I graduated in visual communications with skills in filmmaking, cinematography, graphic design, and AI video. I see all these trendy AI opportunities and feel left out. Should I start something in the AI world, and if so, what? Do I keep going into the creative field or pivot to something more profitable with a clear ROI? My goal is to reach 5K/month as fast as possible, then 10K, then scale to 30-50K, but I'm unemployed with a couple of freelance gigs in Turkey and feel paralyzed by all the AI advancements.
The reality is AI has not made anything new possible. It has just made old processes more profitable. And it is in the making of old processes more profitable that some things appear more possible. But I don't want you to feel confused — nothing here is fundamentally new. These are all market opportunities that are pre-existing and either growing slightly or shrinking slightly. The people that, as a rule in my life, have always made the most money are not the people that pick up every new shiny object, every new cool video gen tool, every cool new cinematography tool. The people in my life that have always made the most money are the people that just pick one thing, get really good at that one thing, and then milk it like a fat cow. So my recommendation: I understand it feels paralyzing because so much is happening so quickly. That is only going to increase. You best deal with it now, not in a year from now when we have 10x as many developments in a tenth of the time. Figure out a couple of things that you feel reasonably confident provide value to an end user. Learn them really, really well. Stick your head down in the sand. Turn off all social media platforms aside from maybe my daily updates channel. Then get really good at them and sell them.
What will always be important, no matter how far we go with this stuff, is your ability to sell somebody on a vision, a dream, a product, a service, whatever it is. Technology getting easier and easier to build over the last 5 to 10 years has been a blessing, because you don't have to spend all your time staring at a computer dragging and dropping modules or working out complicated workflow diagrams in your head. Instead you can do the thing you've evolved for tens or hundreds of thousands of years to do: talk to other people and inspire them, which is essentially what I do on this YouTube channel. I've been preaching this for the better part of three or four years. The value of sales only goes up in proportion to the value of tech, and in a world where humanity is the scarce resource, humanity will be most valuable.
There isn't going to be a lot of AI video production demand on Upwork, but there is going to be a lot of video production demand on Upwork. What you need to understand is that AI is not necessarily something you can only sell if somebody says AI. You could fulfill the needs of people that just need video in general, and then show them how you could use AI to do it. You could also sell the outputs of AI, not necessarily AI. When I started out in lead gen, for instance, I didn't say 'I'll build you an AI-powered lead gen system,' I said 'Hey, I'll book you 20 meetings guaranteed in the next 60 days, or you don't pay.' I was selling the output, which is quite valuable in business and has always been quite valuable — not the means to get there. So that's personally what I would do. Do not look for people asking for AI agent creative pipelines. Literally just build a creative pipeline that uses AI. It's just normal — it's part of the day-to-day of working in business nowadays. Nobody will really care.
I think streaming is an awesome industry to be in, and you should definitely monetize it more while also leaning into the business side. The real value of a streamer—and of our current economy—is the ability to get and sustain attention; just look at how attention drives even the President’s influence. If you’re good at grabbing and holding attention through streaming (whether gaming or anything else), you’re already far ahead, and figuring out monetization is the easier part. Looking ahead, with AGI poised to replace many knowledge‑worker roles, streaming may be one of the few jobs humans will still have in 10‑15 years, so getting started now puts you ahead of the curve. I often bring up Magnus Carlsen as an example: even though AI has long surpassed humans at chess, he’s still printing money, building a massive following, and people love him not just for his chess skill but for his human traits—wit, candor, and his exemplary mastery of the game. Those qualities are what draw an audience, and the same principle applies to any streaming career: showcase your personality and expertise, not just the game. As a quick side note, be careful with automation tools on YouTube—scheduling videos or uploading back‑to‑back on new channels can actually tank your views; the platforms claim no impact, but in practice the performance drops dramatically. So, keep that in mind as you grow.
I started with Harvard CS50, then taught myself computer science from the ground up, excluding languages and compilers, distributed systems, and operating systems. I completed nanotech to Tetris, building a computer from scratch. After that, I learned AI from scratch via a course that just listed introductory material, then I began training models—first a TensorFlow model called Stalan 2 that generated faces, then Gwarn's 'This Wu Does Not Exist' which I turned into an anime face generator, which I found hilarious and turned into a business called One Second Painting. I scaled that to about $3,500 per month by selling AI-generated art, but Midjourney's release destroyed that business. I had been selling NFTs, which gave me hands‑on AI experience. I then used that experience to freelance write while aiming for $10k/month, employing GPT‑3 for content. I also spent six months to a year locked in my room learning make.com and Zapier, building automations for my One Second Painting business and later for a second venture with a business partner. Eventually the money came from disproportionate time invested, leading to a compressed business model: get your first customer quickly, then worry about everything later. I realized most of the low‑level AI skills I learned aren’t used today, but the practical experience with automation platforms like make.com and Zapier, plus building info products, allowed me to scale to $100k/month through a blend of an AI automation agency and information products.