I know this sounds insane…..

When it is a phone involved you don't have to say anything.

If your scrolling slows infinitesimally as you go past something, if you choose to look at a certain type of thing that when others look at it, they then go on to look at x, y, or z "they" will put x, y, and z in your view. They get lucky.

It's one of those Occam's Razor things. Which is more likely-your phone is reading your mind, or you said or searched something related so briefly that you've forgotten doing it....

No, but it might well be able to predict that you are highly likely to be interested in a specific thing based on things you have said/searched. (And in which case, its not far off reading your mind!). In the same way that some people who pretend to be psychic etc. claim to read your mind do it - they are making educated guesses based on things they do know about you.

I went for a medical exam during which a very specific and rate disorder was discussed . I had left my phone at the office. When I returned to the office related adverts started appearing in my feed, before I had googled the condition. Very weird.

Phones listening is very helpful as it means I don’t have to type more than a couple of letters into Google.

No, they are not family or very close friends, so no real discussions about gifts
My DH actually found them something while in town by himself, after the visit.
I have a habit of leaving my phone wherever, so it's possible someone else had a conversation I missed lol.

I guess I can't rule it out 😀

I saw a book for sale in Aldi last week. I glanced at it as it had a lovely bright cover. Didn't touch it or look at it for longer than a milisecond. I didn't scan it's bar code. Nor did I mention it to anyone.
Guess what popped up on my Facebook as an amazon ad later that evening. Spooky.

Maybe you were talking about it in your sleep 😜

I feel like it is probably coincidence, or that what we are thinking about is related in some way to our online activity which is spooky enough but not outright mind reading (like the story where Sherlock Holmes breaks in on Watson's reverie in a way that makes him seem like a mindreader ("You are right, it does seem a preposterous way of settling a dispute") - then explains how he followed Watson's train of thought from one subject to another.)

However I was watching TV last night and DH and I were talking about a specific actress, and I went to look her up on my phone, and after I had written her first name her surname came up as the first suggested search - and she is a/ not that famous an actor and b/ absolutely not anywhere near the first person people would be searching for by that first name. I don't know if I am more spooked by the idea the phone may be listening, or the idea that my iPlayer account on my TV is linked to my Google account (I don't know if it is or not) and it knew what I was watching so guessed the actress I was looking for , who wasn't even in that episode.

I get the 'listening in' and to be honest that doesn't really bother me too much. But I stayed at my sisters the other day and her bed had a lovely, comfy mattress, an Emma one. She wasn't there so she'd not mentioned it to me. I'd not Googled it and nor had i mentioned it to my OH as I weren't looking for a new mattress - but later that morning I started to get adverts for Emma mattresses.

The only logical explanation is that somehow by knowing my location at that point it pulled through recent purchases for that address / postcode (very rural so only about 15 houses to the postcode) and shared them as adverts. Because it can't be reading my mind and I can't think how else it did this

Apparently, every item that has the word 'smart' in front of it, contains spyware.

And you definitely weren't ever looking for gifts for babies or similar I the days leading up to it and all that??

I had to semi-climb out a window the other day and I hurt my knees in the process. I said out loud, in a normal voice, "oh, my knees". Next thing, an ad for treatment of bad knees appears in my mobile.

A while ago, I was thinking about a type of necklace you see on the back page of magazines. Later that day and ad appears on my mobile for said necklace. I hadn't searched for it or even muttered a word about it.

They're definitely listening in and, no doubt, reading our minds😮

See, I used to be adamant that was all it was, when people were doing the whole 'my phone is listening to me' thing. And then I had a brief conversation with DH when we were on holiday once about something incredibly niche (a particular medical device) because I saw someone using it. Spent the rest of the week being served adverts for that very specific niche medical device. There is no way those adverts were appearing before (if nothing else, it would have been rubbish targeting).
So they do definitely listen. There's no doubt in my mind about that now.

The reading your mind is more nuanced. Of course a phone isn't doing that. But it could be using AI algorithms to predict what you will be thinking about based on things you are saying/searches you perform etc. I can't find the source now, but years ago I read about a case where Google (I think, or similar) were using an AI based algorithm for adverts, and discovered that it was learning to recognise certain behaviors in order to push gambling adverts at people - and those behaviors were of people who were at high risk of suicide... So the AI learnt to be able to recognise that trait in someone based on specific things they were searching for, sites they visited etc. and that people who felt that way were particularly susceptible to adverts for gambling related products.

(They made changes to the algorithm once they realised it was doing this).

I often think about something and a thread pops up on mumsnet that has the subject in it or some relevance to what I was thinking about
Or an ad
It's definitely listening in

Obviously it's not actually reading our minds. But I do think AI could be trained at a very high level to pull all of our habits, activities and mannerisms over a long time period to effectively look like it can.
Derren Brown is amazing at 'mind reading', although he openly admits its not magic. Imagine if AI was trained to be billions of times better than him.

This has happened to me! Ive been thinking about something quite obscure (once it was one of my favourite words) and upped popped an ad and the brand name was that word!

it’s happened so often now I’m convinced my phone reads my mind. I was going to start a thread here about it but thought people would think I’m crazy!

Those who keep saying their phone is listening and targeting ads that way, that’s different as that’s common knowledge that happens. This is about phones reading our minds!

You probably spend more time on your phone than actively engaging with other people in your life... I know I do. So it becomes easier and easier for AI to predict what you want to see. They can see all sorts on your phone... things like whether you flick through an advert on a site, or if you linger. If you've agreed to cookies then all that info can be looked at, learned from by AI and you will be pushed stuff that you may have just paused for half a second on.

Its like my husband - I saw him scroll through a Japanese drum performance and smile... so I booked one at a local theatre for his birthday and got " How the hell did you know I wanted to see them... are you a mind reader?'

You know all those T&C's you don't read when you install an app? Lots of them ask for permission to use your microphone and camera so when you click 'agree' you are allowing your phone/computer to listen and watch. That's why you get targeted ads.

This isn't what OP means. It's old news that devices are listening to us. OP and others are talking about just THINKING about something will cause an ad to pop up. This is not related to any kind of activity

Omg yes.

Google listens to you all of the time (to teach its ai different accents allegedly) unless you specifically turn off the permission in your Google account. Add that to the tracking cookies (the legitimate interest 1s that you have to object to separately) plus the ai and you have the explanation for the adds that your receiving.
If you don't want the ads then turn off the cookies etc and targeted ads

It doesn't read your mind. It "listens" to you, and applies sophisticated algorithms. One of the treasons some people don't have Alexa.

Yes I get this too.
Is it very advanced AI trained in FBI type skills?