What The Tech: What does artificial intelligence really know about you?
BY JAMEY TUCKER, Consumer Technology Reporter
What Does AI Really Know About You? The Truth Behind the Viral Caricature Trend
You’ve seen the viral trend all over social media: people are asking AI, specifically tools like ChatGPT, to create a cartoon caricature of them based on “what it knows.” Some of the results are incredibly specific, diving into jobs, hobbies, and even family details. It makes you stop and
wonder: does artificial intelligence actually know that much about you?
The short answer: not exactly. Here is what I found out:
It’s Not Mind-Reading—It’s Following Directions
If you’ve seen a caricature that feels almost too personal, including all of a friend’s jobs, their favorite sports team, their kids, or their partner, it’s most likely they’ve added those details to the AI prompt.
It’s important to understand this isn’t AI reading your mind. It’s AI following directions, and the details are only as good as the information you and your
friends have provided.
I tried this trend myself. I first asked ChatGPT to create my caricature based on what it knew. It went back a few weeks and knew I’d been asking about covering CES in Las Vegas.
It didn’t include additional details even though I uploaded a photo from the event. The result was fine (apart from a ridiculously small laptop) but it wasn’t nearly as detailed as what others were sharing.
When I “interviewed” the AI about how it works, it confirmed it starts vague. I then asked the specific question: What do you know about me?
Based on past chats, it knew:
● My job.
● My trip to Ireland to interview people in the town where no kids have phones.
● My recent interest in covering CES in Las Vegas.
● I drive a truck (because I’d previously asked about repairing a broken part).
The moment I tried again, and asked for a caricature based on EVERYTHING it knew about me, the details dramatically improved.
The More You Volunteer, The More Personal It Gets
This is the key takeaway: AI fills in the blanks using patterns. The more personal information you feed the tool, the more it has to work with, and the more “personal” the resulting caricature feels.
f the photo in the caricature looks like the person posting it, it’s because they’ve uploaded a profile photo.
In some cases, friends of mine reported that ChatGPT said it couldn’t create a caricature because it didn’t know enough about them. Other people simply added details to their prompt to make the cartoon more fun.
Is the Trend Safe?
Yes, as long as you treat the interaction like a public conversation.
● Avoid sharing private, sensitive details.
● Remember that these tools are designed to be fun and conversational.
● Just remember the simple rule: The more you tell these tools about yourself, the more they have to work with.
As for the trend itself, it’s proving incredibly popular. In fact, the surge in traffic due to social media trends like this can cause slowdowns. The company behind ChatGPT has even noted recent outages that can happen when traffic spikes.
That’s the truth about what AI knows, it’s mostly what you’ve taught it!
