The AI is taking our jerbs thread

[danlightbulb]

Then you've failed at the first hurdle of understanding what ChatGPT does

Which is what Im asking about isn't it? Can you direct me to some literature which will help me understand?

My first posts in this thread stated openly: "Im not really getting it".

 

[Ayahuasca]

I can't point you to any literature explaining how ChatGPT specifically will generate an income for you personally.

As for seeing how others are using other models and tools to earn more money, there is already some evidence of that in this thread.

If you've been following the thread, I think it's clear that the majority of those benefiting from this financially (either directly or indirectly) are already well-established in a field or have been using it already for years.

So, no, it isn't some scheme that's going to generate you income quickly (or even earn you any money at all). If you're starting from scratch, as it sounds like you are, you'll need to set aside time to think about how it could benefit you financially. Time is ticking though. You're already £20 down and you could have spent that time earning money

 

[danlightbulb]

So, no, it isn't some scheme that's going to generate you income quickly (or even earn you any money at all). If you're starting from scratch, as it sounds like you are, you'll need to set aside time to think about how it could benefit you financially

That isn't what various YouTube videos say. They say there is an 'AI goldrush' coming. But I haven't been able to pinpoint anything actually definitive from those. It's helping people generate content (something I have no interest in).

I get the same problem when I listen to people like DOAC or that Australian bloke. They invest in all these businesses but to me it's not clear what value they actually drive or how they are making money.

I'm not sure where to start on thinking how I could set something up with these tools.

You're already £20 down and you could have spent that time earning money

Ah that was specifically to help me with my current uni assignment, I'll be cancelling it shortly unless I can find another use which covers the subscription.

 

[Ayahuasca]

That isn't what various YouTube videos say. They say there is an 'AI goldrush' coming. But I haven't been able to pinpoint anything actually definitive from those. It's helping people generate content (something I have no interest in).

I get the same problem when I listen to people like DOAC or that Australian bloke. They invest in all these businesses but to me it's not clear what value they actually drive or how they are making money.

Of course, YouTube is full of clickbait videos about the magic of AI, but I've already suggested getting out of the hustle culture crap. The same applies to anything that's new or in vogue. If I go on there now and search for a new cryptocurrency, for example, I'll get similar results.

It's impossible to point you in the right direction when your goal is so vague, i.e. you just want to be able to make money from it with what sounds like minimal effort.

I'm not sure where to start on thinking how I could set something up with these tools.

That's the actual problem. Before you start thinking about how AI is going to make you money, you need to first start pondering some issue you can solve or gap you can fill. It could be something that current AI models and tools can't help you with at all, or it could be something that would get you much closer to your goal much faster.

Ah that was specifically to help me with my current uni assignment, I'll be cancelling it shortly unless I can find another use which covers the subscription.

Yes, but that money has now gone. It could have been used to pay the bills.

 

[danlightbulb]

That's the actual problem. Before you start thinking about how AI is going to make you money, you need to first start pondering some issue you can solve or gap you can fill. It could be something that current AI models and tools can't help you with at all, or it could be something that would get you much closer to your goal much faster.

Im not really interested in using AI to solve some wider issues or fill a gap in the market. I just want to use it 'on the side' as it were, to do something which generates some money. Like when I was crypto mining or matched betting.

Both of those required effort and capital from me, so putting in personal effort isn't the issue. But crucially those activities didn't rely on working with others or delivering some sort of service to others.

 

[mid_gen]

Even in mid_gen's example where AI assistants are effective due to the limited scope, complexity and process inefficiencies etc., that doesn't necessarily mean that there needs to be a reduction in workforce. If mid_gen maintained the same team size and they could all leverage AI assistants to boost productivity, then the team could release software faster, or develop software of higher complexity , or develop completely new products in parallel.

Increasing the value that a software developer can deliver opens up many new possibilities and can ultimately increase the demand for software engineers.The important aspect about technology is there isn't a fixed demand, but essentially infinite demand limited by imagination and budgets. Reducing costs will permit many new products.

On mid_gens case, maybe he mets go 4 engineers but they are now all empowered to own their projects with AI assistants supporting the coding, or they join larger enterprises that are heavily investing in next generation projects that are only now becoming feasible.

It's a brave assumption to make, thinking that enhanced productivity is going to simply result in more work appearing out of thin air, I think what will happen in the real world is that many businesses will see that they can make the same revenues, with lower costs, and their eyes will light up with dollar signs, and people will be let go.

