Prying Eyes
You are walking down the street on a busy sidewalk, and you pass a kiosk with a sizeable digital display that is advertising a vacation packages. You remember that your anniversary is coming up in about two months and figure that maybe a long weekend vacation might not be a bad idea and would certainly garner appreciation from your spouse. You continue on and ask you phone assistant to look for vacation spots in or near the Bahamas that you could book only 45 days ahead. something quiet and out-of-the-way, far from the big resorts on Grand Bahama. As you walk you phone describes a small ‘mini-resort’ on Cat Island, a tiny slip of sand whose main attraction is Mount Alvernia, the highest point in the Bahamas (206’) and an abandon Monastery, along with spectacular beaches, a variety of inexpensive bars and restaurants. Most important your phone mentions that you can still book a ‘villa’ at Rollezz Villas Beach Resort whereon the island where you can get a beachfront villa with a King-size bed , a 32” TV, a 4 burner stove top, coffee maker, toaster, hair dryer and air conditioning for only $279/night.
Sounds like it might be a nice place, but you need to see a few pictures before making any commitments. Strangely as you walk past a bus enclosure the signage happens to be showing an image of a cute villa by the ocean, and even more strangely it happens to be at Rollezz Villas Beach Resort on Cat Island in the Bahamas! Is someone reading your mind or is it one of the greatest coincidences ever? It’s not a coincidence, and no one is reading your mind, but those digital displays you are passing are equipped with cameras and sensors and linked together as part of a local advertising network, so when you pass the next one it just happens to be showing flights to the Bahamas for a long weekend vacation, with ‘many flights still available!”.
The information that you asked for on your phone was entered into a profile which was passed on to the advertising network. Given your location (within a few centimeters) can be quickly found, the Ai based advertising software found visuals for the resort and loaded it into the network. The sensor in the display alerted the camera to capture your image which it sent to the Ai for confirmation and when the AI agreed it was you, the display showed the advertisement for the resort. As you passed the display, the system loaded the air travel advertisement into the display a few paces down the sidewalk and waited for you to pass, following the same procedure as the previous one, and so on as you pass each display. We didn’t mention the life-size display on the side of the building that was your destination that showed you sitting on the veranda of your villa with a drink in your hand wearing a large straw hat while watching the sun slide closer to the horizon. It looked just like you, perhaps a few pounds thinner and a few years younger, but it was you.
Sounds like Science fiction, but its not. We have seen lots of parts of such systems, not quite all connected together, but it’s not that far off, as the hardware is certainly available, as is much of the software. Now all it takes is a few folks to put it all together and revolutionize the advertising industry with such an Ai-based system and we know it’s being worked on. How far away? Two years ago we might have said 10 years. A year ago, five years. Today a year or two if not sooner.
Sounds like it might be a nice place, but you need to see a few pictures before making any commitments. Strangely as you walk past a bus enclosure the signage happens to be showing an image of a cute villa by the ocean, and even more strangely it happens to be at Rollezz Villas Beach Resort on Cat Island in the Bahamas! Is someone reading your mind or is it one of the greatest coincidences ever? It’s not a coincidence, and no one is reading your mind, but those digital displays you are passing are equipped with cameras and sensors and linked together as part of a local advertising network, so when you pass the next one it just happens to be showing flights to the Bahamas for a long weekend vacation, with ‘many flights still available!”.
The information that you asked for on your phone was entered into a profile which was passed on to the advertising network. Given your location (within a few centimeters) can be quickly found, the Ai based advertising software found visuals for the resort and loaded it into the network. The sensor in the display alerted the camera to capture your image which it sent to the Ai for confirmation and when the AI agreed it was you, the display showed the advertisement for the resort. As you passed the display, the system loaded the air travel advertisement into the display a few paces down the sidewalk and waited for you to pass, following the same procedure as the previous one, and so on as you pass each display. We didn’t mention the life-size display on the side of the building that was your destination that showed you sitting on the veranda of your villa with a drink in your hand wearing a large straw hat while watching the sun slide closer to the horizon. It looked just like you, perhaps a few pounds thinner and a few years younger, but it was you.
Sounds like Science fiction, but its not. We have seen lots of parts of such systems, not quite all connected together, but it’s not that far off, as the hardware is certainly available, as is much of the software. Now all it takes is a few folks to put it all together and revolutionize the advertising industry with such an Ai-based system and we know it’s being worked on. How far away? Two years ago we might have said 10 years. A year ago, five years. Today a year or two if not sooner.
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