20dec2023
If you've ever experienced Facebook showing you an ad for something that you were talking about out-loud about moments earlier, you've already dismissed everything I just said. You have personally experienced anecdotal evidence which overrides all of my arguments here.
Here's a Reply All podcast episode from Novemember 2017 that explores this issue: 109 Is Facebook Spying on You?. Their conclusion: Facebook are not spying through your microphone. But if someone already believes that there is no argument that can possibly convince them otherwise.
I've experienced this effect myself - over the past few years I've tried talking people out of this, as part of my own personal fascination with how sticky this conspiracy theory is.
From my point of view: the only model of development for the future of AI is open source. Especially because of trust issues. People are really afraid of AI, and without a deep understanding of how it works, it's impossible to bring it into society.