Facebook and Amazon’s AI-selected ads show how businesses can tailor products to consumers in future
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Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer the stuff of science fiction.
Anyone online appreciates the uncanny sensation that their activity is being tracked based on the pop-up ads that reflect their latest searches. For good or ill, this is AI in action.
“The impact of AI is already visible in everyday life,” Giulio Chiribella, a University of Hong Kong academic and visiting professor at the University of Oxford, says.
“The advertisements you see on your Facebook timeline are chosen by an algorithm that is designed to guess what you may be interested in.
“A similar story applies to online shops such as Amazon where the history of your purchases is used to guess the items you may be interested to buy in the future.”
Chiribella says Facebook and Amazon’s use of AI illustrates how businesses can use AI to create ties to their customers and offer products that are tailored to their individual preferences.