Free Republic

Your long-held suspicions are confirmed, according to a report: Your phone really is listening to you. A marketing firm whose clients include Facebook and Google has privately admitted that it listens to users’ smartphone microphones and then places ads based on the information that is picked up, according to 404 Media. Cox Media Group, the television and radio news conglomerate, admitted in a pitch deck to investors that its “Active Listening” software uses artificial intelligence to “capture real-time intent data by listening to our conversations,” according to the report. “Advertisers can pair this voice-data with behavioral data to target in-market...

Millions of people have long suspected it, but now a leak suggests that out phones really are listening to us. An apparent pitch deck from one of Facebook's marketing partners appears to detail how the firm eavesdrops on users' conversations to create targeted ads. In a slideshow, Cox Media Group (CMG) claims that its 'Active-Listening' software uses AI to collect and analyze 'real-time intent data' by listening to what you say through your phone, laptop or home assistant microphone. 'Advertisers can pair this voice-data with behavioral data to target in-market consumers,' the deck states. The pitch deck goes on to...