Humans are really good at watching what works and copying it. The first video rental store spawned dozens of imitators in my area. Then came BlockBuster, wiping them out. Then came Netflix owning the market. Ditto Medium. In the beginning it was great, and people could make a living there. Until they couldn't. Now it's filled with people writing drivel in search of claps, and hopefully money. They write about how to make that money, even though they are not doing it. AI, in particular ChatGPT, is just a search engine that returns verbose, readable results without ads. It may, or may not, be accurate, since it has been trained on the Internet. In essence AI is the ultimate parrot. I think we are on the cusp of a sea change, where people realize that "free content", meaning ad-supported information designed to sell something (which may, in fact, be you) is worthless. Substack is currently the best way forward. If you have 1.5 million readers giving you a penny you can make a living, but it's a lottery with terrible odds. Get 2000 here on Substack, paying $5 a month, and you'll do ok. More to the point, when someone makes an investment in you, they will spread the word to others of like mind. Stay the course. Follow Seth Godin, if you don't already, and you will never be lost in the goo.
Thanks, Jim. Agree with all of the above. The only worry here is that this 'free content' is pushed harder by the recommendation algorithms because it hijacks our attention mechanisms (and thus creates engagement) and is easier to consume. Mindless scrolling can be hard to resist...
You are a creatively eloquent content presenter and that is something that AI will never be able to replicate. There are two kinds of success, inter-personal and social. Thanks for being personal.
Humans are really good at watching what works and copying it. The first video rental store spawned dozens of imitators in my area. Then came BlockBuster, wiping them out. Then came Netflix owning the market. Ditto Medium. In the beginning it was great, and people could make a living there. Until they couldn't. Now it's filled with people writing drivel in search of claps, and hopefully money. They write about how to make that money, even though they are not doing it. AI, in particular ChatGPT, is just a search engine that returns verbose, readable results without ads. It may, or may not, be accurate, since it has been trained on the Internet. In essence AI is the ultimate parrot. I think we are on the cusp of a sea change, where people realize that "free content", meaning ad-supported information designed to sell something (which may, in fact, be you) is worthless. Substack is currently the best way forward. If you have 1.5 million readers giving you a penny you can make a living, but it's a lottery with terrible odds. Get 2000 here on Substack, paying $5 a month, and you'll do ok. More to the point, when someone makes an investment in you, they will spread the word to others of like mind. Stay the course. Follow Seth Godin, if you don't already, and you will never be lost in the goo.
Thanks, Jim. Agree with all of the above. The only worry here is that this 'free content' is pushed harder by the recommendation algorithms because it hijacks our attention mechanisms (and thus creates engagement) and is easier to consume. Mindless scrolling can be hard to resist...
You are a creatively eloquent content presenter and that is something that AI will never be able to replicate. There are two kinds of success, inter-personal and social. Thanks for being personal.
Thank you so much, Geoff. What a wonderful compliment!