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I just asked ChatGPT for the median household income of Americans age 65-75 and 75- 80.
The answer was a bit of a shock. It said in part, “If you’re interested because you’re comparing this with your $x income, I can also show what percentile $x puts an 80+ American in, which is a very different comparison.”
The scary part is the $x it quoted was my income in 2025 and it knew my age group.
Where did it get the income? From my TurboTax filing, from something I wrote? I never wrote it in any public forum.
How does it know my age group? No doubt somewhere out there is my year of birth and of course, Starbucks gives me a free coffee on my birthday.
Not long ago I was curious what college professors might earn in a certain state. I got the answer and the reference was college payroll records.
It seems our money, our income, indeed our lives have few secrets these days, let alone privacy.
AI just uses the information that is available online.
Without anonymity there can be no privacy.
A few of my rules about online privacy:
Have no social media accounts.
Browse anomalously.
Shop anomalously, especially when comparison shopping.
Read news sites anomalously. Logging in and then reading news provides way too much information about you.
Log in only when and as needed for a specific purpose (such as a purchase); then log out as soon as finished (and close browser which is set to automatically clear browsing history and cookies at exit).
Do not switch sites while logged in, especially financial account sites. Log out and close browser in-between checking each account.
Use multiple email accounts for different purposes. Assume your email will be read by someone or something you did not send it to.
Do not trust the account privacy statements (especially at sites like ID.me) since these are not legally binding and can be changed at any time.
Use a privacy friendly browser, such as Firefox. Check browser’s privacy and security settings.
Dick, by using an AI at all, you’ve already signed a Faustian pact with the algorithmic gods. Still, it’s worth checking your ChatGPT settings, particularly the persistent memory function. Big Brother may not be listening, but he might well be taking notes.
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