Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: Rings, super Bowl ad showcasing AI to help find lost
Speaker 2: pets has put a new spotlight on the expanding role
Speaker 2: of artificial intelligence in home security, and it's raising fresh
Speaker 2: questions about surveillance joining US now. As Jamie Simonoff, founder
Speaker 2: and chief inventor of Ring, Jamie safe to say, these
Speaker 2: cameras have become ubiquitous. I saw in Weapons, you know,
Speaker 2: they were highlighted as a way to investigate the disappearance
Speaker 2: of children. That was a fictional movie, but clearly, clearly
Speaker 2: law enforcement is hoping to use these cameras more and more.
Speaker 2: How do you where do you draw a line between,
Speaker 2: you know, helping people find lost pets or people and
Speaker 2: trying to limit the surveillance of US citizens.
Speaker 1: I mean, the line for us is simple, and it
Speaker 1: always has been that you control your video and if
Speaker 1: you want to share it with law enforcement, if you
Speaker 1: want to share it with a neighbor, you can do that.
Speaker 3: But you always control your video.
Speaker 1: In the case of search party for dogs, we just
Speaker 1: tell you, hey, this dog looks like this dog in
Speaker 1: front of your house. Do you want to contact your neighbor?
Speaker 1: If you say no, you're one hundred percent anonymous. If
Speaker 1: you say yes, then you talk to your neighbor, just
Speaker 1: like you did when you found their dog in front
Speaker 1: of your house years ago and called the number on
Speaker 1: the tag.
Speaker 4: I do want to just ask you, because there's this
Speaker 4: big question of surveillance and the usage of it. You
Speaker 4: had told Fortune talking about the missing case of Nancy Guthrie,
Speaker 4: basically saying that there are more cameras in the house,
Speaker 4: you might have been solved. And Jamie, you face a
Speaker 4: little bit of backlash online for those comments. So I
Speaker 4: would love to just give you the opportunity just to
Speaker 4: explain your thinking there and clear up any misunderstandings.
Speaker 3: Sure, I mean, if you actually saw the quote, it's
Speaker 3: not that.
Speaker 1: But what I did say and what I do is
Speaker 1: I wake up every morning, you know, with a mission
Speaker 1: and knowing that the business that we're in has been
Speaker 1: extremely impactful, and we see it. The video evidence that
Speaker 1: so far that they have in the Nancy Guthrie case,
Speaker 1: I think everyone would agree is some of the most
Speaker 1: impactful evidence in the case.
Speaker 3: And so what I.
Speaker 1: Did say is that if there had been just more
Speaker 1: cameras in general, I would have hoped that this would
Speaker 1: have helped us get to a resolution in the case,
Speaker 1: and that is what I believe in. I mean, this
Speaker 1: is what I do every day, and I think it's
Speaker 1: hard to watch a dateline episode or anything else not
Speaker 1: seeing where ring has had a major impact in helping
Speaker 1: solve cases. And I do believe, you know, as I
Speaker 1: think I should, that more cameras should help solve more
Speaker 1: cases and reduce more crime.
Speaker 2: How do you work with cybersecurity within your firm, because
Speaker 2: you know, I also have a ton of cameras around
Speaker 2: my house and I would hate to have anyone else
Speaker 2: tap in to that network and use my video surveillance
Speaker 2: against me. I'm sure it's something you think about often, Jamie.
Speaker 2: So what kind of work do you do to counter
Speaker 2: that kind of cyber attack?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think cyber and security is a living, breathing thing.
Speaker 1: You have to just continue. I mean, you have to
Speaker 1: consue to invest in it. You have to have people
Speaker 1: always looking at it. It's always changing and evolving. I
Speaker 1: think we're best in class in it. Also, we offer
Speaker 1: I believe we're one of the only companies in the
Speaker 1: world that offers in this space and and encryption as
Speaker 1: an option. So we really do focus on security. We
Speaker 1: focus on trusts we need we call our customers neighbors.
Speaker 1: We need our neighbors that trust us or else obviously
Speaker 1: they're not going to want to have our products, and
Speaker 1: then I can't achieve my mission of making neighborhoods safer.
Speaker 4: And Jamie just just on this point bringing it back
Speaker 4: to AI too, because AI is advancing so rapidly. There
Speaker 4: was the story, for example, of a Chinese home vacuum
Speaker 4: robot brand that's someone used Claude to hack into and
Speaker 4: accidentally hacked all seven thousand of those robot vacuums in
Speaker 4: the world. AI is getting really advanced, but it's also
Speaker 4: exposing some security flaws. What do you and the team
Speaker 4: need to do at RING to make sure you're keeping
Speaker 4: up with the technology, not just mistakes like that, but
Speaker 4: bad actors who are increasingly able to use AI.
