The AI Goldrush - What Might Happen

There have always been two types of content creators on the internet.

1. Media: People who produce written (blog posts, tweets, etc), spoken (podcasts), or visual content (photos, videos).

2. Programmers: People who code software (social networks, tools, games, etc)

And for the longest time these two groups stayed in their own lanes. The media people produced media and the programmers produced software.

But with the rise of no-code tools, and the even faster rise of AI, it is clear that these two groups are converging.

The programmer people can use AI to make media and the media people can use AI to make software.

Now, out of these two different groups, the largest group, by far, are the people who are not programmers who can now use AI to create software.

“Matt, who are these people?”

It’s everyone.

Dentists. Parents. YouTubers. Accountants. Students. Chefs. Nurses. Construction Workers. Teachers. Farmers. Artists. Musicians. Scientists. Writers. Pilots. Lawyers. Bankers. Athletes. Actors. Photographers. Graphic Designers. Veterinarians. Librarians. Baristas. Firefighters. Police Officers. Military Personnel. Therapists. Social Workers. Politicians. Journalists. Entrepreneurs. Flight Attendants. Physical Therapists. Pharmacists. Architects. Real Estate Agents. Electricians. Plumbers. Carpenters. Tailors. Chefs. Bakers. Bartenders. Hair Stylists. Makeup Artists. Personal Trainers. Nutritionists.

It’s everyone.

“Ok, but what kind of software can they even make?”

AI today is so good, and its getting better extremely fast, that anyone can make software in the form of AI apps without even needing to code with computer languages.

Instead, you code in natural language. You speak English? Just write out in English what you want your software to do. You speak Spanish? Tell it in Spanish.

When writing software is the same as writing in your natural language, suddenly everyone can make software. The same way that everyone can write blog posts, take pictures, and make videos.

It doesn’t mean you will be good at it, or the best, but everyone has an OPPORTUNITY.

“But… why? What is the motivation for everyone to make AI apps? If you go viral on YouTube you can become a millionaire, how does that work with AI apps?”

Here is where things get interesting.

When Apple released the app store for the iPhone suddenly you could make an iPhone app and the 11 million people with iPhones in 2008 could find your app in the iPhone App Store.

If people liked your app then your app would rise to the top of the charts and be discovered by more and more people.

This marketplace made billion dollar businesses like Instagram and Uber possible.

But guess what? The only people who could make apps were developers. A very very small percentage of the world.

AI apps are different. Anyone can make one.

For example, ChatGPT allows anyone to make an app for ChatGPT (called “GPTs”) and you can make it just by talking to it. Not only can you make a ChatGPT app but pretty soon ChatGPT will also be releasing an app store, just like Apple did in 2008.

But ChatGPT has 100 million weekly users, almost 10x the number of users iPhone had.

And anyone can make an app for ChatGPT and rise to the top.

Now, maybe nobody wants to use these apps and the entire market crumbles.

Or… the same way there are successful media accounts on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, etc for every profession and topic imaginable, there is soon going to be successful apps from people who don’t know how to code in every industry and topic imaginable.

The dentist making a million dollars a year from her AI app. The teacher known for their study AI that goes viral.

And ChatGPT isn’t the only platform that is going to provide this ability. The same way you can post media on multiple social networks and platforms, you will be able to create AI apps on multiple social networks and platforms. If this is truly the next wave of online experiences, and the next big concept to monetize, every major tech company that is positioned to support this will (think Meta, Google, Microsoft, TikTok, Snapchat, etc).

2024 may be the year where anyone in the world can make text, audio, video, images, and now finally, software. Full democratization of the internet stack.

What are you going to make?

^{Thank you to our sponsors:}

Your SOC 2 Compliance Checklist from Vanta

Are you building a business? Achieving SOC 2 compliance can help you win bigger deals, enter new markets and deepen trust with your customers — but it can also cost you real time and money.

Vanta automates up to 90% of the work for SOC 2 (along with other in-demand frameworks), getting you audit-ready in weeks instead of months. Save up to 400 hours and 85% of associated costs.

Download the free checklist to learn more about the SOC 2 compliance process and the road ahead.