Mark my words, within the next 2-3 years you’re going to see ads in places you never thought you’d see them, or even expect them.
Reading a digital book on your Kindle, or Fire eBook reader? In the middle of the story you’re going to see a carefully placed ad which ties right into the story. The protagonist in the story will be hauling dirt with a wheelbarrow, and it’ll conveniently tell you that wheelbarrows are on sale for $79.95 at HomeDepot until the end of the week.
You’ve escaped to the countryside to enjoy the peacefulness. You look up at the night sky and something seems off. Is that an advertisement for an online casino? Yup. There’s research being done right now for LEO (low earth orbit) satellites to be outfitted with lights which will be coordinated to create images in the night sky. It’ll just be like the northern lights, only way shittier.
Drifting off to sleep, you’re counting sheep. Why not count the savings you could be enjoying with $2 off Tide Coldwater pods! The lovely people at MIT are working on “Targeted Dream Incubation” where they are using different sensory cues to trigger thoughts in a brain. You’ll wake up wondering if your clothes are getting the “clean” they need.
Computers? Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, just wait! Windows is already jamming ads into your start menu and desktop. Why not other places, too? Do you seriously think all these datacenters are just being built for AI use? No. It’s a massive push to cloud computing. Building a computer which you own the hardware and operating system are going to be a thing of the past. You’ll have a computer which is “always online”. Nothing stored locally on your machine, as it’ll be little more than a gateway device where all of your tasks, processing, and files are stored on cloud computing. Of course, there will be a monthly service fee for this depending on how much you use. Don’t worry, they’ll own all of your data and you’re just “leasing” it from them. It’ll be scraped, analyzed and used to feed you more targeted ads. Want to stop paying? Lose access to all of your data forever.
AI is only in it’s infancy right now. We’re just getting acclimated to it. Once it becomes commonplace and the world relies on it for nearly every interaction, it’ll go to pure shit (you think it’s bad now, just wait). Remember when Facebook was actually good? When you could plan events, share photos, talk to others, and have fun discussions? Now it’s just endless pages of ads, “sponsored” posts, and “recommended for you” posts? It’s unusable. AI will be the same. In the replies you get from ChatGPT you’re going to see product placements, ads, hot tips, and things of the like. Will you even be able to trust it?
You’re at the store trying on a new outfit. Naturally you step in front of the mirror. But what if that mirror looks back at you. What if it analyzes your body and determines “this peasant needs to lose 20 lbs!”. Maybe it projects an image back which makes you look just a little fatter than you actually are. Maybe you’re a man under 5’9″, so the image you see coming back at you makes you just a little shorter than you actually are. You know, just play with your subconscious a little bit. Now cameras are tracking your every move throughout the store. You suddenly see an advertisement for weight loss pills, or shoe lifts. Woah, what are the chances! Right when you’re feeling insecure about your body thanks to that exact insecurity being planted into your brain from a mirror, you are presented with the miracle fix! Just tap your credit card on the reader and it’ll be at your doorstep by the time you get home!
You’re going to see some of this within the next 2-3 years. It’s already being developed, and as soon as they have a viable way to push it upon you, it’ll be done. Everyone is trying to be first to market with a new way to push ads onto you, and you best believe once it’s half baked enough, you’re going to see it.
Welcome to the future, you poor bastard!