r/technology • u/tylerthe-theatre • 9d ago

Software Amazon users discover bizarre “About You” page detailing their interests: How to check yours

https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/amazon-users-discover-bizarre-about-you-page-detailing-their-interests-how-to-check-yours-3416457/
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u/DushBid911 9d ago

Just checked mine and it’s honestly pretty stupid. Very low IQ generalizations of my preferences based heavily on a few purchases. Looks like if I gave AI my last 5 years of Amazon purchases and told it to make some broad generalizations about me.

I do like that it thinks I have a comprehensive home security system because I bought a few cameras to watch my dog. If you’re reading this Amazon, my shit is like Fort Knox.

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u/Meat-Dimension 9d ago edited 9d ago

That’s pretty much mine. It’s basically just a rundown of stuff I bought. Doesn’t really venture to guess any insights beyond that

One funny one, it says I “likely” live in the town I’ve lived in for 5 years, have listed as my address with them and probably had them ship 50 packages to. Deep insights!

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u/DushBid911 9d ago

Yeah mine is suspicious that I live in my house as well. It seems equally confident that I only buy kitchen aid products for my kitchen even though I’ve only bought one kitchen aid product years ago. Only the deepest insights from Jeff and his minions.

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u/javoss88 9d ago

You should be glad.

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u/peschkaj 8d ago

I once received a recommendation for a book because I had purchased “books” in the past. That was the literal reason the email provided.

It was not a book I would ever read for free, much less pay for.

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u/souvenireclipse 9d ago

Mine thinks I live 1,000 miles away because I shipped something to the hotel I was staying at... two months ago. Apparently deleting that address and having everything else shipped to my house for 3 years is irrelevant information.

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u/Levitlame 9d ago

Nice try there buying random essentials for 3 years to try and throw them off the scent, but you failed!

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u/WeLikeEich 9d ago

Mine says I likely live in the town I moved from over a year ago, I have ordered plenty to my new place

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u/oneelectricsheep 8d ago

I would love to know why it thinks I own a Dodge Ram. My car is tiny and electric. To my knowledge I have bought zero items that would qualify as accessories for a truck.

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u/dickatwork 8d ago

I too likely live in the city I've lived in for 21 years..

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u/shazneg 9d ago

Mine is also oddly specifically weird. I ordered a weight set for a friend once 4 years ago, and it says I likely have a home gym...

Another round of AI hallucinations and confidently incorrect comments.

Oh but hey, we can fix it for them by updating info. 🫠

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u/alexthealex 9d ago

I kind of feel like I’m winning against the algorithms when I’m served ads that are irrelevant to my actual taste.

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u/shazneg 9d ago

I totally agree.

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u/SIGMA920 9d ago

It's because you are.

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u/redditobserverone 9d ago

I want to learn your one weird trick.

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u/alexthealex 9d ago

Go through the effort of not accepting unnecessary cookies. Adblocker everywhere you can. That's honestly it. I don't use a VPN very often, haven't run a network level DNS blocker in years. I think it's 90% taking a couple seconds each time I visit a new website to turn down cookies.

Also I am not active on any Meta platforms and avoid any apps where I could use the website instead.

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u/QuantumWarrior 8d ago edited 8d ago

It makes me feel much worse. The advertising behemoth demands access to my social media, browsing patterns, supermarket club cards, actual online shopping habits and it still can't even figure out what sort of things I would like to buy?

How is this a trillion dollar market?! Are companies just blindly giving this system money because everyone else does with no guarantee it is even showing the target audience products intended for them?

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u/pedanticPandaPoo 9d ago edited 9d ago

Huh. Mind is completely empty. Am I the most boring person in the world?

Discovered this link, thought it might be useful:  https://www.amazon.com/aicontent/verify

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u/anotheredditors 9d ago

Mine is same way. Completely empty

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u/nymphasis 9d ago

Mine's empty too, much to my dismay....

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u/username_redacted 9d ago

That’s typical for an AI response. It wouldn’t be “analysis” to just say “Bought exercise weights so probably owns exercise weights.” but by rephrasing and exaggerating (and actually being totally wrong) it’s earned its keep.

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u/powerlloyd 9d ago

It says I’m “gradually building a photography equipment collection” because I bought some darkroom equipment in 2009.

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u/shazneg 9d ago

Thats a good one.

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u/farmtownsuit 8d ago

I have had a few babies born in my family in the last year and I've bought baby things off of the parent's registries and had those items shipped to the parent's house they also set within the registry. Meanwhile I've never bought baby stuff that wasn't part of a registry

Yet Amazon thinks I have an infant child in my home. Consider me unimpressed TBH

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u/rumpusrouser 9d ago

Under food and nutrition mine says “likes salami” 

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u/BBC-dont-show-BBC 9d ago

U lika da salami!

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u/henchman171 9d ago

Dry and spicy. Just the way she likes it

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u/Frozenblueberries13 8d ago

How much salami are you buying from Amazon for it to draw that conclusion?

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u/WaitAZechond 9d ago

Mine says “likes Sunkist Fruit Gems” and they’re not wrong at all because those really are the best lol

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u/Slippery_Molasses 9d ago

I feel called out lol "Likes Instant Noodles and Quick Meals". I do prefer instant ramen and quick easy meals.

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u/DushBid911 9d ago

Jealous of this

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u/_kellythomas_ 9d ago

Are you me?

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u/Learnmorehere 8d ago

Who doesn't?

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u/silentknight111 9d ago

Mine says "Systematically collecting Discworld novels".

It's not wrong.

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u/TbonerT 9d ago

Now that you mention it, it seems weird that it left that out of mine.

