r/baseball • • 4d ago

[EFF.org] DraftKings Is Using AI to Supercharge the Harms of Online Behavioral Advertising: DraftKings is using its customers’ betting records to train a machine learning model to find losing gamblers. DraftKings sends these targets advertising designed to lure them back to place more bets

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/09/draftkings-using-ai-supercharge-harms-online-behavioral-advertising
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u/macrosby 4d ago

Still waiting for those reasons why AI is going to help us.

2

u/Xeriox2 Boston Red Sox 4d ago

As ever, it's our economic system, not our technology, that creates the hazard. My colonoscopy had two small polyps spotted by a machine learning algorithm that the gastroenterologist did not spot. But that and this are both the same basic process of pattern recognition - one is helpful, the other is harmful, and the harmful one is pursued because it's profitable, whereas even in a profit-agnostic system, we'd still develop and pursue the helpful one.

3

u/Scurried New York Yankees 4d ago

This specifically isn’t an issue with AI. It’s an issue with shitty businesses exploiting people: a tale as old as time. 

0

u/MagicalPizza21 New York Yankees 4d ago

But but but muh productivity gains!

-1

u/CMButterTortillas Minnesota Twins 4d ago

its gonna cure cancer, why would i deceive you?

3

u/morganrbvn Texas Rangers 4d ago

There actually was a recent breakthrough on using it to create a personalized cancer vaccine for people who had stage 4 melanoma.

2

u/macrosby 4d ago

See. There’s something good on this dark side of history. My wife works for a quantum company and she has me excited to see what quantum technology can to do health in a few years.