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AI chatbots sell users' intimate data to advertisers
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dubak feddit.org dubak@feddit.org
Joined: 2024-06-27
(edited) Quote

A new study by IMDEA Networks (PDF) provides the evidence. The included infografic is from blog post by one of the study authors. Important details from his blog post:

  • It makes little difference if you do not accept cookies.

  • It does not matter whether you pay or not.

  • It does not matter if you use Brave and ad blockers.

Summary by EUobserver

I couldn't find any german source on this topic yet.

191   Original
web suffer piefed.social suff@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-03-27
#2 · (edited) Quote Reply

!kintelligenz@feddit.org

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cub Gucci lemmy.today vivalapivo@lemmy.today
Joined: 2025-06-15
#3 · Quote Reply

Can you make the chart more ugly than it is now?

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couldhavebeenyou lemmy.zip couldhavebeenyou@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2025-07-02
#4 · Quote Reply

Good to know! I was just about to checks notes give them my intimate data

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tty5 lemmy.world tty5@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-01
#5 · (edited) Quote Reply

  • Datadog is an infrastructure monitoring tool
  • intercom is user feedback/sales funnel service
  • sentry is an exception/error capture service
  • firebase is Google's app development platform
  • adjust is analytics/marketing platform

None of those are used to sell 3rd party ads and all of them keep the data for the companies who pay for their services (in this case ai companies).

I didn't expect to defend ai companies, but this graphic is just stupid

41
iatenine piefed.social iatenine@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-08-12
#6 · Quote Reply

Not my intimate data!

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SSUPII sopuli.xyz SSUPII@sopuli.xyz
Joined: 2023-06-10
#7 · Quote Reply

Fork found in kitchen

But also this graph is also misleading, as some of these are services unrelated to advertising.

1
bad1080 piefed.social bad1080@piefed.social
Joined: 2026-02-27
#8 · (edited) Quote Reply

an FYI: ublock origin has an AI filter option (not enabled by default):

image

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bad1080 piefed.social bad1080@piefed.social
Joined: 2026-02-27
#9 · Quote Reply

Fork found in kitchen But also this graph is also misleading, as some of these are services unrelated to advertising.

the information becomes relevant for advertisers real quick after it's been sold to the right company

3
Widdershins lemmy.world Widdershins@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-04-04
#10 · Quote Reply

Can you make the chart more ugly than it is now?

I tried but painting over all those terrible words didn't make it worse

9
Hubi feddit.org Hubi@feddit.org
Joined: 2024-06-22
#11 · Quote Reply

This chart would really benefit from color coded lines instead of just grey and magenta

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paraphrand lemmy.world paraphrand@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-12
#12 · Quote Reply

So this claims full chat sessions get sent to all of these services? I doubt it…

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Evotech lemmy.world Evotech@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-10-11
#13 · Quote Reply

So this claims full chat sessions get sent to all of these services? I doubt it…

If i had to guess. They have another ai that analyze your logs and make a profile on you. Then they share certain things like interests etc with those who buy them. Probably packages

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cub Gucci lemmy.today vivalapivo@lemmy.today
Joined: 2025-06-15
#14 · Quote Reply

I tried but painting over all those terrible words didn't make it worse

Are these white hands??

0
cosmos8188 leminal.space cosmos8188@leminal.space
Joined: 2025-12-30
#15 · Quote Reply

I tried but painting over all those terrible words didn't make it worse

Picasso be like.

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paraphrand lemmy.world paraphrand@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-12
#16 · (edited) Quote Reply

If i had to guess. They have another ai that analyze your logs and make a profile on you. Then they share certain things like interests etc with those who buy them. Probably packages

That’s quite a claim. I’d love to see some proof that they have an ai model profiling you and sending that profile to datadog.

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AllNewTypeFace leminal.space AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space
Joined: 2023-08-20
#17 · Quote Reply

If you can’t trust your nonfungible ape girlfriend, who can you trust?

3
dubak feddit.org dubak@feddit.org
Joined: 2024-06-27
#18 · Quote Reply

So this claims full chat sessions get sent to all of these services? I doubt it…

Some AI chatbots send full chat sessions to some of the listed services. Others send just summaries of the important (incl. intimate) data.

1
dubak feddit.org dubak@feddit.org
Joined: 2024-06-27
#19 · Quote Reply

Datadog is an infrastructure monitoring tool intercom is user feedback/sales funnel service sentry is an exception/error capture service firebase is Google's app development platform adjust is analytics/marketing platform None of those are used to sell 3rd party ads and all of them keep the data for the companies who pay for their services (in this case ai companies). I didn't expect to defend ...

The graphics does not claim that Datadog, intercom, sentry, firebase, adjust are selling ads. The graphics says that these companies use web trackers (see label in the right top corner).

The post title is my conclusion from the graphics. More precisely, all (listed) chat bots sell to at least one advertising company. This is clearly supported by the graphics. My claim was not that all chat bots sell to all advertising companies or that all web tracking companies are advertising companies. I hope this helps.

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Imgonnatrythis sh.itjust.works Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2023-09-23
#20 · Quote Reply

Never ever speak to an AI in first person. Never, "what do you recommend I put on my pasta tonight?". Instead, "what are some good pasta toppings".
Most AIs will try to trick you and pull back to assuming personalization. Occasional reminders to never assume the conversation is about you do help minimize this.

Your data will still be harvested as if your own, but it introduces plausible deniability and minimizes linkages to build personal profiling.

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HereIAm lemmy.world HereIAm@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-02-19
#21 · Quote Reply

Never ever speak to an AI in first person. Never, "what do you recommend I put on my pasta tonight?". Instead, "what are some good pasta toppings". Most AIs will try to trick you and pull back to assuming personalization. Occasional reminders to never assume the conversation is about you do help minimize this. Your data will still be harvested as if your own, but it introduces plausible deniabi...

Is this some proven tactic? I can't imagine they would ever care if you use first person or not. If you start googling for Marmite you will he branded as a Marmite eater, regardless if you buy it for yourself or a friend.

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HaraldvonBlauzahn feddit.org HaraldvonBlauzahn@feddit.org
Joined: 2025-04-04
#22 · Quote Reply

This chart would really benefit from color coded lines instead of just grey and magenta

It is color-coded?

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Imgonnatrythis sh.itjust.works Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2023-09-23
#23 · Quote Reply

Is this some proven tactic? I can't imagine they would ever care if you use first person or not. If you start googling for Marmite you will he branded as a Marmite eater, regardless if you buy it for yourself or a friend.

The AI does create a personal profile of you and tries to categorize likes, dislikes etc. Hard to say what happens on the back end, but you will get less linking / leading prompts with depersonalized queries.

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Lux (she/her) lemmy.blahaj.zone Lux@lemmy.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2023-06-11
#24 · Quote Reply

:0

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Evotech lemmy.world Evotech@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-10-11
#25 · Quote Reply

That’s quite a claim. I’d love to see some proof that they have an ai model profiling you and sending that profile to datadog.

Unless we get Snowden 2 i doubt it

1
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