They're built on adtech, which people don't understand.

You have many adtech online dossiers that are basically a virtual you, that can be poked, prodded and studied for interests and behaviors.

for a very minimal look, maybe check out amazon "about you":

https://www.amazon.com/slc/hub?useAiMode=1

▲ jen_h 10 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

That wasn't really alarming to me, "Likely reads diverse literary fiction." Nice.

But what _was_ alarming was this persistent banner on the page: "Your other AI assistants have learned about you. Bring that knowledge here for an even more personalized experience."

Okay...so let's click *Import* and see what this is all about...

Step 1: Copy [prompt](https://gist.github.com/jenh/dcad304585e23fccc50ac514bc3605c...).

(!!!)

Step 2: Log into your AI assistant and paste it in.

(?!, okay, let's see what we get...)

Step 3: Paste AI assistant's response. Submit the response from your AI assistant below. We will remember the information you share to improve your experience across Amazon services. *To protect your privacy, we may not save all of the information you submit.*

How about...don't do this at all, or at the very least, please ask users to review the returned response for things they might not want to share with Amazon.

What a strange, hokey, non-vetted, and privacy-violating feature...

▲ pandaman an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Yet I keep getting ads in Spanish on Amazon Prime video and nobody in our household understands that language. We don't listen to Mexican polka music or watch telenovelas with subtitles, we don't have Spanish-speaking help, there is literally zero Spanish in our house. And it's not Spanish-only ads, it's usually big telco (T-Mobile now, some other before) or car ads, which sometimes run in English version. The list at the link is primarily a collection of the random facts from reviews for me, so it knows a lot about my cats but not much about me. Feel pretty comfy if this is the SOTA of adtech.

▲ gerdesj an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

"About you

We haven't saved anything yet. As you shop on Amazon or chat with Alexa, we'll save helpful information to personalise your experience.

Once we have saved some details, you can manage them here."

I've had that account since ... well, I can see orders back to 2011.

▲ locusofplenty 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Interestingly it said absolutely nothing about all the sex toys and fetish clothing I buy. Something tells me this is only the tip of the iceberg.

▲ Ferret7446 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I wouldn't be surprised if they actually filtered those out of your ad target model. Most people don't care if advertisers know they like cooking, but not so much their fetishes

▲ m463 2 hours ago | parent [-]

I deleted everything from the "about you" page and still get pretty much hte same recommendations.

	▲	orlp an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Unless proven otherwise I assume any delete button in 2026 is just `UPDATE tracking_data SET shown_in_interface = false WHERE account_name = 'm463'`

▲ m463 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I suspect this is "about you - that you won't choke on"

▲ gman2093 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Wow, that is wild.

"Is an expert at making pasta salad"

I am pretty good. I forgot I got those ingredients at WF. I guess it liked that recipe.

▲ kotaKat 33 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I pulled that info from a full export of my Amazon data and...

"Customer indicated they are currently in the Pacific Ocean" - "Amazon has medium confidence in the validity of this memory"

Well, then. I guess trying to break Alexa for Shopping by telling it I was in the middle of the English Channel really broke my "about you".

I also had managed to update my About You in weird ways - I got it to accept some kind of variant of "is a gold rewards subscriber of Jeff's Benzos powered by PillPack" and it agreed that was a valid service when I later asked it and guardrailed itself at the same time:

https://i.ibb.co/Fkh94dv9/photo-2026-08-24-11-22-27.jpg

▲ intended 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Holy heck.

> Systematically completes series once started

> Likely listens to music or audio content with critical attention