The debate over where the line should be drawn between privacy and public safety has only intensified in the AI era. And Flock Safety, a company that has seen both aninflux of investmentand an intense public backlash, sits right at the center of that debate.
That’swhy atTechCrunch Disrupt 2026,we’rebringing Flock’s founder and CEO Garrett Langleyto the stage to speak about those very issues. Disrupt has always had its fair share of hard-hitting conversations, and you should expectno less fromthis session.
And Langley’s discussion of AI,surveillance, and thefuture ofpublicsafety is just one of the many compelling conversations happening at Disrupt this year, which will take place October 13-15 atSan Francisco’s Moscone Center. You can dive intothe programmingwe’veannounced so far here, or take advantage of lower,early ticket prices right here.
How Flock Safety, and Langley, got to Disrupt2026
Atlanta-basedFlock Safetyisn’tLangley’s first experience within the startup space. In past roles, he worked on the car subscription service Clutch and theplatform Experience,wherehe oversaw several teams, including engineering and design priorto itssale to Cox Enterprises for $200 million in 2014.
Flock started in 2017,with Langley partnering with co-founders Matt FeuryandPaige Todd,going through Y Combinatorbeforeexperiencingsignificant success selling its surveillance technology to businesses and law enforcement agencies.You may associate thecompanywith license place recognition, thoughit hasmore general surveillance use camerasand hasbeen developing drone first respondersfollowingitsacquisition of Aerodome.
Thecompany’smost recentfundraise last year, a$275 millionround,placedFlockat a$7.5 billionvaluation,which was a sharp increase from the prior year’s$4.8 billionvaluation. Altogether, the outfit has secured$950 million in total funding sinceinception.
Flock’sbusiness success has been paired with pushback from privacy advocates like the ACLU and members of thegeneral public, with some people goingso far asdestroying Flock’ssurveillance camerasasitcontinues to offeritscameras and databases to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in particular. Among thebiggestapparentsetbacks for Flock,Amazon’s Ringrecentlyended a partnershipwith the company, andthe LAPD let its deal with Flocklapse this month.
Langley will discuss the company’s approach to the increasingly interwoven nature of AI and thesurveillanceindustryin a discussionthat’scertain toprove illuminating to Flock’s supporters anditscritics.
To watch the discussion in person and join the other 10,000 founders, investors, techenthusiasts, and innovators who will beflocking to San Franciscofor TechCrunch Disrupt 2026on October 13-15for a wide array of workshops,speaker talks, after-parties,and networking, snag a ticket atthe best price you’ll be seeing for the rest of the year right here.
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