I don’t know about you, but every time I go to YouTube, I’m bombarded with content that makes me feel like I’m 10 years behind.
The number one title that shows up is “How I automated my entire marketing agency” or “20 agents are running my business and making me $20k a month”.
It’s insane the amount of videos that exist on that topic. And it took me a long time to figure out the truth behind this type of content.
It’s all a hoax. And I’m going to tell you exactly why.
A content pyramid scheme
The majority of these YouTubers fall into two categories.
- Either they have their own AI automation consulting firms where they do hands-on implementation for clients (which I think is actually a legitimate model, at least it shows they have some real knowledge),
- Or they have an online community where they teach you how to make money from creating AI-generated content, or content around AI.
So a lot of the YouTubers saying “I automated my entire marketing agency” don’t run a marketing agency in the first place.
And here’s the crucial part:
The reason why all of these videos look the same is because everyone copies everyone else.
When you listen to these YouTubers on podcasts, they’ll tell you very specifically that the main agents they’ve actually built are agents that scan YouTube for the most trending AI content and tell them exactly what makes it work - so they can recreate it. Everyone in the industry has built an agent whose only goal is to copy others in the industry. So everyone is literally reproducing the same content.
It is a whole pyramid scheme. One person goes on a big podcast and explains how he built a dashboard that shows how his agents work together. Another guy sees it, makes the same video. A third guy sees that, makes another video. And I end up watching the fourth guy’s video wanting to replicate what the first guy was doing!
The truth is, when you actually talk to these people, those dashboards don’t even work.
And that’s the sad part about a lot of the AI content out there right now: it’s clickbait. It’s people telling you “I installed this and it completely changed my life, I don’t have to work anymore.” And 99.9% of the time, it’s pure BS.
The four types of AI content creators
I’d say you got four types of content creators now:
1. The copycat. The only agents they’ve ever built are agents designed to understand what’s trending so they can replicate it. Zero value created in the process.
2. The avant-garde technical creator. These are the ones actually testing products and creating real value for technical audiences. You can learn how something works without testing it yourself. The audience is niche though. For anyone who isn’t deep in the trenches, the content makes them feel completely lost, plus they get huge FOMO because everything seems so specific and advanced.
3. The product funnel creator. All their content is optimized to sell their specific course or method. I won’t name names, but there is a group of creators I’ve followed whose entire online course is built around “connecting Claude to Obsidian” (for those who don’t know, Obsidian is a data storage software, like Notion on stereoids). I recently watched a video where they explained why their method is better than OpenClaw (the framework I use) - and it was complete BS, because you can actually connect Obsidian so OpenClaw. But they had to make some type of content, so these creators make themselves look smart yet every single piece of content leads to the same outcome: “buy my course”.
4. And finally, the practitioner. These are the creators who make content about how to use these tools for your actual business. Not for building an AI business. Not for creating AI content. For your actual business. They interview others, they use AI themselves, not to build automation agencies, but to build anything else than that.
Here are two dear friends I want to highlight and give kudos here for being practitioners:
→ Marjolaine Grondin with Le Bootcamp IA, who is very action-driven in everything she makes - always something you can implement right away.
→ Alex Russo with AI for Builders, who creates content and webinars specifically about how people can implement AI in their businesses.
And that’s the line that we want to go with Timeback - our AI educational company I co-founded with my wife. We want to showcase how real people use AI agents in their day-to-day, how it frees up their time, how it gives them more space to be creative and to be in their genius zone - instead of being stuck in operations and repetition.
No 20-min videos on “how to set something up” or “this new feature will kill your workflow”. Instead, content that shows the real process of how someone does marketing, sales, design, finances, admin or operations with the help of their AI agents.
We will therefore adhere to the golden rule of AI content creation:
Don’t create content for the sake of it. Create content that showcases how people are actually using AI.
Because that’s the only content that’s truly valuable for non-technical people who just need real inspiration to implement.
Let’s Take Action
With all of this in mind, yesterday I deleted my YouTube app. Every time I opened it, I wasn’t getting smarter. I was just getting more FOMO.
The only creators I’m going to follow from now on are those who actually show how others are implementing AI in their business, with real step-by-step guidance, no BS. Content that empowers instead of making you feel like you’re already behind.
Because the truth is: you are not behind.
Even if you haven’t adopted AI agents yet, only a small percentage of the population pays for ChatGPT - and only 0.04% are paying for agentic tools like Claude Code or OpenClaw. You could be part of that <0.1% who adopted agents in their business and you’d still be far ahead.
The AI train has just started. There’s still time to get on it.
Wishing you an incredible week.
Gui
P.S. If you’ve missed the webinars I’ve been running over the last few weeks, I’m hosting one this Thursday at 1pm. It’s a live session where I’ll show you concretely how I’m using AI day to day, from sales follow-up to content creation to newsletter writing, all just by talking to it, with my AI agent learning on the go. It’s been incredibly useful for others and I hope it inspires you to see that you can do it too, and free up your time to focus on what actually matters. Here’s the link to register.
P.P.S. Let me know your thoughts on this longer-form style of content. If you enjoyed it, I’d love to read your feedback. I’ll be back at the end of this week with another newsletter covering what’s caught my attention over the last two weeks, what I’ve been working on, and the tools and resources I’ve found most valuable.