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My first home computer was a Comodore 64. Let us not dwell on when that was in terms of the year. Suffice it to say that it was long ago. My first PC when I was employed was an IBM PC with 2 5 1/4’ floppy drives, and no hard drive. It cost the company maybe $5500. I have owned many PCs since then. So, even though I clearly remember using old tech like wired phones, record players, etc I have tried to keep current with tech as it has evolved into the present day.
I think that, in general, being an early adopter of new tech can be a punishing experience. If you bought a top end Tesla for north of $70k and then saw the mfg lower the price several times reducing the value of your car you will understand. Likewise recent offerings of headsets that let you experience a new visual reality have all had a lot of shortcomings. Even being an early adopter of an update to your smart phone operating system can hurt as they often have bugs. So, I tend to let others rush in see if they can outrun the lion.
My oldest son left today after a wonderful one week visit. He had been praising the use of ChatGpt on his iPhone. He was recommending that I try it. Of course, Apple has been incorporating some features of AI into their operating system, and Google search does the same thing showing an AI summary when you do a search on Safari. But my son was telling me that to get the full experience, I needed to get and use an AI app such as ChatGpt.
So, this morning, while he is waiting for his flight at the airport, we have been texting about this topic. My very first question for him was how did he set up the privacy settings on the app? Did he allow it to track his location? Was he sharing his usage to allow the ChatGpt model to improve? Was he allowing it to customize itself to relate better to himself? Did he allow it to remember all of his interactions with the app? Did he open a ChatGpt account, or was he using without an account? These are all questions that anyone who is using any app on a smartphone should be asking themselves. And, they are some of the settings choices that you can make within the app. If you value your privacy, you must be proactive.
After this discussion, and before downloading the app, I looked at a few YouTube videos on this subject. They all emphasized not sharing things like your personal financial data, health information, account numbers, login credentials, telephone numbers, addresses, relative names etc, etc. with the AI.
It is unfortunate that we live in a perverse world in which the most successful businesses rely on a business model that needs to shred your privacy to send you advertising. But, the world is what it is. All we can do is understand this environment and be tough minded about maintaining our privacy…..
Those “perverse” business models are funded in large part by using and selling our personal information. Considering how AI uses every bit of data it scrapes, it should be expected it will so with mine. This is why I use multiple, unrelated false identities. Until recently there was very little about me on the WWW and this was by intent. As for putting personal information on a smartphone and using it to access bank and credit cards, or Amazon, etc. We avoid that. We don’t even use campground and RV site logins, preferring a Verizon jetpack and PC. As for being on the “leading edge” I’ve long referred to it as “the bleeding edge”.
Another Commodore 64 user here, then on to an Apple IIC! Because of multiple data breaches over the years, I always operate under the assumption that all of my personal information is already out there somewhere. Credit locks/freezes, identity theft monitoring, malware blocking, and being careful about selecting links/QR codes is my best defense.
Good post stealea99. My MIL had a Comodore 64. My sons and their cousins fondly remember the game they played on it. Our first home PC was an Apple IIGS. I think it cost $2K in the late 80s.
I have played with the web version of ChatGPT on my laptop. Like Winton I’m not sure of the use case for my iPhone. I hate typing on my phone anyway. Your privacy recommendations are spot on. thanks
One thing you can do is to just use the Web browser version. You also don’t have to log in to ask questions (even though it could be helpful for tracking). Of course, best not to share any PII.