Can Google read your mind?
Discussion on google search suggestions...
Ok so the last few times I went to 'Google' something I noticed the search suggestions were eerily relevant to what I was looking for and it was very specific and unusual. I assume Google's search suggestion algorithm is pretty far advanced in a way that it almost seems Google is reading my mind. I assume it must take search history and the content of the current browser to bring in some context. Anyone else ever freak out over google search suggestions lately?
Do you use Gmail? Chrome? Youtube? Google? Google +?
Oh and do you use Gmail on your phone as well? Do you have an Android phone, do you download apps, free or otherwise?
Do you sign in with your Google accounts? Have you OK'd Googles new cookie policy?
If you've answered yes to only one or two of the above, it will seem like Google can read your mind, if you answered yes to ALL of the above, they practically are reading your mind.
Here's a little topograhical, schematic.
Turn on computer > start up chrome > Login to Google > Search lawnmowers and garden gnomes > Click on first sponsored link > accept cookie policy > browse site > make purchase > Go onto Google + and browse interests > click through to forum and reply to post > Leave house, take the train, turn on phone, login to Facebook post about lawnmower purchase.
Now in that above scenario, you have entered into Google's world and you have agreed that they can mine certain data about you. So when you click onto the sponsored link and accept cookies, Google is tracking your every move on that site. Then after you leave and email your friend, Google monitors keywords through your account.
Go on to Facebook with your phone? Well guess what if you have an Android, that operating system was made by Google; so it knows every site you go to, the keywords of every post you do and it analyses and sends back to the algorithm, which will come up with an appropriate action.
Stuff you post on forums from your computer is also being tracked, especially if you're signed into Chrome as you browse, keywords are collated and analysed and the deep learning, fuzzy logic, algorithm, prepares adverts and offers for you.
Ultimately if it bothers you, don't sign into Chrome when you are browsing, always sign out of your Gmail before browsing, don't access Facebook and other forums from your phone (good advice anyway).
Don't post anything on the web you're not happy for Google to know the details of and after a short while, they will seem less prescient and like they can read your mind...Woooooo!!! :)
Might have to do with Google's hands being on 70% of websites...
Its absolutely terrifying to think of the amount of personal data Google is sitting on. We should all be thankful they're absolutely terrible with getting social projects off the ground. I fear the thought of where the world would be if Google had made Facebook... though two sketchy tech monsters probably isn't much better than one really big one.
Yeah Interesting article. They may be using advanced AI on all the data they get from tracking tools... .... the part about ad-companies fingerprinting us using audio signals is also fascinating and makes me a bit uncomfortable. Oh wells... there is a battle between ad-blockers and ad companies so I guess that's another perspective to discuss as well.
Ya that dynamic is going to be really interesting to watch... especially since I work for a media company :\
Not sure what digital ads are going to look like in the not too distant future once the adtech bubble bursts but its both exciting from a privacy perspective and terrifying from a media perspective to think of the changes coming.
Were you talking about it before searching? Google has been caught downloading evesdropping tools in their open source products, who knows what's going on in regular chrome and android nowdays...
Wow even creepier.
They have a new artificial intelligence bot called "Rankbrain" that uses machine learning to match up results to search queries Basically if someone, anyone, in the world has searched for something, however unusual, and then selected a certain result, rankbrain remembers it, and when the search is done again by someone else, it produces what the original searcher clicked on. Of course if you are unhappy with the result and backspace into the results and click on something else, it remembers that too and refines it's results.
The machine learning aspect is what makes it so powerful. The old algorithms were "pre-set" in that they used an assumed criteria to decide what results to show. But RankBrain is actually learning in real time what people like.
Wow. That might be it... I am still wondering about this one time if it was user error because I remember typing one letter 'a' and I got the entire search result! So I was second guessing myself about maybe having typed it in before and not remembering. I think I typed 'a' and it suggested the entire search string I was thinking of: 'adjective that starts with e'.... so the question is did someone in this forum type that in a search from Steemit for this post: S.T.E.E.M.? It would be great if someone could recreate it to be sure. I'm still leaning towards user error. lol. Type in 'a' on the search bar. That would still be pretty wild.
I think they could give even more accurate results but they have to be careful not to make the user feel uncomfortable. This is especially true of ads; they mix in ads irrelevant to you to make it feel less intrusive.
Interesting theory if they intentionally mix in irrelevant ads, but maybe they're just fishing with some ads from companies with bigger budgets.