18M+ people saw him chat with AI like it was his girlfriend
His blunder is your opportunity to bulletproof your privacy with an easy, low cost fix
A photo went viral this week on X that captured a man on a subway having a private chat with ChatGPT. Except it wasn’t private.
The conversation was emotional, even affectionate, included a heart emoji and the kind of language you might see in a romantic text exchange. Only this wasn’t with a person. It was with an AI.
Someone standing nearby saw his screen, snapped a photo, and posted it online.
More than 18 million people saw it.
The reaction? Rough, as to be expected on X. The replies mocked his vulnerability, his use of emojis, and the perceived weirdness of getting emotionally close with a chatbot. But what stood out most to us wasn’t the use of AI. It was the lack of something else:
He didn’t have a privacy screen.
This could have been prevented with a $15 fix
The day before this post blew up, we made a note on Substack about something we observed on a recent flight: out of 100 or so passengers using laptops, phones and tablets, not one had a privacy screen. It struck us as unnecessarily risky. Airplanes are shoulder-surfing heaven: cramped, crowded, and full of wandering eyes.
The timing of our post now feels uncanny.
And back in February, we wrote an entire post explaining why privacy screens are one of the most underrated tools in personal privacy and security. They're inexpensive, easy to install, and incredibly effective at keeping your screen visible only to you. Here’s that original post, if you missed it:
92% of People Skip This Easy Privacy Protection — Are You One of Them?
Visual hacking happens more often than you might think. Whether you’re working from a coffee shop, on a plane, or even in the office, your screen is fair game for wandering eyes.
This latest viral moment unintentionally proves our point.
The man on the subway wasn’t doing anything illegal or even dangerous. But his screen told a story he probably never intended to share. One stranger saw it. One photo was all it took. And now he’s internet-famous, for all the wrong reasons.
Physical privacy still matters
When we talk about privacy, we tend to focus on the digital: data tracking, app permissions, surveillance capitalism, and cloud breaches. But there’s still real value in protecting what’s physically in front of you.
A privacy screen isn’t designed to stop hackers. But it will stop the person next to you on a plane, train, or waiting room from seeing your:
Emails
Banking app
Health records
Personal conversations
It helps you stay in control of who sees what, and when. That’s what privacy is really about.
And from a privacy ROI perspective, this is a no-brainer. For the price of lunch, you reduce the chance of digital embarrassment, data leakage, and nosy neighbors dramatically.
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Attacking the messenger
One interesting note here.
We jumped into the conversation on X about the viral photo, to try and steer things in a privacy focused direction. Specifically, we noted that the guy should of used a privacy screen. Seems obvious that would have saved him from being the laughingstock of the internet for the day.
Interestingly, some people took issue with our comment!
Regular readers know we’re big fans of learning from the mistakes of others (not just your own mistakes). It’s a cost free way to level up a skillset. And that’s exactly what this situation was. But somehow, some people took the wrong lesson.
In no world would we (or anyone, really) say it’s okay for people to shoulder surf your devices. Maybe people will say you assume the risk in public, but that doesn’t mean you approve of the behavior. Taking photos of someone’s phone screen is even worse. It’s terrible behavior. Nobody would say that’s okay.
We live in the real world though where that stuff can and does happen. And if you don’t take precautions, you are, to be blunt, foolish. Noting that this guy should’ve taken better precautions isn’t controversial.
We’re not trying to say “we told you so”… but we did call this
Our goal at Secrets of Privacy isn’t to predict viral moments (though apparently we can).
It’s to help you avoid becoming one.
Whether you’re a high-risk individual or just someone who values a little piece of mind, a privacy screen is one of the easiest and most effective steps you can take. If you already use one, you know the difference. If you haven’t yet, this might be the nudge you need.
Browse Amazon’s wide selection of mobile phone privacy screens here.
The guy on the subway didn’t do anything wrong. But he lacked a simple layer of protection that could’ve spared him millions of eyeballs and a thousand sarcastic comments.
Next time you travel (or open a device in public) ask yourself: Who can see my screen right now?
If the answer is “anyone,” then now’s the perfect time to fix that.
💥 P.S. If you found this post helpful, please restack it and share it with your friends, family and audience.
This helps spread the words and keeps us writing content that will help you bolster your privacy and become a harder target.
Looking for help with a privacy issue or privacy concern? Chances are we’ve covered it already or will soon. Follow us on X and LinkedIn for updates on this topic and other internet privacy related topics.
Disclaimer: None of the above is to be deemed legal advice of any kind. These are *opinions* written by a privacy attorney with years of working for, with and against Big Tech and Big Data. And this post is for informational purposes only and is not intended for use in furtherance of any unlawful activity.
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I uploaded the photo to Grok to see if AI could read the screen. Here is the result...
The text on the screen is partially visible, but it appears to be a conversation. The readable parts include:
"Hey, how are you today?"
"I'm doing great, thanks for asking! How about you?"
"Not bad, just chilling on the subway."
The rest of the text is not fully clear due to the angle and lighting.
You should be able to zoom in here to read it. It's so over the top we're starting to think it was staged. Still a good lesson even if that's the case.
https://x.com/YedIin/status/1929890360471204056/photo/1