Personalizing everything doesn’t mean people feel seen

When a young employee was given options for a gift by her employer, she didn’t choose a candle, a journal, or a day at the spa. Instead, she chose to donate the funds to pay for cancer patients’ rides to their treatment centers. Her decision had a deeply personal connection: Her own mother was going through cancer treatment, and she knew how hard even simple logistics could become during an already difficult time. Would an algorithm have predicted her choice, or the emotional significance...