DraftKings is using AI to behaviorally target chronic gamblers

DraftKings 正在利用人工智能对长期赌徒进行行为定向投放

Online sports betting company DraftKings is using AI to target customers who are most likely to place losing bets and respond to gambling promotions. This kind of targeting is a form of online behavioral advertising, which is when companies personalize the ads they show you based on the data they’ve collected about you. The more data a company has, the more personalized the ad can be. 在线体育博彩公司 DraftKings 正在利用人工智能，针对那些最有可能下注输钱并对赌博促销活动做出反应的客户。这种定向投放属于在线行为广告的一种形式，即公司根据收集到的用户数据来个性化展示广告。公司拥有的数据越多，广告的个性化程度就越高。

While DraftKings is using AI to supercharge the harmful effects of online behavioral advertising, EFF has long argued that all behavioral advertising should be banned. According to the New York Times, DraftKings is using its customers’ betting records to train a machine learning model to find losing gamblers. Once found, DraftKings sends these customers targeted advertising designed to lure them back to the site to place more bets—bets that DraftKings thinks will be losing ones. 虽然 DraftKings 利用人工智能加剧了在线行为广告的负面影响，但电子前哨基金会（EFF）长期以来一直主张应全面禁止所有行为广告。据《纽约时报》报道，DraftKings 正在利用客户的投注记录来训练机器学习模型，以识别那些经常输钱的赌徒。一旦锁定目标，DraftKings 就会向这些客户发送定向广告，诱导他们回到网站进行更多投注——而这些投注在 DraftKings 看来注定会输。

DraftKings has a business incentive to keep losing gamblers coming back to their site, because these are the users actually making DraftKings money. Unfortunately, those considered “problem gamblers” (people who repeatedly gamble despite harm to themselves, their finances, and their relationships) are highly likely to be targeted by this model. By re-engaging these individuals through targeted promotions aimed at keeping them on the platform, DraftKings is capitalizing on their vulnerability for profit instead of mitigating their risk. DraftKings 有商业动机让输钱的赌徒不断回到其网站，因为这些用户才是真正为 DraftKings 创造利润的人。不幸的是，那些被视为“问题赌徒”（即尽管赌博行为已对自己、财务状况和人际关系造成伤害，却仍反复赌博的人）极有可能成为该模型的目标。通过旨在将他们留在平台上的定向促销活动来重新吸引这些人，DraftKings 是在利用他们的脆弱性来牟利，而不是降低他们的风险。

Predatory online behavioral advertising isn’t new, but companies’ use of AI to process data and target customers has magnified its harms. Online behavioral advertising incentivizes the collection of vast quantities of data to power ad tech. Adding AI into the mix means that even more data is collected to train and refine models. Because AI operates as a black box, the humans building the models can rarely predict which data points are the most useful to the AI, driving them to continuously collect more data. 掠夺性的在线行为广告并非新鲜事，但公司利用人工智能处理数据和进行客户定向投放，放大了其危害。在线行为广告激励了对海量数据的收集，以驱动广告技术。引入人工智能意味着需要收集更多数据来训练和优化模型。由于人工智能以“黑箱”方式运行，构建模型的开发人员很难预测哪些数据点对人工智能最有用，这促使他们不断收集更多数据。

AI also allows companies to process enormous data sets much faster, and, as a result, supercharges the harms of online behavioral advertising. A direct consequence of online behavioral advertising is that it provides the data the surveillance industry needs to run. Data collected for targeted placement of ads is being sold to insurance companies, banks, and state and federal government law enforcement agencies such as CBP. 人工智能还使公司能够以更快的速度处理庞大的数据集，从而加剧了在线行为广告的危害。在线行为广告的一个直接后果是，它为监控行业提供了运行所需的数据。为定向投放广告而收集的数据正被出售给保险公司、银行以及美国海关及边境保卫局（CBP）等州和联邦政府执法机构。

DraftKings seems to be using solely “first party data” to target their ads, meaning that they’re using only the data they collect directly from their users and are not buying any additional data from third parties to fuel their machine learning model. This highlights how policy solutions that only limit third-party data sharing and selling would not be enough to prevent these predatory advertisements. Rather, policymakers must ban online behavioral ads. DraftKings 似乎仅使用“第一方数据”来进行广告定向，这意味着他们只使用直接从用户那里收集的数据，而没有从第三方购买任何额外数据来驱动其机器学习模型。这凸显了仅限制第三方数据共享和销售的政策方案不足以防止这些掠夺性广告。相反，决策者必须禁止在线行为广告。

What DraftKings is doing with their targeted promotions is just one example of how online behavioral advertising causes real harm to real people. But there are ways to take back control over your own data: EFF offers resources such as our Surveillance Self Defense project, along with other tips for how you can protect yourself on mobile apps and on websites. DraftKings 通过定向促销所做的事情，只是在线行为广告如何对真实个人造成真实伤害的一个例子。但我们有办法夺回对自己数据的控制权：EFF 提供了诸如“监控自卫”（Surveillance Self Defense）项目等资源，以及关于如何在移动应用和网站上保护自己的其他建议。

DraftKings’ use of AI to target losing gamblers illustrates how ad tech evolves and how companies find new ways to use our data against us. This is why EFF believes that all behavioral advertising should be banned. If companies can’t send personalized ads, they’ll have less incentive to collect the behavioral data powering them. DraftKings 利用人工智能针对输钱赌徒的行为，说明了广告技术是如何演变的，以及公司如何找到新的方式利用我们的数据来对付我们。这就是为什么 EFF 认为应该全面禁止所有行为广告。如果公司无法发送个性化广告，他们收集驱动这些广告的行为数据的动力就会减少。