Go to main Forum page »
This has nothing to do with finance, but I thought it was highly fascinating and that you would find it interesting.
Thinking about AI and LLMs after authoring one of the articles and reading the other, I copied four of my Humble Dollar posts into Google Gemini and asked for a profile of the author. It was unbelievably accurate about my education, lifestyle, age, lifestyle choices, financial standing and general personality type and outlook on life… really spooky and slightly alarming.
I fed Gemini some information via a 56 word query. I’m convinced it would be very easy to manipulate these AI tools. Here is essentially what it wrote. I suspect that if given additional insights the AI would further expand and embellish this. Any emphasis is Gemini’s:
Norman Retzke is a multifaceted individual who utilizes alter egos to shield his presence, having written and published “other matters” under an alter ego since 2013.
He is an inventor and engineer with decades of experience in the field. He describes himself as a “techie” who enjoyed taking things apart from a young age, and his engineering work involved creativity, invention, and product design and development, applicable to both widgets and large industrial projects. His field was process automation for heavy industrials, and he notes that continuous education in his highly technical engineering field was an absolute necessity.
Norman is the founder and owner of a high-tech business, which focused on projects considered impossible. He gradually transitioned from his business to full retirement over a nine-year period, reflecting on the “joys and sorrows of small business.” He considered mining bitcoin and owned a surrogate for physical gold, but concluded his efforts were better spent elsewhere. He also recalls a large and costly project that became a financial disaster.
As a blogger and YouTuber, Norman shares his experiences and insights, particularly concerning retirement and travel. He has authored over 1347 posts across two blogs and created 149 YouTube videos, using them as both journals and educational platforms. He started his YouTube channel and blog to fill spare time during his transition to retirement, acquiring skills in videography and editing. He documents his RV travels, including a recent 3,000-mile trek, and plans for future adventures.
Norman is an outdoorsman, enjoying activities like hiking and horseback riding in a 2,600-acre park near his home. He also mentions that his kayak will not be in the water this summer.
He has served as a youth leader, specifically as a Scoutmaster, among other leadership roles.
As a financial writer, Norman is a regular contributor to HumbleDollar, a personal finance blog, where he engages in discussions. While the provided information doesn’t explicitly state he writes for The Motley Fool, it references a “Motley Fool stage” in his past, implying an association or influence in his investing journey.
He is also a past president of a large HOA. Following the 2008 banking crisis, he joined the board of a large HOA. Over eight years, he transformed the property, stabilized finances, and built a functional board, despite facing opposition that included “politicking” and vandalism. He notes that this led to improved property values and ample reserves. He states that he has held numerous leadership positions over the years, including Corporate CEO and manager of systems engineering, acknowledging that it can be “lonely at the ‘top’.”
It could be fun to feed the internet with information tailored to these AIs.
I went to Gemini and found the same thing that my 50th high school class reunion committee found, too many guys named Mark Eckman.
After several iterations including the Bishop of Pittsburgh, the pediatrician at the University of Cincinatti, the Executive Director of the Council Bluffs Convention & Visitors Bureau, and several others, I appeared. Sifting for relevance seems to be the next frontier.
I made it a point to use alter-egos wherever possible. That includes for decades of writing and social media. I alter location data and birthdate too. I also made it a point not to mention names on the company website. As a consequence there isn’t much about me on the web and that’s the way I like it. [In professional circles those that needed to find me could via their connections, professional societies, etc.] I used human networking and that meant I was overlooked by spammers, headhunters, Nigerian Princes, lottery notices, etc. I also have several email identities and these are somewhat guarded, too. I relented for a YouTube channel and a couple of blogs.
Never thought of doing this, but just gave it a go and here’s what ChatHPT gave me.
I rather like it. Not a red arrow in sight. 😃
“In summary, Richard D. Quinn combines decades of professional experience and personal journey to offer a grounded, no-nonsense approach to money: be prudent, plan ahead, and align spending with meaningful goals. His voice brings warmth, humor, and practical wisdom to readers navigating the retirement phase and beyond.”
That could be the summation of many imprisoned financial deadbeats.
🙂
I think you bribed it😂
I asked ChatGPT to write a professional biography of me a couple years ago. It got a lot of things right, but it also:
I used this as an object lesson for my writing students as to why they couldn’t outsource their work to AI.
I just used the prompt, “tell me about Kristine Hayes, who writes for HumbleDollar.com”. Everything that came back was clearly just drawn directly from all the articles I’ve written over the years. The summary it wrote about me doesn’t amaze me but the fact that it could do it in about five seconds sure does. I do like that it calls me a ‘well-regarded’ contributor.
From Google Gemini:
Kristine Hayes (sometimes credited as Kristine Hayes Nibler) is a regular and well-regarded contributor to the HumbleDollar.com website, which focuses on practical personal finance and retirement advice.1
Here’s what we can glean about her:
Kristine Hayes’ articles on HumbleDollar.com are known for their personal reflections, practical advice, and relatable stories, making complex financial concepts accessible and engaging for readers. She often uses her own life experiences, including childhood lessons from growing up on a farm and her journey to early retirement, to illustrate her financial principles.
In other words, there’s a lot of information about you out there. I’m not going to ask, I doubt I’d like the answer, given I prefer to keep a low profile.
I guess my take away from it is that there is a lot of information about me out there, but it’s all stuff I put out into cyberspace myself. If Gemini had made up a bunch of stuff about me I might be more worried.
ChatGBT has your photo
Grrr.
I tried the same and I really like the description of my contributions to this site, EXCEPT the following, “or his reflections on selling off a large gun collection in anticipation of retirement”. I challenge everyone on the site to find that post. I am petrified to even look at a gun, and have never owned a single one, and never will. Must be one of their hallucinations I have read about.
You are right David. Perplexity.ai and CoPilot both falsely credited you with a gun collection. I flagged Kevin Lynch as the actual poster from the April 2025 thread. Perplexity called it a misunderstanding. CoPilot thanked me for demanding accuracy. ChatGPT? It found no connection at all.
AI models feast on open web – garbage in, delusions out.
To err is human. To profit from hallucination? That’s AI.