I Asked ChatGPT If Billionaires Should Even Get Social Security Checks — Here’s Its Take
Written by
Brooke Barley
Edited by
Zuri Anderson
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During the year of 2025, it’s projected that an average of nearly 69 million Americans per month will receive a Social Security benefit, totaling about $1.6 trillion in benefits, according to the Social Security Administration. For those over 65, it was reported that Social Security is, on average, 31% of their income. However, for billionaires over 65, this percentage goes down significantly.
It begs the question: Should billionaires still be receiving Social Security? Though large language models are not necessarily known for their expertise in these issues, they are so prevalent in our working culture that it’s interesting to check in and see how they report about wealth issues like this.
Here’s what ChatGPT specifically said in response.
Why They Should
ChatGPT laid out why billionaires do get Social Security. Anyone who’s an American citizen and paid in for 10 years qualifies for Social Security payments. ChatGPT pointed out that the program is “designed to be universal,” so anyone who qualifies should be able to collect.
The AI tool added that the benefits are capped, so even the wealthiest only get a certain amount. For 2025, the Social Security Administration reported that the limit on Social Security earnings is $62,160.
Why They Shouldn’t
ChatGPT said people are against billionaires getting Social Security because they don’t rely on it, while many others do, and could use a lot more. It also said that people feel the program looks bad if its goal is to protect seniors from poverty, but the richest people in the country still get checks. The amount is still not enough for many people, and if billionaires didn’t receive benefits, the amount could potentially go up.
What the Future Holds
ChatGPT said that some policymakers are focusing instead on taxing benefits from high-income earners, lifting the payroll tax cap and reducing top-end benefit formulas.
The bottom line, according to ChatGPT is that, “Billionaires don’t get Social Security because the system is broken — they get it because it was designed as an earned, universal benefit. The real debate isn’t whether they can get it, but whether the rules should evolve for a very different economy.”
ChatGPT’s Opinion
After putting forward the balanced take, GOBankingRates asked ChatGPT what it thought on the issue. Here was its response: “My take — billionaires technically qualify, but they shouldn’t meaningfully benefit from Social Security. The best fix is to let everyone qualify if they paid in, but claw back the benefit at tax time for extremely high incomes and lift or eliminate the payroll tax cap so the very wealthy contribute much more on the front end.”
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