I know this sounds insane…..

[Robin198]

I’m sure my phone reads my mind. I don’t mean algorithms/listening via Siri /cookies etc I don’t have Alexa etc and I have had targeted adverts for subjects I have only thought about. I’m sure of it.

or am I just losing it.
I am aware I sound crazy. I’m not sure I recognise myself from this post!

ps I’m not into conspiracies/foil hats etc I just really think my phone knows too much 😂

Yeah, it's sort of reading your mind. A lot of the time your searches will relate to those things you are thinking about but not saying out loud.

My friend and I often find this! We'll be yattering away about a place/thing, and shortly after, be innundated with related ads/posts, etc. We are on different networks, different operating systems, yet happens.
Perhaps we should start discussing premuim binds - Ernie may be listening!

Not insane. My phone has read my mind too 😮

Phones "talk" to each other. For example, we had a friend visiting who had just become a dad to a beautiful little boy, that night, my phone was inundated with baby and breastfeeding ads and internet search suggestions.
It's creepy.

Do you know I had this very same thought yesterday! Crazy!

I can understand it when the algorithms produce advertising connected to searches but yesterday I was thinking to myself that I might have a certain health condition and I am 100 % certain that I haven’t searched for it or discussed it with anyone.

And yet up pops information on this particular disease! Spooky!

This has happened to me too, a few times.

A few weeks back I read something in a physical magazine - in my head - and a couple of hours later an advert popped up for it online! It was something I’d never heard of before reading it, so not something common, and the magazine was a few months old.

This is a definite thing. I’ve turned off microphone settings so it shouldn’t happen, but it still does 🙄

Yes definitely. Me and my son sometimes deliberately talk about things to see how long it takes for ads to pop up, we’ve noticed YouTube does it as well.

I have also felt it reads my mind too!

Confirmation bias. You thought about it, now you notice it more. You probably saw an ad for it before, but because you had no interest in it, it never registered. Think if the thousands if ads you saw this week. Do you remember all if them now? It's the same reason why if you buy a new car, you'll suddenly see the same model everywhere.

Yes I've had this too. I don't mean it's just overheard conversations or ànything related to searches, TV, places etc. It's actually thoughts. I was wondering if AI has got v smart at reading body language, eye movements etc??? I don't know, but it has happened to me.

I have definitely thought, ‘must check out such and such’ without talking to anyone about it and suddenly it’s in my ads. And not something related to what I’d usually look at!! So strange!!!

Op I'm currently getting adds for tattoo equipment I'm not into tatoos and nor do I wish to make them. I've also not looked at tatoos. I miss adds I might like 😀

Or their phone connected to your WiFi

It's because you (and most people) have location services enabled. Your phone knows that people that visit you have been searching for baby-related items, so it's serving you those ads as well in case you're interested.

I’d 100% have remembered it because it’s very specific, something linked to an area I’m interested in, and I was surprised that I hadn’t heard of it before (a retreat linked to a hobby that I have). The magazine was about that hobby, thus the mention in it, but I’d never seen anything online about it before so the timing was very coincidental.

This is not what the op meant though.

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

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

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

Omg yes.

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

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.

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?'

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!

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.