The increased productivity is a boon personally. I've had various open source projects on the go for years which are quite popular, but I've never had the time to get half the stuff done I've wanted to. Using Claude has meant that in those small number of hours I can dedicate to personal projects, I can get far more stuff done, and managed to get a major release out of one of my plugins which I'd not managed for a long time.

 

[mid_gen]

Im not really interested in using AI to solve some wider issues or fill a gap in the market. I just want to use it 'on the side' as it were, to do something which generates some money. Like when I was crypto mining or matched betting.

Both of those required effort and capital from me, so putting in effort isn't the issue. But crucially those activities didn't rely on working with others or delivering some sort of service to others.

AI isn't going to make money for you like mining crypto or matched betting. It's just a tool, it doesn't inherently generate revenue. Although simply talking about it with a few people I've had several companies and a book publisher approaching me about consulting/authoring books on the subject.

The most straightforward way to make money would probably be to build websites with affiliate marketing links, with AI slop articles written by LLMs. Automate the process and it'll pretty much take care of itself, but it would take a significant investment in time and effort to get it working....and you'll have to try and sleep at night knowing you're contributing to the en****tification of the internet.

 

[Ayahuasca]

Indeed, and crypto is a bit of a hindsight thing, plenty bought in at the wrong time etc where it took them over a year not just months to earn their capital back and it's pretty much dead now.

Matched betting another once and your done sort of thing once the new account offers dry up.

I don't understand how anyone could think that ChatGPT is a product that you can just buy and then it will generate income for you without much input. If you had spent two minutes playing around with the free version or researching what the paid model offers, you would have realised that.

 

[danlightbulb]

AI isn't going to make money for you like mining crypto or matched betting. It's just a tool, it doesn't inherently generate revenue. Although simply talking about it with a few people I've had several companies and a book publisher approaching me about consulting/authoring books on the subject.

The most straightforward way to make money would probably be to build websites with affiliate marketing links, with AI slop articles written by LLMs. Automate the process and it'll pretty much take care of itself, but it would take a significant investment in time and effort to get it working....and you'll have to try and sleep at night knowing you're contributing to the en****tification of the internet.

I understand that its a tool to help do something I could not do myself. So with matched betting, after the first few weeks I signed up to a website which provided tools to help with the process. I still needed to do the work.

With mining, obviously I still needed to buy the hardware and set up the accounts. But there were tools and websites to help work through that process and set things up.

So I recognise that AI is just a tool. But a tool for what? What is 'the thing' that I can do to make money, and that I can get AI to do for me? I know you provided an example there, I don't really understand it what it is or how it makes money.

See the thing is that aside from watching a few youtube channels I like, I don't really consume tat. I don't buy tat and I don't read tat. So when it comes to this marketing/content creation stuff Im quite insensitive to it all.

 

[mid_gen]

I understand that its a tool to help do something I could not do myself. So with matched betting, after the first few weeks I signed up to a website which provided tools to help with the process. I still needed to do the work.

With mining, obviously I still needed to buy the hardware and set up the accounts. But there were tools and websites to help work through that process and set things up.

So I recognise that AI is just a tool. But a tool for what? What is 'the thing' that I can do to make money, and that I can get AI to do for me? I know you provided an example there, I don't really understand it what it is or how it makes money.

See the thing is that aside from watching a few youtube channels I like, I don't really consume tat. I don't buy tat and I don't read tat. So when it comes to this marketing/content creation stuff Im quite insensitive to it all.

Matched betting lets you exploit betting company signon offers to make money.
Mining crypto generate tokens that you can exchange for money.
AI does not intrinsically generate money for you, or anything that you can exchange for money. It's just a tool.

It's like asking why you can't figure out how to make money with a pencil.

 

[danlightbulb]

Matched betting lets you exploit betting company signon offers to make money.
Mining crypto generate tokens that you can exchange for money.
AI does not intrinsically generate money for you, or anything that you can exchange for money. It's just a tool.

It's like asking why you can't figure out how to make money with a pencil.

Absolutely agree but AI allows things to be done to make money that I otherwise wouldn't have the skills or time to do manually?

 

[D.P.]

Which is what Im asking about isn't it? Can you direct me to some literature which will help me understand?

My first posts in this thread stated openly: "Im not really getting it".

ChatGPT is nothing more than when you are typing on your phone and your keyboard suggests some words, and then you pick one at random, and then keep clicking the next predicted word.
It just does it a lot better than your phone, to the extent it has memorized half the internet and can make **** coherent sequences of words where most of the time it is facts and info from the internet.

