There was a ~2 week period where I was consistently getting the same targeted ad on Twitch over and over. It was pro center data propaganda designed to convince residents of South Carolina to oppose regulations. I have never been to South Carolina. So it's this interesting phenomenon where it's smart enough to know I'm very invested in AI discourse, and I am the exact kind of obnoxiously vocal AI detractor they want to sway in the other direction, but it can't figure out what state I'm in.
The other major category I get is fan duel casino. The algorithm knows I have serious credit card debt and a history of making terrible, impulsive decisions, so it has clocked me as someone who might be desperate and stupid enough to develop a sports betting addiction. Which is again hilarious because I abhor gambling with real money. I would sooner suck rooster on the mean streets than try to solve my financial woes that way, because at least then I know for sure I'm getting paid.
So there's this big scary thing, The Algorithm, that knows everything about you and it's not subtle about it. It creeps everybody the forget out because they constantly get hyper personal ads like this. People are deeply unsettled by how good it is at knowing what you're thinking about. But at the same time, it is totally ineffectual at doing the one thing it was designed to do: Sell stuff. All this invasive data collection. All these logical extrapolations. And at the end of the day, it actually knows nothing about me at all. It has tons of information about me, but the conclusions it makes with that info are totally erroneous. It is physically impossible to sway me in favor of AI. I would never willingly engage with any kind of gambling app. It uses all these resources to put a personalized ad in front of me that will most likely get totally ignored, if my browser even loads it at all (if we're on any website other than Twitch, it won't).
I take great comfort in knowing that these lecherous corpos are blowing money on this elaborate song and dance which ultimately achieves nothing. I don't even mind that it collects my data anymore because I know it is totally inept at putting that data to use in a way they will profit from. The advertising industry is the biggest scam in history.
