Google Remembers Everything. We Need To Remember Why.

Google’s ‘Loretta’ super Bowl ad had millions of people reaching for tissues and marveling at a new way technology can make our lives better. An elderly man, let’s call him George, is coping with memory loss and asks Google ot help him remember things about his wife. ‘Remember Loretta loved going to Alaska.’ ‘Remember Loretta loved scallops.’ Then, after his conversation with Google, we (and presumably George’s connected device) hear him take his dog outside.

Through this brief exchange, Google learned a lot about George.

• He was married but his wife is likely passed
• He likes visiting Alaska
• He owns a dog
• His wife liked scallops

The ad implies that Google can repeat these facts back to him at any moment, to help George recall things important to him.

But Google does not exist to help elderly people remember things. It does not exist to make people’s lives better. Google is not a charity. It is a massively successfully business worth just over one trillion dollars, more than the total annual economic output of Saudi Arabia, more than all but 16 nations on earth.

Google does not need to apologize for its success. It should be celebrated as a triumph of entrepreneurship and innovation. But, we must also not ignore how Google makes its billions.

Google exists to sell people stuff. More precisely, it exists to sell highly targeted ads to companies who want to sell you stuff. Google is very very good at this because they have amassed a horde of personal data unlike anything the world has ever seen.

I downloaded all the data Google has captured about me, and the total was around 350GB, the equivalent of over three hundred million pages of text — on just one person! Web site visits, searches, every place i drove my car last week, every app on my phone, things Google assistant heard me say. And that file is still growing.

Everything George just told Google has been added to his file. That pile of data exists so that Google can help companies sell stuff to George. This is not inherently bad. Of course Google can make life better with easy access to information. And individuals still have the power to choose where they spend their money and time.

Maybe George will see ads for an Alaskan cruise. Maybe he will see an ad for a restaurant in town with great scallops. Maybe he’ll see an ad for dog toys.

But, what if George does not want to be constantly reminded of a lost loved one? What if he cries whenever he thinks about Alaska? What if he cannot afford to eat out, and fancy restaurant ads discourage him? What if an ad for dog products pull at his heartstrings and convinces him to spend more money than he should?

Google does not exist to make George’s life better. Google exists to put as much of George’s money as possible into the pockets of Google’s clients.

Google remembers everything. We just need to remember why.