Have you read "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism"? I would say that your observations - tho they frustrate you - are very much inline with what the book proposes.
In short, and paraphrased a bit to speak to your context, you're no longer buying impressions / clicks in the traditional transactional sense. Instead you're buying the influence on behavior within the broader context of what these networks know about the individuals within a market, but also what other influence these networks have accrued on the individuals.
It's a blackbox be because it's no longer a simple transaction, but also because the AI (?) is in a broader sense exerting proactive influences. Nudges on behavior that add up and ideally can not only be predicted but also created.
The book is long and deep, but it will also change how you view the world and Big Tech.
You don't, but that's what's being sold. Not the old transaction, but instead the boarder awareness from the network of the market to create and deliver an audience.
Put another way, the book would argue that with the traditional way "relevance" was a reactive guess. Going forward the ability to create the desired behaviour is less of a guess and more predictable.
In short, and paraphrased a bit to speak to your context, you're no longer buying impressions / clicks in the traditional transactional sense. Instead you're buying the influence on behavior within the broader context of what these networks know about the individuals within a market, but also what other influence these networks have accrued on the individuals.
It's a blackbox be because it's no longer a simple transaction, but also because the AI (?) is in a broader sense exerting proactive influences. Nudges on behavior that add up and ideally can not only be predicted but also created.
The book is long and deep, but it will also change how you view the world and Big Tech.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Surveillance_Capi...