DraftKings Built an AI Model to Target Profitable Losers, Report Claims
If you’ve ever used DraftKings, you’ve probably noticed that the company is prone to emailing users, and—if they have the mobile app—sending push notifications. Redditors have described these as difficult to turn off. According to the Times’ investigation, in 2023, DraftKings built a model designed to score users on “elasticity.” On its face, this is an economic concept that doesn’t relate directly to traits like problem gambling.
- ▪If you’ve ever used DraftKings, you’ve probably noticed that the company is prone to emailing users, and—if they have the mobile app—sending push notifications.
- ▪Redditors have described these as difficult to turn off.
- ▪According to the Times’ investigation, in 2023, DraftKings built a model designed to score users on “elasticity.” On its face, this is an economic concept that doesn’t relate directly to traits like problem gambling.
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| Original publisher | Gizmodo |
| Canonical URL | https://gizmodo.com/draftkings-built-an-ai-model-to-target-profitable-losers-report-claims-2000814536 |
| Publication time | Mon, 21 Sep 2026 09:00:33 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-09-21T09:03:48.234Z |
| Last seen | 2026-09-21T09:03:48.234Z |
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| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
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| Cluster | yKoT55XoHnVG · 1 stories |
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Basis: Derived from the published RSS/Atom feed. Contact: [email protected]. Reviewed: 2026-07-24.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
If you’ve ever used DraftKings, you’ve probably noticed that the company is prone to emailing users, and—if they have the mobile app—sending push notifications. Redditors have described these as difficult to turn off. A report from the New York Times, based on interviews with over 40 former DraftKings employees, and apparently a look at some of the company’s internal documents, has some possible insight about what DraftKings is supposedly up to: using machine learning to target the valuable resource commonly known as “losers.” One ex-DraftKings employee who went on the record to the Times, Jayden Butts, said his basic task was to apply an AI model that evaluated the worth of users based on the following question: “Is this person going to give us more than we’re giving them?” If the answer…
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