Speaker 5: I mean, there's always been security threats, and the security
Speaker 5: threats I'd say, what's good is it as AI gets better,
Speaker 5: it means that your counter security, you're you know, countering
Speaker 5: these kind of things, is also getting better. And so
Speaker 5: it's just it's just a cat and mouse game that
Speaker 5: we've always had from the beginning of the company, and
Speaker 5: you know, I believe we're vesting class at it, but
Speaker 5: it is something you have.
Speaker 3: To stay focused on.
Speaker 5: I mean security for every company in the world, you
Speaker 5: got to stay in your toes, but you always had to.
Speaker 5: AI is just the new thing that's happening today. And
Speaker 5: then you also help, you know, use this technology to
Speaker 5: also do the counterfeat so countermeasures.
Speaker 2: I want to ask about manufacturing because President Trump is
Speaker 2: trying to bring manufactur sturing back to these shores, and
Speaker 2: Ring Camera obviously is a booming business that uses a
Speaker 2: lot of hardware I would imagine for the most part
Speaker 2: manufactured in Asia. How do you, when you talk to
Speaker 2: the administration or when you talk to government leaders, impress
Speaker 2: upon them the fact that you just we just can't
Speaker 2: in this country really compete in terms of price on
Speaker 2: manufacturing this kind of hardware, you know.
Speaker 3: I mean, certainly it's a complex one.
Speaker 1: You know, there's an ecosystem around this stuff, and that's
Speaker 1: what we're seeing.
Speaker 3: But I am hopeful.
Speaker 1: That you know, over the next few years, with what's happening,
Speaker 1: that we will continue to move and onshore things and
Speaker 1: be able to do more of it. So I do
Speaker 1: think it's going to take time for businesses like ours,
Speaker 1: because there are ecosystem things. You know, there's probably nine
Speaker 1: hundred to one thousand parts in every single ring camera
Speaker 1: that come from different suppliers, and so it's going to
Speaker 1: take time. But I am seeing I'd say a lot
Speaker 1: of good, you know, positive sort of direction on that.
Speaker 2: In terms of the tariff uncertainty that businesses are dealing with, Jamie,
Speaker 2: how do you face that, you know, when you're when
Speaker 2: you're looking at tariffs that are you know, twenty percent
Speaker 2: and then all of a sudden they're eighty percent and
Speaker 2: now they're fifty. I mean, how do you deal with
Speaker 2: that as a as a CEO?
Speaker 3: You know? I mean I'm sort of a CEO, but
Speaker 3: I'm also a founder. You know.
Speaker 1: I started this in my garage in California fifteen years ago.
Speaker 1: I'd say tariff uncertainty compared to the things that I've
Speaker 1: lived through is, while it is serious, it's not as
Speaker 1: serious as all the other stuff that I've gone through.
Speaker 1: And I think when you're a founder and you've you know,
Speaker 1: faced bankruptcy many times and trying to raise money and
Speaker 1: things changing that are completely out of your control, I
Speaker 1: think he just fartens you a little bit. I have
Speaker 1: a pretty thick skin. We just have to keep you know,
Speaker 1: keep our heads down. I tell the team, like we
Speaker 1: all we can do is control our inputs.
Speaker 5: Just keep inventing great products, making neighborhoods safer, and we'll
Speaker 5: get rewarded for doing that.
Speaker 3: And we just got to, like, you know.
Speaker 1: Hope that the world continues to go into a positive direction,
Speaker 1: which you know so far it has.
Speaker 4: So I'm ass thinking about the hardware that goes into it, Jamie,
Speaker 4: I'm thinking about the coding and the software and the
Speaker 4: technology within it. What does your talent pool look like?
Speaker 4: Are you still expanding when it comes to hiring engineers
Speaker 4: or are you looking at technology that's making your employees
Speaker 4: more efficient and maybe means you need less of them.
Speaker 3: I mean, certainly we are embracing AI.
Speaker 1: I am, you know, pushing every team member here to
Speaker 1: be AI first, think in AI.
Speaker 3: We are seeing great efficiencies from that.
Speaker 1: We're also growing really fast though, so it's hard to tell,
Speaker 1: you know, we are still i'd say a net grower,
Speaker 1: and so we are still growing. Our features are coming
Speaker 1: out faster though now our product cycle times are definitely
Speaker 1: been reduced by like you know, almost triple digit percentage.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's like, it's incredible how efficient we are
Speaker 1: now getting with AI and what it's doing. That said,
Speaker 1: we're also still growing. We have lots lots of ideas
Speaker 1: and business to build, so, you know, on the on
Speaker 1: the bigger picture, I don't know where where that goes,
Speaker 1: but I do know for Ring, we're you know, we're
Speaker 1: still growing and still building.
Speaker 4: And Jamie, can I just say it's always very cool
Speaker 4: when a founder stays with the company through this era
Speaker 4: of big growth too, so really fantantastic insight as both
Speaker 4: the head of Ring and an inventor himself. Jamie Simonov
Speaker 4: of Ring, thanks for joining us.