Is your AI career advice quoting starting pay or an occupation's median?

An AI career assistant can make retraining look affordable by quoting a salary you may not earn when you start. Before comparing course fees with future income, ask whose pay the number describes. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics defines an occupation's median wage as the midpoint of workers' pay: half earn more, half less. It is not a starting-pay estimate. Its Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics data describe straight-time gross pay, not the money left after tax; overtime premiums and employer benefit costs are excluded. I'd ask the assistant to show the occupation, location, reference date and whether it used a mean or median, with the original table. Then put that beside advertised pay for roles you could actually apply for after the course. Keep the two figures separate rather than relabel a national midpoint as your likely first offer. For an hourly job, check the hours too. BLS converts between hourly and annual wages using a standard 2,080-hour year for most occupations. A part-time offer does not promise that year's income. A lower starting offer might still make the change worthwhile. You deserve to see it before spending your savings on training.