"How I Make […] Every Month On […]"

The repulsive plague of AI lies and the people they feed.

Recently, I was scrolling around this platform, investigating the various profiles and projects. I was struck by the amount of notes asking for people to share their work, and the number of people saying things like: “One day here and no subscribers. I’m eager to learn!” These two trends, whilst quite common, are very very sweet. I drop them likes occasionally, and it is nice to see the genuine examples of people wanting to foster a community.

However, I came upon an account that filled me with rage and disappointment. I am foolish to imagine that people, as a general group, will ever stop doing this, especially online, but I suppose I would prefer to be innocent and disappointed than to assume the worst. Anyway, you read the title. Let’s break it down in the only way I can think.

Four sections:

1. Why this is inherently deceptive.

2. Why I can’t even tolerate the aesthetic of this deception.

3. Why these people do not care about you at all.

4. Why it works.

Section One: Why this is inherently deceptive.

Without immediately pointing out the AI cover images, the AI profile pictures, and possibly even the AI writing, this is deceptive simply because the promise of the article depends entirely on your decision to engage with this person. When they say: “I make 10K a month,” it is much like a bird telling a worm that it catches 10 worms a day. This person, who thrives on your attention, is acting as if you have no relation to one another. I should note, before I continue, that this post has nothing to do with people that actively create interesting things but, occasionally, drop some interesting wisdom about how they maintained their work ethic.

No, this post is about a very specific type of account that eats its own tail. These accounts only post ‘advice’ about success, and these posts ARE their success. These accounts are the internet equivalent of a completely empty supermarket with a guy at the till who asks you for £10 to learn his supermarket growth strategy.

This is the final boss of false consciousness, the ultimate pyramid scheme of the modern day, and a well designed trap to make you spend your time, or even your money, to gain absolutely nothing real. In fact, even if you DO learn how to make money as they do, I doubt they would actually share any valuable tips, lest you steal the content monopoly from them. Seriously, never ever buy into someone selling you a course on making courses.

I see this EVERYWHERE!!!

Even if I am a cynical man and this is all above board, it creates an apocalyptic society. I really mean that. If everyone and their mum is making money by telling people how to make money by telling people how to make money, there will literally be no reason for our existence as a human race. Besides, as I will get into, it’s quite possible that these accounts aren’t even real people.

Section Two: Why I can’t even tolerate the aesthetic of this deception.

Here’s the part where I briefly discuss the cyclical falsehoods of AI and how it thrives best when it has to talk about nothing and make it seem fancy enough to maybe be interpreted as a bit of a something.

I have no distinct proof, aside from how utterly dull and soulless these posts are, that they are written by AI. However, anyone could see that they use AI images. With that in mind, what exactly stops these people from taking a step further, and leaving all the hard work of actually having feelings to a chatbot that can’t say “hello” without consuming an entire nation’s freshwater supply.

So, assuming AI has a big role here, why is that bad? Well, AI (generative AI this is) is not only a water guzzling liar with the cognition of a toddler but it’s also actively eating itself. With the popularity of AI, the internet has rapidly become a haven for its meaningless drivel. Now consider this: that very same AI is actively trained on the internet. This ‘tool’ has become an auto-cannibalising shard of nothingness. It is becoming increasingly dependent on its past work to back itself, which was already useless, and is therefore effectively eating more and more toxins and then throwing them back up - only to shovel them back in as more content.

To put it simply, and hopefully not get lost in my rant, AI cannot create. It may pretend that it can, but it cannot. When you read something ‘written’ by an AI, it is a ‘clever’ re-telling of a better idea, from a better thing (or maybe even a person if you’re lucky) with better context and constantly better ideas. It thrives on the internet, where a million new people see something each day. Getting wiser helps you escape, but newcomers are always waiting at the door.

These accounts, gold bearers with hollow eyes, use the fancy phrases and honeyed words of chat bots to add aesthetic to their dopamine laced anaesthetic.

Section Three: Why these people do not care about you at all.

I alluded to this a lot, but we can definitely go over it anyway.

