Options for Turning AI into Income

I’ve been using generative AI for many years, mostly in experiments.

I used it for generating images, copy, and superficial analytics. I used it as a tool for helping with Excel formulas and VBA scripts. I even used it for analyzing leases and other legal documents. I’m a huge fan of and cheerleader for responsible, transparent artificial intelligence.

That said, I often struggle to decide whether to use my tools to generate income or just focus on continually improving my own productivity. For example, should I open my article-writing bot to produce content for others, or focus only on creating my own content?

Let’s explore the alternatives. I’ll use the article bot as the example for this post, but the same principles could apply to underwriting or asset management services.

The Challenge

While software development is probably the top overall use, I would guess that content creation is the top consumer use for generative AI today. I only make this assessment based on how much energy the major chatbots put into improving these workflows. Even though AI-assisted search is advancing rapidly, I still think there’s a big gap between the top two uses and all the others.

Even though people are using AI to generate content in massive quantities, not all of it is coming out the same quality. From what I can tell, known intent is the primary driver of this sub-standard quality.

Most people using AI just want to accomplish what they perceive as a simple, though tedious, task. Writing for reports, blogs, or website copy is often considered subordinate to their “real” jobs. It’s a hassle that they’re more than happy to hand off to a machine.

The problem is that everyone is now using one of a handful of models, which produce very similar content. It’s littered with emojis, emdashes, perfection, and other telltale signs of AI-generated content. Some take an extra step of polishing the content, but most are happy to ship with little to no revision.

People who actually make purchases are increasingly seeking authenticity.

They see through the AI slop and want to connect with real people. However, understanding that the world is changing, they are happy to interact with a machine, so long as it isn’t masquerading as a human.

My mission in developing the writing bot was to generate high-quality content that won’t be flagged as AI-generated. I’m not looking to trick anyone. I just wanted to push the limit of what’s possible with a thoughtful system design approach.

Sell the Service

Productivity is a national imperative.

The United States is standing at the precipice of many great challenges. Baby boomers are aging, developing countries are increasingly competitive, and debts are mounting. Our country’s productive capacity must grow exponentially to meet increasing macroeconomic demands.

While few individuals and companies see this as an imperative for operating their lives and businesses, many see the need to continually cut costs while maintaining quality. That’s why they’re turning to AI to reduce marketing and analytical costs.

A quick search on Fiverr brings up various copywriting services, ranging from $15 to $1,500, with a nice median around $250 for high-converting content.

At that price point, I would just need to secure four engagements to generate $1,000 per month. That’s just one per week. Given that the writing bot will do most of the heavy lifting, it easily meets my $500/hour threshold.

Build a Business with It

The alternative to selling the service is to use my new capability to build a business (or a few). Ranking on Google is still the gold standard, but AI-assisted search is gaining popularity. Generating organic search leads is getting harder, and knowing how to do it well will create a solid moat.

I know the competition because I see it daily. They don’t yet fully understand what it takes to “rank” in AI search. They don’t know how to get references because they’re not focused on it. They’re too busy doing their “real” job.

Understanding that dynamic, we probably have 3-5 years of runway with little competition.

The people who know how to write for AI search can build a strong foundation that separates them from the competition even beyond the interim period. For that reason, I believe it may make more sense to focus on owned channels vs. selling to others.

The big question then becomes, what business to build?

While I started with the RPO concept, I’m not sure this will allow me to hit $500/hour in residual income within the next two years. The juice may not be worth the squeeze. Still, I believe the ecosystem of RPO, accounting, sales enablement, marketing, and other real estate-related services may combine to hit it.

What would you do?