What Amazon's customer profiles got right — and hilariously wrong — about us

Amazon thinks Thomas Gryta really likes beef jerky. He doesn't really know why.

That was just one of the messages that blew up Business Insider's Slack on Wednesday morning after I reported that people online were having a field day looking up their own Amazon "About You" page. People noticed the shopping profiles making bizarre — sometimes unflattering — judgments, like telling one Amazon user they have "flat buttocks" or another that their husband has "skinny legs."

The e-commerce giant launched About You in May. The page acts a bit like a customer dossier, pulling information from customers' marketplace searches, purchase histories, saved lists, product reviews, and conversations with Amazon's Alexa for Shopping assistant. Amazon says the goal is to connect customers with products that better fit their needs, and shoppers can update or remove details from the profile.

Per our own Slack channels, we found that Amazon typically made 30 to 45-ish observations for each subject. Those inferences frequently got the transactions right, but the human conclusions were sometimes a little off.

For Taylor Rains, a partnership editor, Amazon got a little personal about her taste in movie actors.

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Still, the majority of Amazon's judgments from our very unscientific newsroom poll proved correct.

Deputy executive editor Taylor Berman said his account is optimized for "bathroom safety," a finding likely tied to his need for a shower chair after he tore his Achilles tendon last May (he asked me to make sure readers knew that his other purchases were "very cool").

Another editor, who has young kids, said Amazon reported that she frequently buys waterproof sheets.

Debbie Strong, deputy executive editor, said the system clocked her as a "boy mom" after it said she prefers Hot Wheels toy cars.

Amazon's crystal ball was less good at deciphering family size. Several people said their About You page incorrectly identified how many kids they had. Some relationship specifics were off too. It incorrectly said one editor had a girlfriend named "Barry."

Do you have a funny story or screenshot to share from your Amazon "About You" page? Send it to bshimkus@insider.com and we might include it in an upcoming story!