That doesn't make you any money in itself.


It is like asking how can a computer make you money passively. It can't, but you can create a program or service on it that does, but it wont be passive i guarantee.


If you want passive income put your savings into a global ETF tracker and sit back for 10 years

 

[D.P.]

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www.gartner.com

Over 40% of agentic AI projects will be canceled by the end of 2027, due to escalating costs, unclear business value or inadequate risk controls, according to Gartner, Inc.

“Most agentic AI projects right now are early stage experiments or proof of concepts that are mostly driven by hype and are often misapplied,” said Anushree Verma, Senior Director Analyst, Gartner. “This can blind organizations to the real cost and complexity of deploying AI agents at scale, stalling projects from moving into production. They need to cut through the hype to make careful, strategic decisions about where and how they apply this emerging technolog

Absolutely. It is just a shame all this extra hype will tarnish AI's reputation again.

 

[Mesai]

Absolutely. It is just a shame all this extra hype will tarnish AI's reputation again.

I think it's healthy as it'll better align expectations. Right now it's just a label that everyone wants, whether it's useful for the situation or not.

 

[wesimmo]

Absolutely agree but AI allows things to be done to make money that I otherwise wouldn't have the skills or time to do manually?

I think your whole understanding or expectation of what AI can/will do is massively distorted by your tendency to look at everything through a weird lens of meism.

If AI could just be set off to passively earn income with no effort or cost on your part, everybody would be doing it.

If you think of AI as a multiplier that increases the output from a given input of time and or resource it may help.

 

[delta0]

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www.gartner.com

Absolutely. It is just a shame all this extra hype will tarnish AI's reputation again.

The latest hype is MCP. It’s a little scary. First time I’ve thought this could really make AI take off as you can essentially automate any piece of software with a decent API.

 

[D.P.]

It's a brave assumption to make, thinking that enhanced productivity is going to simply result in more work appearing out of thin air, I think what will happen in the real world is that many businesses will see that they can make the same revenues, with lower costs, and their eyes will light up with dollar signs, and people will be let go.

The increased productivity is a boon personally. I've had various open source projects on the go for years which are quite popular, but I've never had the time to get half the stuff done I've wanted to. Using Claude has meant that in those small number of hours I can dedicate to personal projects, I can get far more stuff done, and managed to get a major release out of one of my plugins which I'd not managed for a long time.

Speaking from personal experience, we never tackle more than 5% of our backlog, if that. PMs give endless feature requests, pur own competitive analysis yields plenty of disparities, our own customer discussion yields numerous pain-points, pur tech leads scope mountains of work to ensure we scale. We had too much work at 50 engineers, we had far too much work at 25 engineers, now it is just a joke. I am long wishing for the day where AI can make 1 engineer as productive as 4. As it is , i have to explain to SVPs why chronic understaffing has caused critical failures and SLA missed and the competition is winning all the contracts. If the promises of agentic coding ever become a reality rather than a marketing PowerPoint, than we can not only tackle more than 5% of the backlog, but can directly show ROI developing new features and the value per an engineer will increase b(4x according to you). Maybe at that point I will be back to 50 engineers


And that is all that companies ever care about, ROI. If AI will increase productivity then it will increase ROI for every new engineer hired.

 

[D.P.]

The latest hype is MCP. It’s a little scary. First time I’ve thought this could really make AI take off as you can essentially automate any piece of software with a decent API.

Except in reality you can't.

MCP just makes it easier for LLMs to call APIs but that doesn't solve the fundamental problems and doesn't actually automate anything - it transfers the problem domain.

 

[delta0]

Except in reality you can't.

MCP just makes it easier for LLMs to call APIs but that doesn't solve the fundamental problems and doesn't actually automate anything - it transfers the problem domain.

I would say watch this space. I’ve seen some crazy automations happening at my place. Literally just running the software using natural language and not touching the interface.

 

[radderfire]

The most straightforward way to make money would probably be to build websites with affiliate marketing links, with AI slop articles written by LLMs. Automate the process and it'll pretty much take care of itself, but it would take a significant investment in time and effort to get it working....and you'll have to try and sleep at night knowing you're contributing to the en****tification of the internet.

This is very unlikely to work, because AI's like chatgpt are generating text content from websites, so all you would be doing is recycling content. The problem is you won't get ranked on Google. No other sites will link to "AI slop". Then there's the problem that people won't use your links either, as they'll use their cashback site. Affiliate marketing by ranking text-based websites is now very hard to make money from in my opinion.