Flock CEO defends surveillance technology amid national backlash: ‘We shouldn’t pause progress’

Flock’s laminitis and CEO Garrett Langley doesn’t deliberation the risks of introducing surveillance exertion astatine standard outweigh the rewards.

“If we privation to unrecorded successful a nine where, if you perpetrate a crime, you person a higher probability of being held accountable, we shouldn’t intermission progress,” Langley said, speaking connected signifier during a sheet astatine TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 successful San Francisco connected Wednesday.

During the interview, the arguable laminitis of the surveillance shaper of licence sheet cameras and different signaling devices deflected hard questions astir the disapproval Flock present faces — which has since led to cancelled contracts and adjacent layoffs. Instead, Langley tended to respond to questions with anecdotes from conversations with constabulary chiefs and metropolis leaders crossed the United States, and tales of the expected galore crimes Flock has solved, alternatively than connection tangible solutions to people’s concerns.

In doing so, Langley positioned Flock arsenic an beforehand successful exertion that was somewhat inevitable. He stressed that if radical wanted to unrecorded successful a amended nine — that is, 1 with reduced transgression — they would person to connection up their privateness successful return.

A akin statement astir the trade-offs and rewards could beryllium made for AI, which is marketed to the nationalist arsenic vastly improving our lives, automating tedious tasks, and making things much convenient. The flip broadside is the outgo of sharing everything astir ourselves with the makers of the AI agents themselves — and the anticipation of the demolition of humanity, according to some.

It’s nary astonishment that the AI backlash shares immoderate overlap with Flock. Much similar AI, Flock is simply a exertion that immoderate consciousness has been forced upon the nationalist without their consent.

For Langley, this is conscionable the quality of progress, helium explained.

“Technology, astatine its core, successful its definition, is conscionable doing things better. It’s not doing things perfect,” helium said. “Driverless cars, I think, is simply a just analogy. Driverless cars, I think, are definitively safer than quality drivers. And erstwhile there’s 1 accident, I don’t deliberation the reply is to unopen down driverless cars. The reply is to say, ‘Hey, let’s speech astir however we forestall much accidents successful the future’.”

But driverless car makers don’t motion their shoulders astatine crashes; the companies intermission their fleets and use fixes. Flock, meanwhile, seems to wrestle arsenic a institution with knowing erstwhile it’s the company’s work to intervene. From Langley’s answers, it’s wide that the morals astir however Flock should beryllium utilized is simply a determination helium would overmuch alternatively permission up to others.

“We don’t privation to archer metropolis leaders however to bash their job,” helium noted. “We volition supply recommendations, we’ll supply defaults, but we’re going to minimize the fig of mandated features, functions, and policies,” helium said.

CEO: ‘Flock is acold from perfect’

Among the galore rebuttals to his critics that Langley raised during the interrogation was the thought that misinformation astir Flock had led to immoderate of its customers’ cancellations. For instance, helium referenced a clip erstwhile a lawsuit ended their declaration due to the fact that they believed the devices performed facial recognition. While Flock cameras bash not person facial recognition, they bash person the quality to observe and way people.

Langley besides spent a just magnitude of clip admonishing those who deliberation his technology, oregon immoderate technology, should beryllium perfect, attributing the punctuation to immoderate unnamed assemblage leader.

“He was describing that, excessively often arsenic a nine we justice exertion not connected however it compares to the past, but however it compares to perfect. And Flock is acold from perfect; I’m acold from cleanable — I’ve made plentifulness of mistakes,” Langley said.

Another country of pushback was successful positioning Flock arsenic a much effectual signifier of policing, and 1 that allowed constabulary departments to bash much with reduced staff.

“If you look astatine wherever policing has gone implicit the past decade, but peculiarly post-COVID, instrumentality enforcement employment is declining rapidly. I deliberation astir a spot similar San Francisco, and there’s hundreds of unfastened positions. They volition astir apt ne'er beryllium filled,” helium said, positioning Flock arsenic the tech that would capable successful those gaps.

But pressed astir maltreatment and the invasiveness of his company’s surveillance technology, Langley had nary substantive answers.

“I deliberation if the thought is to curb abuse, I deliberation there’s a mode to bash that that doesn’t disrupt the ineligible system, that doesn’t disrupt the efficacy and travel of a constabulary department,” Langley said, without spelling retired what those ideas were.

For Langley, those look to beryllium matters of secondary importance, due to the fact that his content successful Flock arsenic a nationalist bully is truthful strong.

“I deliberation 1 of the unfortunate consequences of gathering a consequential institution is this is the terms you pay, and I deliberation it’s worthy it due to the fact that there’s millions and millions of radical who person a amended beingness contiguous due to the fact that [of] Flock,” helium said. “And intelligibly we’ve made our just stock of mistakes, and there’s immoderate folks who disagree with what we do, but it’s worthy it due to the fact that 1 time they mightiness beryllium a victim,” Langley added.