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Why is Google still serving dodgy ads?

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Re: Why is Google still serving dodgy ads?

#191

Post by shevy-java »

bbor wrote: post #108
jacobgold wrote: post #77

Someone who has spent $100M+ on Google Ads explained to me that Google is doing everything possible to juice their revenue right now, in ways they've never seen before. Seems like two things 1) Google is losing at AI and Sundar wants to mask this 2) AI is going to destroy their ad business and they want to get while the getting is good.

I don't think it's related to AI, at least not originally. To me this is about the slow death of display advertising. The arms race of ad blockers and ad blocker blockers and such has created a world where people hate display ads, especially because they require so much creepy data to even work in the first place. AI probably would help their display ad business overall -- they finally just launched a "have Gemini cr…

> To me this is about the slow death of display advertising.

That's good. I hate ads. I will fight them down until they are gone.

But I don't think this is the case here. Ads are still pushed down onto the people willy-nilly style.

Re: Why is Google still serving dodgy ads?

#192

Post by nkrisc »

HomeDeLaPot wrote: post #107

Every YouTube ad I see now is an AI-generated scam ad hawking everything from free electricity to anti-aging products to birdhouses hand-carved by an AI-generated senior citizen. I've seen some multiple times, days or weeks apart. Their advertising standards are a complete joke.

The AI-generated video ads are getting really bizarre on YouTube. There's class of them that feature some AI-generated song with AI-generated animated characters. One song began with lyrics about having sex with a Jewish billionaire's wife and learning some secret (at which point I was able to skip the ad) and another is some grotesque looking creature singing about foamy urine.

Normally I have an ad-blocker and don't see any ads, but I happened to be using the YouTube app recently on my iPad so I was subjected to this insanity.

I guess scammer money is as green as anyone else's.

Re: Why is Google still serving dodgy ads?

#193

Post by nkrisc »

torginus wrote: post #181
HomeDeLaPot wrote: post #107

Every YouTube ad I see now is an AI-generated scam ad hawking everything from free electricity to anti-aging products to birdhouses hand-carved by an AI-generated senior citizen. I've seen some multiple times, days or weeks apart. Their advertising standards are a complete joke.

These ads are uncanny valley right now. But imagine, in a year or two, they'll dial it in, and it'll be indistinguishable from actual TV ads.

Apart for the fact they'll be hawking obvious scam bullshit.

Re: Why is Google still serving dodgy ads?

#194

Post by charmd »

soundworlds wrote: post #183
conception wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the 3.8 Flash release shows they are doing just fine at AI. Unlike OpenAI and Anthropomorphic, Google doesn’t have to release new models to capture VC sentiment every three months. They have the hardware, data and money. And when they release a model it’s very good. Now their product strategy however…

A large chunk of the population don't use Google to search anymore. They go straight for the GenAIs. That's got to be scaring a lot of managerial folks at Google.

Slide 65 of this (very nice) set of slides [1] broke down search vs genAI use to get information. "Mostly genAI was not breaking 25% in all age brackets... Curious to see how that will evolve

[1] https://readwise-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/media/wisereads/art...

Re: Why is Google still serving dodgy ads?

#195

Post by nkrisc »

johng wrote: post #112
HomeDeLaPot wrote: post #107

Every YouTube ad I see now is an AI-generated scam ad hawking everything from free electricity to anti-aging products to birdhouses hand-carved by an AI-generated senior citizen. I've seen some multiple times, days or weeks apart. Their advertising standards are a complete joke.

This senior citizen doing stuff got me. I bought a pair of cow slippers because I thought he was making them from his farm in Australia. Turns out they use that same "character" to hawk multiple products.

Unfortunately at this point I assume that everything I see online is fake until I have a good reason to think otherwise.

Re: Why is Google still serving dodgy ads?

#196

Post by Spare_account »

Borealid wrote: post #160
icoder wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've flagged an AI-generated add once that promoted a small device that could cool a hot room (many degrees celcius lower, very quickly, for very little energy and very little money and without external components), defying the laws of thermodynamics. They said they investigated it and concluded it did not break any rules and no actions where taken.

There do exist "evaporative coolers", sometimes called "swamp coolers". The trick is that they require water and raise the humidity of their surroundings. But they tick all the boxes you listed - plenty of delta-t, extremely low power, no external tubes or parts. It's not magic because it relies on the "fuel" of cool water to evaporate.

I'm not the same guy but I can verify that the advert for the impossible micro-evaporative cooler quoted impossible performance capabilities.

YouTube adverts frequently contain fraudulent, misleading information. It appears that no law is being broken.

Re: Why is Google still serving dodgy ads?

#197

Post by noir_lord »

corranh wrote: post #4

This one is not complicated…Because dodgy companies spend a lot of money on ads.

More specifically a very large number of dodgy companies spend a relatively small amount each but in aggregate it's a lot of money.

Google has no interest in policing that because money and won't until they are forced to and since they are a transnational that's difficult since it requires multiple countries to do it with the added wrinkle that if you even hint at the possibility that just maybe you might consider doing something about US big tech you get immediate screaming from across the Atlantic.

Re: Why is Google still serving dodgy ads?

#200

Post by rinconrex »

Well, as others have said money. As far as I know ads are the domain of the FTC and FCC. Who's going to stop them from serving scammy ads? Not Carr, not the FTC commissioners.

As much as I personally disliked Susan Wojcicki, she kinda sort kept Youtube shenanigans in check. Yes, there were baity, inappropriate ads, but after she left it has gotten out of control.

Google signaled with "Lake America" they are playing along, and I don't think any real consquences will come of it as long as they keep pulling in billions and the QoQ keeps going.

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