> It's very hard to do good recommendations -- even for Amazon/Goodreads! -- without people who care about what they're recommending.
But is that a property of the recommendations or of the circumstances under which they are received?
It's possible that the quality of a recommendation generated by an AI based on psychological profiles is superior, so that if it was followed, the book would be enjoyed. But it's not being followed, because it appears too unlikely and the reader doesn't trust the AI.
If that's true, the competitive advantage of the physical interaction would not actually be the recommendations themselves, but the atmosphere it creates which makes readers susceptible to listening to them.
That is not how AI works and that is not what it is designed to do. AI doesn't understand you, nor does it care to - it just puts you into a bucket and recommends a set of products people in that bucket are statistically more likely to buy and keep buying, regardless of their quality. It's only if you land in a bucket with people who only buy good stuff that you get recommended good stuff. If you even get clipped by an edge of one of the ginormous junk buckets - it's over - junk central for you.
Now, some people, maybe most even, will try and do the same to you. But not all, and store owner can optimize for those who won't.
But is that a property of the recommendations or of the circumstances under which they are received?
It's possible that the quality of a recommendation generated by an AI based on psychological profiles is superior, so that if it was followed, the book would be enjoyed. But it's not being followed, because it appears too unlikely and the reader doesn't trust the AI.
If that's true, the competitive advantage of the physical interaction would not actually be the recommendations themselves, but the atmosphere it creates which makes readers susceptible to listening to them.