Amazon's detailed customer dossiers are just the tip of the iceberg in the AI era
The article examines how companies like Amazon and McDonald's are using AI to build highly detailed consumer profiles based on personal data. It warns that as users integrate AI agents into their daily lives, they are inadvertently providing corporations with unprecedented access to their private information.
Why it matters
It raises critical questions about data privacy and the trade-offs between AI-driven convenience and corporate surveillance.
Peter Dazeley/Getty Images This post originally appeared in the Business Insider Today newsletter. You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here . Boxers or briefs? Don't worry. AI already knows. A new trend is making people realize the amount of data that tech companies have on them and how they're using it. Amazon's "About You" feature — an AI-created rundown of your preferences as a shopper — has been making the rounds on the internet. Amazon's specificity has been eye-opening, from "has flat buttocks" to "uses phone in the shower to read Kindle books." ( Here's a step-by-step guide for finding your "About You" feature .) Ben Shimkus canvassed the BI newsroom to see what Amazon thinks of his colleagues . Amazon's read on me wasn't all that surprising (or funny), with one exception: "performs manual work or construction."
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