I've been using Co-Star for like 2 years now and honestly the notifications make me uncomfortable sometimes, like they come up right when I'm dealing with stuff. So I'm wondering if it's just a coincidence or if there's actually something to it, or if it's just that the AI is profiling us like on Instagram.
The guys above you are right about the confirmation bias thing, but what they're missing is that Co-Star (and the other horoscope apps) know exactly how much time you spend in them and when you use them, so the app can actually time its notifications to send them to you when you're most vulnerable and likely to check 📱 It's not astrological magic, it's just basic profiling like Instagram but with a "spiritual" angle - they know you're gonna believe something more if it hits when you already have a doubt in your head. The real trap is the more you're convinced it's real, the more you're gonna pay attention to the notifications that match and ignore the ones that don't fit 😅
How often do you use the app per day, like do you check it regularly? There's your answer - it's just probability mixed with confirmation bias. The Co-Star algorithm throws vague, generic stuff at you (like "watch out for conflicts" or "time of transition"), and your brain connects it to whatever you're dealing with right now because you naturally notice what matches your current state. It's not psychological profiling, it's just that when you're reading multiple notifications a day for two years, obviously some of them are gonna hit at exactly the right moment.
It's not really an algorithm in the "artificial intelligence" sense - it's just generic content we all get, but your brain matches it with whatever's on your mind at the moment because you're already thinking about your problems. If you weren't checking the app regularly you'd never see these "magical" notifications, so yeah it's pure confirmation bias. The thing is Co-Star does profile your usage pretty heavily like any other app (when you open it, your clicks, etc) to bombard you with notifications at the times you're most likely to open it, so it's just calculated timing, not astrology.
The creepy part is that the app collects data on you - when you open it, how long you stay on it, your clicks, possibly your location - and it can send you notifications at times when you're most active or stressed. That creates the illusion of some magical relevance when really it's just calculated timing + vague enough text to match literally any situation. I had this super invasive weather app that would spam me with alerts right when I was on my phone thinking about rain, and I realized I was thinking about it *precisely* because I'd opened the app ten minutes before. It's totally circular.
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