Video and music site AIs are becoming increasingly accurate at guessing what else I’d like watch or listen to based on what I’ve already enjoyed.
But I fear the Artificial Intelligence bots at Facebook are still on the practice tee.
The other day I got a message saying “based” on my browsing history I might be interested in another site.
No, it wasn’t porn.
It was a site devoted to the sale and swapping of golf carts.
From memory, it had 13,000 members from all over the world.
The last game of golf I played was more than 30 years ago.
As a teenager I had a hand-me-down set of clubs with wooden shafts. No-one had golf carts in those days. We walked around the course carrying the bag of clubs over our shoulders.
Even if I hadn’t given the game away in frustration, I’d need my cart to have huge 4WD tyres capable of carrying me into rough terrain. It would also need to be amphibious – able to submerge to the bottom of the deepest water hazards and equipped with powerful underwater lights designed to shine a light to help me find my ball.
Based on my browsing history? Are they kidding? I might have clicked on a couple of golfing articles. Who’s winning the Open, what is the latest on the rebel tour; that kind of thing.
But golf carts? Why would I? I don’t even drive a car. Facebook should have worked that out by now.
Even if I did swap a cart with someone in Abu Dhabi, how would I get it to him?
In a bottle floating across the Indian Ocean?
JOHN MARTIN 