL;DR
- Amazon is launching "Familiar Faces," an AI facial recognition feature for Ring doorbells in the U.S.
- The feature allows users to catalog up to 50 faces for personalized visitor notifications.
- Consumer protection organizations and a U.S. senator have raised privacy concerns.
- Amazon claims face data is encrypted, not shared, and unnamed faces are deleted after 30 days.
- Ring's past partnerships with law enforcement and security incidents (e.g., FTC fine) are cited as reasons for concern.
- The feature is not enabled by default and requires user activation.
- Privacy laws are preventing the feature's launch in Illinois, Texas, and Portland, Oregon.
- Amazon states biometric data is processed in the cloud and not used to train AI models.
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