Amazon's 'About You' profiles go viral for creepy inferences

Source published 1h 20m agoTerminal published 1h 18m ago

Summary

Amazon's "About You" page, which compiles inferred traits about customers based on their shopping behavior, has recently gone viral on social media after a user shared her profile that included the phrase "has flat buttocks." This sparked a wave of users posting their own profiles, revealing various humorous and blunt attributes like "cannot keep real plants alive" and "has no friends." Launched on May 13, the About You feature is intended by Amazon to enhance product recommendations by utilizing data from purchase history, searches, and Alexa for Shopping interactions. However, the viral backlash highlights customers' discomfort with the personal nature of these inferences, as they navigate the implications of having their private habits analyzed and displayed in such a candid manner.

Analysis

Amazon: Amazon is a global technology company focused on e-commerce, cloud services, and digital assistants. It launched the About You page in May to generate natural-language profiles of customer preferences from purchase history, searches, reviews, and Alexa interactions for improved recommendations. The feature drew widespread attention when users shared often unflattering inferences on social media. Paul Squire: Paul Squire is the deputy editor at Business Insider whose shared household account produced a mixed About You profile that correctly noted a cat and MacBook but scrambled other details. Aakash Gupta: Aakash Gupta is an X user and commentator who analyzed the About You page's rollout and its shift from hidden data models to readable profiles. He pointed out that user corrections provide valuable labeled training data directly to Amazon. Thomas Gryta: Thomas Gryta is the interim corporate editor at Business Insider who examined his own Amazon profile and found it listed a strong preference for beef jerky. He described the entry as feeling like a judgmental assessment from the company. Megan Montgomery: Megan Montgomery is a Threads user whose post about Amazon inferring she has flat buttocks from leggings purchases went viral and sparked the trend. She noted that most of her profile entries were accurate but highlighted the unsettling nature of the detailed assumptions. AI Connection: The page supports Alexa for Shopping conversations by converting behavioral data into sentence-form profiles that the assistant can reference. Feature Purpose: Amazon positions the About You page as a tool for delivering high-quality, relevant product recommendations based on activity across its own services. Social Media Spread: Posts sharing personal profiles on Threads and X rapidly went viral, prompting thousands of users to check and discuss their own inferred traits.

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