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All the AI stuff is really still incredibly dumb. Same for Amazon: Buy a mixer and suddenly you will be haunted everywhere by ads offering more mixers Do we kn

by jlebar 8y ago

All the AI stuff is really still incredibly dumb. Same for Amazon: Buy a mixer and suddenly you will be haunted everywhere by ads offering more mixers Do we know it's actually dumb? Like, given that you just bought a mixer, perhaps in an absolute sense, you're unlikely to buy a second mixer. But relative to everything else that you might buy, perhaps you are very likely to buy a second mixer! There are huge financial incentives to get these ads right. I'm more inclined to guess that Amazon is doing something right than that they're leaving money on the table.

ddebernardy 8y ago
Just spitballing here, but if you just bought a mixer, your odds of buying another mixer is lower than that of buying a cook book or some other related stuff -- which Amazon could totally figure out mining the other stuff people bought at the same time or shortly after a mixer.
- edanm 8y ago
  It's still not necessarily the better idea for them. Some percentage of people who just bought a mixer will get a product they aren't satisfied with, for whatever reason. That population has a much higher change of buying another mixer than other people. And mixers are probably far more expensive products. I have no idea if, in an absolute sense, there's more chance you'll buy a cookbook rather than another mixer, but it wouldn't surprise me either way - on the one hand, obviously most people don't need two mixers. On the other hand, plenty of people who buy a mixer will never buy a cookbook in their life, but literally 100% of people who bought a mixer have proven that they were at some recent point in the market for a mixer. I'm not sure which effect wins out here.
simongr3dal 8y ago
Alternativly there are many matching and complementing products for a mixer (or any other products for that matter) Just bought a mixer, how about: A new set of mixing bowls, alternative whisks and hooks, perhaps a set of measuring cups, a kitchen scale? Just bought a new smartphone, how about: an external battery, screen protector (that fits the specific model), a fancy charging dock? It really doesn't seems like it would take much intelligence to create these sets of complementing products and then use them for further ad targeting in the future, you could even use AI and ML to create the sets in the first place so you can fill out your buzzword qouta.
tjoff 8y ago
There are huge financial incentives to get these ads right. Not really. All you have to do is convince companies that machine targeted ads are worth it. Apparently that is orders of magnitudes easier than actually recommending anything relevant. Which isn't hard to imagine either, there aren't much competition after all. So the primary purpose of targeted ads is that it functions as an imaginary hammer you can use to squash new competition with.

by jlebar 8y ago

ddebernardy 8y ago

Just spitballing here, but if you just bought a mixer, your odds of buying another mixer is lower than that of buying a cook book or some other related stuff -- which Amazon could totally figure out mining the other stuff people bought at the same time or shortly after a mixer.

edanm 8y ago
It's still not necessarily the better idea for them. Some percentage of people who just bought a mixer will get a product they aren't satisfied with, for whatever reason. That population has a much higher change of buying another mixer than other people. And mixers are probably far more expensive products. I have no idea if, in an absolute sense, there's more chance you'll buy a cookbook rather than another mixer, but it wouldn't surprise me either way - on the one hand, obviously most people don't need two mixers. On the other hand, plenty of people who buy a mixer will never buy a cookbook in their life, but literally 100% of people who bought a mixer have proven that they were at some recent point in the market for a mixer. I'm not sure which effect wins out here.

simongr3dal 8y ago

Alternativly there are many matching and complementing products for a mixer (or any other products for that matter) Just bought a mixer, how about: A new set of mixing bowls, alternative whisks and hooks, perhaps a set of measuring cups, a kitchen scale? Just bought a new smartphone, how about: an external battery, screen protector (that fits the specific model), a fancy charging dock? It really doesn't seems like it would take much intelligence to create these sets of complementing products and then use them for further ad targeting in the future, you could even use AI and ML to create the sets in the first place so you can fill out your buzzword qouta.

tjoff 8y ago

There are huge financial incentives to get these ads right. Not really. All you have to do is convince companies that machine targeted ads are worth it. Apparently that is orders of magnitudes easier than actually recommending anything relevant. Which isn't hard to imagine either, there aren't much competition after all. So the primary purpose of targeted ads is that it functions as an imaginary hammer you can use to squash new competition with.