3 ms·

I suspect in the near future (if not already) ChatGPT data will be sold to data brokers and bough by Amazon such that writing a prompt will end up polluting Ale

I suspect in the near future (if not already) ChatGPT data will be sold to data brokers and bough by Amazon such that writing a prompt will end up polluting Alexa product recommendations within a few minutes to hours.

lmpdev 1y ago
Oh for fuck sake Can we not ruin every technology we develop with ads?
- ccppurcell 1y ago
  Watch Adam Curtis Century of the Self. I don't think he set out to explain ads in tech, but to my mind it answers a lot about how ads specifically came to power.
  - blipvert 1y ago
    Might be of interest - new AC series: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/jun/14/shifty-review-adam-curtis-new-show-bbc-iplayer https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/jun/14/shifty-...
- brookst 1y ago
  Let’s also not ruin every discussion with speculation about how someone will eventually ruin everything with ads.
- smoyer 1y ago
  We need to make ads cost more than they are worth - here's one small way (what are others?): https://adnauseam.io/ https://adnauseam.io/
  - Incipient 1y ago
    Haha that's brilliant. Does it actually 'work'? I expect there is more to recording ads than simply a click? Also is this somewhat not just lining Google's/ad networks pockets? They won't care about even a large-ish number of people using this add on.
    - 0_gravitas 1y ago
      So, this works only for a subset of ads, specifically, ads that are CPC (cost-per-click) (sometimes called CPL -> cost-per-link), this wouldn't work for CPA campaigns (cost-per-action), which only pay out when a sign up or some other arbitrary action is performed by the user. The larger adtech companies will have some form of bot-activity-detection, _but_ plenty will let it all just slip on by. (I've personally written a Babashka script at $job that checks performance of our publishers, and flags any fraudulent-seeming activity)
    - smoyer 1y ago
      Somewhat ... But it's not just about costing the advertised money but also obfuscates my actual interests with lots of noise.
- chii 1y ago
  when there's a need to make money, but there's noone who wants to pay (but they want to use the service), then it naturally falls onto being ad-driven.
  - tshaddox 1y ago
    Turns out that it doesn’t matter whether people want to pay. Many paid services also include advertising.
  - louthy 1y ago
    > no one wants to pay Fewer people went to pay. That’s the crux. Companies wanting mass market penetration, rather than just accept the natural size of the market.
random3 1y ago
I suspect that in the near future nobody will directly read product recommendations.

lmpdev 1y ago

Oh for fuck sake Can we not ruin every technology we develop with ads?

ccppurcell 1y ago
Watch Adam Curtis Century of the Self. I don't think he set out to explain ads in tech, but to my mind it answers a lot about how ads specifically came to power.
- blipvert 1y ago
  Might be of interest - new AC series: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/jun/14/shifty-review-adam-curtis-new-show-bbc-iplayer https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/jun/14/shifty-...
brookst 1y ago
Let’s also not ruin every discussion with speculation about how someone will eventually ruin everything with ads.
smoyer 1y ago
We need to make ads cost more than they are worth - here's one small way (what are others?): https://adnauseam.io/ https://adnauseam.io/
- Incipient 1y ago
  Haha that's brilliant. Does it actually 'work'? I expect there is more to recording ads than simply a click? Also is this somewhat not just lining Google's/ad networks pockets? They won't care about even a large-ish number of people using this add on.
  - 0_gravitas 1y ago
    So, this works only for a subset of ads, specifically, ads that are CPC (cost-per-click) (sometimes called CPL -> cost-per-link), this wouldn't work for CPA campaigns (cost-per-action), which only pay out when a sign up or some other arbitrary action is performed by the user. The larger adtech companies will have some form of bot-activity-detection, _but_ plenty will let it all just slip on by. (I've personally written a Babashka script at $job that checks performance of our publishers, and flags any fraudulent-seeming activity)
  - smoyer 1y ago
    Somewhat ... But it's not just about costing the advertised money but also obfuscates my actual interests with lots of noise.
chii 1y ago
when there's a need to make money, but there's noone who wants to pay (but they want to use the service), then it naturally falls onto being ad-driven.
- tshaddox 1y ago
  Turns out that it doesn’t matter whether people want to pay. Many paid services also include advertising.
- louthy 1y ago
  > no one wants to pay Fewer people went to pay. That’s the crux. Companies wanting mass market penetration, rather than just accept the natural size of the market.

random3 1y ago

I suspect that in the near future nobody will directly read product recommendations.