The Path Forward

During the last ten months, I have considered many different ways that I might attempt to make money using AI. I have taken classes and spent hundreds if not thousands of hours doing research. In addition, I have also spent a lot of time on social media (mainly Twitter/ X) in an effort to keep up with what others are doing. That Blue Check that some people have paid for has been beneficial for a few people who have been able to monetize through the platform. However, they have to post constantly and I have no interest in being an influencer who needs interactions to make their numbers. Not that there is anything wrong with that. In fact, some of the best information I have taken in over the past ten months has come from influencers. That path is not for me though.

To be fair, a lot of what I have learned has been about what I do NOT want to do to try and monetize AI. I am a dreamer, a world builder, an author, and a screenwriter, yet I come from a long line of educators. While my work has never been on any best seller's list or featured in cinemas around the world, I take pride in what I create. So, while I can see there are ways to make money that do not include using my storytelling skills, I am reluctant to pursue them. 

One very appealing option that I am reticent to pursue is selling some of the AI images I have created as NFTs or in some other format. There are a ton of people who are doing this. A few are making money. I have spent a lot of time on Twitter/ X checking out images, image prompts, and the various image generators that created these images. Much of this was done so that I could determine styles that I might use for images to go with my written work. I probably spent too much time on this but I like keeping up to date with image generations and image generators, as I want to create images, in one way or another, to go with all of the stories I tell from this day forward. I was fairly interested in video generation as well. However, I have lost some interest in this over the past two months as the tools are not developing at the same pace as static images. Back in March, I had hoped that by now I could create a proper short film or film trailer using just AI. While some people are creating some cool things, the best AI video content is more artistic than realistic. Could I make a proper trailer for one of my scripts that I'd be willing to show a producer? Ehh... I'm not so sure. Maybe if I poured my heart and soul into it and made it part of a larger pitch package, but not the focal point of it. And I just can't see Joe or Jane Public taking much interest in a full movie created by AI at this point. 

Eventually, I will jump back into video generation so that I can tell movies with AI tools. I'll likely create a trailer or something over the next few months. In truth, I will likely fall behind and miss out on being on the cutting edge of AI video generation, but I just don't have the time to mess around too much with it in its current state. I have stories to write and static images to create to help bring those stories to life in the meantime.

I am still interested in being able to monetize what I have learned about AI. However, I am not keen to do so in some way that involves me having to post every five minutes just for clicks. I want to create something that people need. My desire is to help others with what I have learned as a storyteller and as someone who took the time over the past year to learn about Generative AI. When I can merge those two I will have found a way that benefits myself and others. I would be quite happy with that. 

It may be a few weeks or months until I can say more, but I can assure you that I am working on something that takes my experience in a way that helps others. My hope is that I can monetize this.  We'll see.