Aiva: AI Virtual Assistant
Empower your productivity.
[Original article has been published on our dev blog here: https://www.aivasays.com/blog/ai-bashing-and-why-its-hurting-freelance-developers/]
Short editorial about artificial intelligence and freelance developers today. These are my views and you are by no means obliged to abide by them.
I have been seeing a lot of AI-bashing among developers as of lately. The morale is sinking lower and lower by the day and the craze of the AI scare is getting out of control. The media depiction of AI is akin to how it's been portrayed in movies such as Terminator (remember Skynet?) It is now used as a political tool and something to scare people who are outside of our field.
Developers have to be careful not to get negatively impacted by the craze as it is a golden opportunity for us to shine and bank on the trend while it's still very popular and mostly unregulated. It might sound like I'm trying to convince you to sell out but I'd rather describe it as wise opportunism.
I'm writing from experience. It's the perfect time to help other founders starting their own businesses, showcase your skills and knowledge around, get interesting experience for your own portfolio in a field that want it or not will keep on rising and getting more popular. A trend that might take over our entire field at some point.
On freelancing platforms like Upwork, I've been receiving more and more offers that involve artificial intelligence. I showcased my app Aiva (which you can try here by the way) and clearly it worked because I keep getting consultation inquiries and more questions from AI-curious entrepreneurs.
So my fellow freelancers, seize the opportunity to make money and experience and use it for your own personal gain. Personally, every penny I make while freelancing goes to my own projects and into building my own life and family.
I know how you feel. It sucks sometimes to work against your own principles and beliefs but it's better to be opportunistic than becoming a Ted Kaczynski-wannabe and deny learning and selling skills that are clearly trending and could help you build your own life. Then with that money you can actually make a difference and teach your own ways to people around you. But going against the trend will only pull you further behind. Stay on ahead of the curve and make your voice louder instead. Become a source of authority in the field and help things move in the direction you believe in.
And let's be frank, being a developer, an engineer and especially a freelancer has always been all about building, teaching and the constant learning and mastering of bleeding edge technologies. Consider this and don't leave yourself behind.
In my 15 years+ of experience, I've encountered that scenario so many times already and each time I've seen friends and colleagues get left behind because they wanted to stick to their ways. Don't be technologically recalcitrant and embrace what's ahead.
Unhappy about how things are going? Jump in the discussion on Twitter now. I'm willing to discuss the topic with anybody. Who knows? Maybe you'll change my mind!
Thanks for reading and while you're here: go try our app Aiva: AI Virtual Assistant 🙏 (maybe she'll convince you!) If you consider we've done a good job, please leave us a positive rating and review!
Original post here: https://www.indiehackers.com/post/just-reached-100-mrr-with-my-app-87887c33b4
I've been toying around with AI for a while and published an app that aimed to be what ChatGPT is but with iOS native, with more character, that included a built-in prompt list, etc since I thought it was lacking from the real ChatGPT website.
And it just reached 100$ monthly recurring revenue 🚀 Last month it was at 25$ MRR so it is a 400% increase 🤩
Super stoked and proud! I've constantly updated it and I believe my app has the smoothest user experience of them all. Just like ChatGPT (but without the downtimes and the high cost 😏) it can display code, tables, lists, etc. We also provide 30 free messages per month so people can try what AI is capable of without having to pay a cent.
I also developed a Twitter bot that replies to tweets of people she follows and replies when you @ her. She gathered over 350 followers and more then 25k profile visits so far which is impressive. It's also an interesting way to do "automated content marketing"
I do have a question for the community though. I'm trying to get into content marketing, posting in groups to get more people to try the app, and finding a good target audience, etc. but it has been such a rocky road.
An ai chatbot is such a general audience kind of thing that it gave me multiple headaches because of how broad the potential audience can be. I still can't find a niche to attack with it. Current users demographics are all over the place so. Subscribers are literally ranging from 21 years old to 65 🤯 where should I start? Anything good to read about content marketing on social networks?
That's it for today folks! Thanks for reading and NEVER give up. Anything is possible when you're bootstrapping your own projects. Let's go! 🚀
I'm open for questions if any aspiring developer or AI enthusiasts have any 🫡
If you want to follow my journey, I build in public on Twitter at BuildWithTom and you can check out my app here.
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