Getting Started With My AI Privacy Experiment
Woke up today thinking about all those Instagram ads that know me too well. Brewed some coffee and thought, “Man, how does this AI stuff really dig into our private lives?” Figured I’d dig into it myself instead of just wondering.
First, I grabbed my phone and laptop. Opened Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok – you know, the usual suspects. Started scrolling casually, like I always do. Pretended I was interested in hiking gear by clicking on a few posts about backpacks. Didn’t search for anything, just tapped a photo.
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Here’s what happened over the next hour:
- Targeting Freaked Me Out: Suddenly, my feed flooded with tents, boots, and ads for parks I’d never even heard of. Felt like someone was watching me browse.
- Weird Friend Suggestions Popped Up: Got a “People You May Know” suggestion for a guy I only talked to at a camping store checkout last week. No contacts synced, no mutual friends. Spooky.
- Voice Assistant Got Too Eager: Was complaining out loud about needing new sneakers near my laptop. Later, boom – shoe ads everywhere. Didn’t even type it.
Decided to test deeper. Turned off location services for all apps, cleared cookies, the whole shebang. Logged back in… and nada. The hiking ads and that guy from the store? Still there. Took screenshots. Felt this chill down my spine. This wasn’t about my searches anymore.
What This Messy Experiment Showed Me
Okay, so after poking around all afternoon, here’s the ugly truth I tripped over:
- AI isn’t just using what you tell it. It’s piecing together crumbs you leave everywhere – what you glance at, where your phone physically moves, who stands near you, maybe even stuff your mic overhears. It’s a scavenger.
- Turning stuff “off” feels useless. That data? It’s shared, sold, linked behind the scenes. Siloed privacy controls are like locking your front door while leaving the back wide open.
- This predictive power is scary good and mostly invisible. It learns how to push your buttons before you even know what buttons you have. Feels less like tech, more like behavioral manipulation.
Honestly? It freaked me out. This isn’t some distant sci-fi thing. It’s right now, shaping what we see, who we meet online, and what “private” even means. The convenience feels like a shiny trap. Makes you wonder if the price for funny cat videos is letting an AI build your shadow profile behind your back.
And that thought? Yeah, it kept me up.