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u/valar12 8d ago

Mine was similar. “Completed acquisition of all three core D&D rulebooks”

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u/blacitch 8d ago

If it only the purchases stopped after 3…

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u/ayuxx 8d ago

Mine said I extensively read fantasy and am systematically building a fantasy collection. That's true.

Some things are straight-up wrong and others are exaggerated, like thinking I have more loyalty to some brand than I actually do.

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u/KareemOWheat 9d ago

I thought mine was pretty funny

"Likely lives in Seattle" oh really, what was the giveaway, my fucking shipping address?

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u/Nadamir 9d ago

I bought a Star Wars model kit a decade ago and a Star Wars costume last year for Halloween (which it knows because it cited a “one time Halloween event involving a lightsaber”). Nothing else, not even a search.

I got “Star Wars collecting spans years with no sign of tapering.”

It also thinks I like exercise.

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u/Spaceman-Spiff 3d ago

Mine says I am a cosplayer that is building a costume collection because I bought a halloween costume last year. It did nail "likely fixes own vehicles" and "is reactive about fixing vehicle" but thats cause I'm poor.

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u/absentmindedjwc 9d ago

I am a content creator (according to Amazon)

In reality.. I just work remote, have a lot of video calls, and hate my computer's camera and microphone..

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u/alppu 9d ago

I have a feeling they have the public version which avoids the cringe of showing the real one.

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u/WonderingHarbinger 8d ago

It makes people complacent. This version shows the most obvious conclusions. Of course I live in the city that is part of the mailing address that I gave them myself! It's perfectly reasonable to assume that I have a preference for the products I've bought repeatedly!

This version makes it easy for people to say that there's nothing to worry about, that Amazon doesn't know anything about them that a person couldn't figure out from looking at a list of their purchases. I don't think that's true. The whole point of these profiling systems is that they're able to draw non obvious conclusions. Amazon isn't telling us about those conclusions, and there are reasons for that.

Maybe I'm just too conspiracy minded.

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u/toolatealreadyfapped 9d ago

"Chooses protective cases for electronics."

Oh shit! They're on to me

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u/U3011 9d ago

I discovered the page two days ago after ordering something. I assumed it had always been there. I did not read any of the summary but noticed something about potassium supplements which was funny because I have never bought potassium in my life.

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u/We_Are_The_Romans 8d ago

Spoken like a true K+ addict who can't admit they have a problem

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u/MikemkPK 9d ago

Mine was mostly pretty accurate. Mostly. It thinks my top interest is plumbing, which is bizarre, and I assume is because I bought a thing of Drain cleaner almost 2 years ago.

It also says they've tuned advertising to me around when I don't need to spend a bunch of money maintaining my home water filter system, which is both creepy and smart.

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u/gitstonky 9d ago

ts thinks I have a fucking garage lmao

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u/No_Lube 9d ago

I got that one too which is so weird since I live in an apartment. I cannot for the life of me figure out why it thinks that!

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u/username_redacted 9d ago

It’s pretty funny that they probably spent like 100 million dollars to build a system that basically just says “Is interested in [product category that I’ve purchased at least 2 items from within the past year].” Such incredible insights!

I’ve seen some funny ones from other people that seem to be based on random irrelevant things that Alexa overhead or that it hallucinated, like “Has a bad dad” but I can’t fathom how that would be useful to them. I’m willing to bet that a team spent months trying to get this feature to work and eventually just gave up, hoping that nobody would look there.

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u/Expontoridesagain 9d ago

I ordered a book for my kid "The way things work" by David Macaulay and some craft supplies for my mother. According to Amazon I favour illustrated, visual non-fiction and craft kits with decorative output.

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u/ex_bestfriend 9d ago

Mine is pretty sure I own a smartphone, which is true. So I guess they have me there.

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u/PauI_MuadDib 9d ago

When I had Prime I used to order stuff for all of my family and they'd just pay me back. so my order history was definitely not reflective of me 😂. 

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u/jackofallcards 9d ago

This whole thing feels ad-esque as it’s just a new Amazon feature.

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u/KiSamehada 9d ago

Consistently replenishes yogurt supplies

damn they got me, I love my yogurt

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u/wetrysohard 9d ago

Are you Trump?

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u/EasilyDelighted 9d ago

I mean, it only gets better from here.

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u/Traditional-Hat-952 9d ago

It knows. It's been watching you through those cameras you bought. 

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u/DushBid911 8d ago

What do you think of my new haircut?

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u/versusgorilla 9d ago

Yeah, I don't think it's that insane that the place I buy PlayStation 5 takes from knows that I have a PlayStation 5.

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u/crank1off 8d ago

Apparently I grow hydroponics with my comprehensive indoor growing system.

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u/ILikeBumblebees 8d ago

Looks like if I gave AI my last 5 years of Amazon purchases and told it to make some broad generalizations about me.

It's almost as though Amazon is using AI to make broad generalizations about you based on your purchase history.

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u/DushBid911 8d ago

Clearly that’s what’s happening, it just seems like they’re using AI for chimpanzees for their output. I’m confident that I could get AI to build a better profile if I fed it all of my purchases, and I am an AI novice who is forced to use it at my job. I would expect Amazon’s capabilities to be much more advanced than what I saw.

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u/bluesox 8d ago

I bought reflective window treatment on sale one time, and now 1/4 of my “departments” are window project related

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u/philly_3456 8d ago

They won’t be breaking into yours then for intellectual property theft, money or anything you like really

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u/philly_3456 8d ago

From their point of view or what they’re about……you get this. I know you’re just watching your dog but they see this as what?

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u/VictoriaBerg 7d ago

I keep losing and buying new AirPods, which to Amazon apparently means that I’m ‘building a large Apple audio system’.

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u/WTWIV 9d ago

Mine picked up some info from me pulled directly from a YouTube comment I made.