Is Google able to mind-read.

take everything

A few times where I've been thinking about something quite specific and random, a video turns up in my YouTube algorithm.

There are Reddit threads about this same phenomenon: people thinking about something (not searching, typing, talking about it) and then it turning up in an autocomplete or in the algorithm.

Has this happened to anyone else.

I know that possible explanations are:

Humans are predictable and big data in particular can easily predict their behaviour. Stories about the way Google collects data and infers behaviour is scary.

Confirmation bias.

But simply thinking the concept? Could such mind-reading technologies exist?

Leg End Reject

You need to wear a tinfoil hat when you're thinking.

cgcsb

I have experienced this, can only assume the algorithm can sometimes successfully predict what product jmm be interested in next.

con747

They're behind you.

riffmongous

Hm, I haven't noticed anything when I do random searches but for not random searches they are getting scarily good.. and what also concerns me quite a bit is topics I have discussed with other people (on signal and previously on Skype while my phone was nearby) being advertised to me a few days later.. it could be coincidence of course but these topics are not stuff I am interested in myself (teeth braces was one very obvious one)

DopeTech

https://youtu.be/ZOCRJJKPFBc?si=hbTdOVgPd3rJqTVl

Any excuse!

ixoy

Considering how crap Google Assistant can be at understanding me when I ask it a question directly, I find it impossible to believe it can listen in on conversations at other times .

StupidLikeAFox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058331319/is-google-able-to-mind-read

Google has a digital profile of you but more importantly a digital profile of everyone else, so you are put into a cohort. So maybe you have seen ads for "beer" and just scrolled on past them, forgotten them or filtered them out - but you have been exposed to them and they may have left a mark. If enough of your Google cohort has actually clicked on them, then you will see those ads too

the_pen_turner

i would guess that a lot of what we think isnt really random and is often inspired by stuff we have seen lately. all these sites are compiling all our data and predicting what we want.

conformation biass plays into it . there are probably loads of reconmendations that we ignore but the few that are accurate we do see

Gregor Samsa

I remember claiming someone (not on boards) was a conspiracy theorist. He shot back and claimed that I was a "coincidence theorist".

But of course, the fact is that coincidences happen all the time. Literally any two events can be made seem mutually significant.

You have thousands of thoughts a day, and probably are presented with hundreds of items of curated content (videos, posts, ads) on social media and online in general. That sometimes the two intersect is a statistical likely coincidence, and in fact it would be remarkable if it never happened.

o1s1n

It's scary how good algorithms have gotten through data harvesting. One of the reasons why GDPR was such an important thing to implement.

I remember a lot of folks coming out with the 'I don't care what data they have on me, Ive nothing to hide' rhetoric back when it was first being introduced, with zero concept as to how data can be used in this way.

There was a recent huge case in The Netherlands with algorithms and automation being used to try to weed out benefit fraudsters. It went horrifically wrong with people being racially profiled and their lives being ruined financially. Worth looking up.

taxAHcruel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058331319/is-google-able-to-mind-read

A lot of people seem to think that either the technology is mind reading, or your phone is listening to the things you say. They say something or think something - and suddenly their adverts fit that exactly. So they think this is QED.

However it is entirely possible to build algorithms that are so effective in other ways that they do not need to mind read or listen in on you. They just seem to be.

One such technique was already mentioned above for example. Your data profile fits to a cohort. So they advertise things to you that that cohort most seems interested in. Which means quite often - it will match what you are thinking about or talking about. Simply because that is what other people in your profile type are.

Another technique is IP Address grouping. Because if someone in an IP Address range googles something it is highly likely other people in that range are too. Good example of this from my own life. Friend saw that his neighbor had a flashy new car. He spoke to his wife about it. 30 minutes later his phone is showing him adverts for exactly that car! The phone must have listened to him he thinks. More likely is that other people from his street were googling that exact car for the same reason - they saw the new one the neighbor had. Google's algorithm notices that a handful of different houses in this Address range are all suddenly interested in that car. So it starts sending adverts to all the other people in that address range.

On top of all that there is simply the blind spots in the human brain. You might sometimes think for example 1) I thought about X and then 2) Suddenly my phone is showing me adverts for X. What probably did happen in many of these cases is 1) The phone showed you something related to X which you did not really notice or register but it did get into your brain 2) This led you to think about X at some point 3) You suddenly start noticing that you are being shown adverts for X but in fact you had been seeing such adverts all day and only just now noticed it.

The list goes on and on but the end result is that powerful algorithms coupled with simple human brain failures can make it seem like magic, or mind reading, or spying or worse. But people like google can achieve this effect cheaply and efficiently without building any expensive and complex and insane technologies to achieve the same thing.

artanevilla

I would suggest the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon is at play here.

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121618764#Comment_121618764

It seems strange but it's not, its just the power of an algorithm. You spend all day every day like the rest of us feeding Google information on what you like via searches and clicks - an algorithm can then put all of this together and guess pretty accurately what you might be interested in or 'thinking'.

Ultimately it just means we're all fairly predictable really!

Check this out, Target predicting when female customers were pregnant based on data:

https://www.driveresearch.com/market-research-company-blog/how-target-used-data-analytics-to-predict-pregnancies/

Fallout2022

This seems a bit irrational.

It's more likely Google is putting the thoughts in your head in the first place.

crusd

What you should ask yourself is how many times google fails to predict what you are looking for. We don't notice this though as it doesn't imprint on our consciousness.

The algorithms are intended to anticipate what we are looking for a have a lot of data so will get things right sometimes. It also gets it wrong very often though. Evidently it now believes I would like to go on a cruise. Which is about my idea of a nightmare.

Hamsterchops

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058331319/is-google-able-to-mind-read

Funny you should bring this up as it happened to me only the other day!

Was with a friend discussing an led replacement bulb 💡 never thought anything more of it until I fired up me phone the next day and I'm met with an advertisement for said product, thing us we hadn't even Googled it, just spoke about it and then its advertised the next day on my phone!!!

How is this possible?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121619147#Comment_121619147

I think this is a joke but it’s actually somewhat accurate.

While they’re not literally planting thoughts in your head, they certainly are encouraging— based more or less on your “profile” you towards certain content absolutely.

No, they’re not reading your mind but the algorithms are just that good. It’s also somewhat coincidental. Lastly it’s beyond my understanding to explain in detail but your every key stroke is effectively building a virtual you for google, Facebook, TikTok etc to study.

They know what you want, probably before you do and most strangely when you do. It’s just getting that good I guess.

It is spooky though admittedly.

TinyMuffin

20 horny women in your area waiting to meet you.

cj maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058331319/is-google-able-to-mind-read

Tends to happen when you accept cookies and don’t browse in incognito .

speaking of which , lately when I log onto boards , which I never log out of , it keeps asking silly questions

Victor

About 15 years ago, my brother was in the pub watching the football. He showed me Google Search on his new smartphone. All he had to do was type "Ma" and it was offering the score of Manchester United -v- whoever as the first result. Why? Because he was in a pub with 200 other people who were also checking football scores.

I've noticed a phenomenon when mapping on www.openstreetmap.org. I can click into a **random** street in Ireland and my brain will already know what town it is. How? My brain has subconsciously seen that the street is next to XYZ Street, which I know. Similarly, you might see something on your device, you brain picks it up subconsciously, you then think about it consciously and 10 seconds later see an ad about that product.

Mech1

If you subscribe to any YouTube channels whatever the channel host searches will be advertised to you.