If someone is selling something, an object, it’s either because they stand to make profit from making it at a cheaper price or because they personally do not want it (which is sometimes worth questioning). However, if someone is selling an idea, the circumstances can be incredibly different. For one, an idea relating to joy and fulfilment is usually not sold, because anyone pushing joy is usually fuelled only by the desire to do so, or - when it is - it is sold out of a necessity to live comfortably with the joyful hobby, or otherwise, at the forefront. So, in other words, most ideas with a price tag fall under one of these headings: educational and necessary for the pursuit of a difficult career in a heavily monitored and regulated industry, or lucrative in name and colour but stressful, disingenuous, difficult, scary, or disappointing in reality. The first kind, I am sure you’ll grant me, is usually the work of established public institutions. So, the second kind is most likely the work of individuals with agendas.

Now, that was incredibly convoluted. Let me put it simply.

A monkey teaches other monkeys how to get bananas only if the monkey cares for them, sees them as friends or family, and stands to gain joy and safety in the long term from looking after them.

A monkey does not teach other monkeys how to get bananas if it does not know them, sees them as competitors, or needs the bananas itself.

These people do not know you, and their life revolves around collecting bananas. It does not suit them to show these bananas to anyone else, not ever… unless showing them one banana gets them to bring more bananas as ‘payment’.

It’s all manipulation from the beginning, help only in exchange for commitment and service, weaponising empathy and gratitude for personal gain whilst ruling the castle themselves. Monarchs only have one heir, not thousands. They want to keep living their comfortable lives, and they do not want you to threaten that.

This applies to anyone online, with millions in the bank, sat on podcasts with some miracle hack to share. Trust someone who works with people and compassion when it comes to advice, not these ‘experts’ who only deal in profit and control. (For example, I was thinking about Andrew Tate with this one, as someone who makes his money by controlling other people and spreading hatred.)

Section Four: Why it works.

I feel foolish now, having written all this, only to posit that this system works because it relies so heavily on new people bringing traffic without context. After all, what’s the point in this post then? You probably all feel similarly, having all figured this out. All it takes is the initiative to check the post history of someone like this, uncovering their horrifying history of ‘blogs’ with the exact same title, the same promise, the same meaningless drivel.

All that matters, according to the algorithm, is the first click. Even if you block the account afterwards, never look at them again, you still clicked and read a little, maybe even checked out their profile. You, as a detective in that moment, finding out what you could, were already being farmed for engagement. Additionally, after you left, another person certainly filled your place.

Riches, success, an escape from the draining corporate job, all of these concepts itch at our dry throats and tease us with the idea of a kinder and easier world where we could create and live well. Even the most intellectual thinkers are still victims of their idealism, and that is beautiful. We should never feel ashamed of dreaming, of wanting to try. That hope is what makes humanity, and what makes us so easy to taunt. These people know what you cry for, what makes you smile, what occupies your prayers. They know because they are consumed by it, and they won’t let anyone else touch the golden walls of their crooked palace.

Besides, even if you could touch them, I think you would start to understand just how hollow they always were. No amount of money can make a deceptive life fulfilling, and no amount of fame can make manipulation feel honest. They know this as much as you or I, and that, I believe, is why they have abandoned all grace and integrity. One wrong brush stroke and they have destroyed the painting, because maybe enough blood could paint a beautiful rose…

But the rose will never come, and can never come, planted in salted ground and watered with oil.

Conclusion

So, this was quite an emotive piece and I hope I didn’t get too preachy. However, topics like these always annoy me to no end. It looks small from the outside, another scrap of poo across a charcuterie board of diarrhoea, but it feels much bigger and much more biblical to me. Lying is so normal online, so plain and accepted. I guess, the moment you start to notice it actively, it feels overwhelming.

I hope this post, one day, reaches someone before they see one of the horrible ones I mentioned. That would be nice to imagine, that we could start saving people from the trap laid out by ‘influencers’ with a thirst for souls. Alas, for now, I hope my readers enjoy it for what it is: an opinionated rant.

Thank you and have a brilliant week.