Dude, there’s more, but this is the first one that came up.
A leaked pitch deck from CMG Local Solutions, a subsidiary of Cox Media Group (CMG), details a method it calls “active listening.” This method uses AI to combine voice data with online behavioral data to deliver hyper-targeted advertising.
The deck, obtained by 404 Media, states, “Advertisers can pair this voice-data with behavioral data to target in-market consumers.” It goes on to say that the technology can identify “ready-to-buy” consumers and create ad lists based on their spoken intentions.
As I said, I’m sure companies will try. But what you’re looking at there is a pitch deck presented to someone so they’d cough up money. That does in no way imply that this has been widely deployed without requiring user consent and therefore there are apps out there en masse, listening to smartphone users in a form of clandestine operation. It’s basically the same thing as the patent for the old greentext Mountain Dew commercial meme at this point:
In fact, the article clearly states that the data Cox Media Group uses comes from apps where users have agreed to grant the application permission to use their voice data, and that Cox Media Group was subsequently removed from the Google Ads program (a precaution for Google to save face).
I used to think they didn’t listen, and I’d cite the same sort of studies. But honestly…I’ve had a few times in the last several months where a conversation I had with my GF triggered ads on our phones, when neither of us had done an internet search of that particular subject or any that were tangential. A couple times, now, I’ve been spooked. Could be some other data we put out there, or something we clicked, but I racked my brain and couldn’t think of any.
Maybe our phones aren’t listening to us all the time. But it’s already pretty fucking bad when lived experience makes us wonder whether they really are.
Dude, there’s more, but this is the first one that came up.
https://www.newsweek.com/phone-voice-assistants-active-listening-consent-targeted-ads-1949251
As I said, I’m sure companies will try. But what you’re looking at there is a pitch deck presented to someone so they’d cough up money. That does in no way imply that this has been widely deployed without requiring user consent and therefore there are apps out there en masse, listening to smartphone users in a form of clandestine operation. It’s basically the same thing as the patent for the old greentext Mountain Dew commercial meme at this point:
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/sony-patent-mcdonalds/
In fact, the article clearly states that the data Cox Media Group uses comes from apps where users have agreed to grant the application permission to use their voice data, and that Cox Media Group was subsequently removed from the Google Ads program (a precaution for Google to save face).
I used to think they didn’t listen, and I’d cite the same sort of studies. But honestly…I’ve had a few times in the last several months where a conversation I had with my GF triggered ads on our phones, when neither of us had done an internet search of that particular subject or any that were tangential. A couple times, now, I’ve been spooked. Could be some other data we put out there, or something we clicked, but I racked my brain and couldn’t think of any.
Maybe our phones aren’t listening to us all the time. But it’s already pretty fucking bad when lived experience makes us wonder whether they really are.