Robots & Red Lace

Her name’s not Lisa, but when I ask her what she’d like to be called for this piece, she says, “I always thought of myself as a Lisa.”

So let’s go with that.

Lisa’s got a kid these days. A little boy, about the same age as my youngest. I see him on her personal IG, face somehow always covered in mud or ice cream or both.

Lisa’s also got a husband who accepts her profession. Handsome guy, tall. She’s got a nice house with a pool on the outskirts of Austin.

Holy guacamole, I blink. The waiter sets down our guacamole. “That’s a lot of money.”

Yes, Lisa is an OnlyFans creator. We’re just old friends, eating dinner.

Let’s not kid ourselves — everyone knows OnlyFans, even if they pretend otherwise. But for the uninitiated (looking at you, editor): OnlyFans is a platform where creators connect with fans over fitness tips, cooking recipes, comedy shows, and music tutorials.

But let's not beat around the bush (👀): the real thrust ( 👀) behind this site's rise ( 👀) is adult content creators.

Now that I have that out of my system: Creators like Lisa (who I have known for 10 years) have turned interacting online into money, in such a way that would make your average influencer blush… with envy.

The majority of OF creators earn significantly less, though.

Median earnings this year have been around $180 per month, with the top 1% of accounts raking in 33% of all the money. And even more interestingly, many now are doing it by perfecting something that seems at-odds with the deeply personal nature of their work: Artificial intelligence.

So yeah, while she’s still my long-time pal, Lisa just so happens to also be a master of what you might call “intimacy at scale.”

In fact, she may be one of the best.

But first: a story of smaller, real-life intimacy

I met Lisa during a long stint at a “men's entertainment” website that for a brief and entirely-too-complicated period in the early 2010s, was among the most visited sites on the web (back when people still called it The Web.) I was the head writer and Lisa was one of our top models.

Foreshadowing? Now that I read this, probably!

We’d get drinks after work, and chat as buddies do: complaining about the owners, our love lives, all that. For two years after I left the website where we’d met, we’d get lunch at a Mexican restaurant near her apartment in a very ritzy part of town at least once a month. Since we’ve had kids, we’ve sort of drifted apart.

So, when I call up Lisa and invite her to our old haunt, I’m surprised that she not only answers, but readily agrees. We meet a few days later after I land some childcare.

“What’s it like… uh… out there?” I ask her after we’re a pair of margaritas deep.

She stares at me over the table’s queso, which has gone cold, now a near-solid. “You really wanna know?”

“Sure I do,” I say. I’m wondering now if this was a good idea. “Sure, why not?”

“Ugly,” she says. “Horrendous. Terrible.”

“Oh,” I say.

So, we go deeper.

What’s different about this line of work, from general modeling? What’s surprised her? What are her plans?

It’s actually more of a scaling challenge than anything, she says. Turns out, in this business, it’s not just about looking good — it’s about talking good, too. And with an average subscription of only $7.20 (and OnlyFans taking a 20% cut), volume’s the name of the game.

Which reminds me of a historical fact that’s somehow weirdly related. I relay the following historical fact to Lisa (but I wasn’t quite so dramatic).

A Tale As Old As Time… Or, Well, 1980-Something

Long before cams, before streaming and digital downloads… two technologies battled for home entertainment system dominance.

They were known as Betamax and VHS.

Betamax, by all technical standards, was the superior product. For one, it had the cooler name. For two (and arguably more importantly) it had a better picture, a sleeker design, and the infrastructure that could only come from being backed by electronics juggernaut, Sony.

And yet, VHS was the one that wound up in living rooms across the globe and Betamax now sounds like a Temu version of a Disney superhero.

What in the Sam Hill happened?

It’s a pretty easy answer, honestly. Sony nixed adult content on Betamax, and the makers of VHS were far more… permissive.

Without much fanfare — but with major consequences — VHS became the go-to format for the content that wasn't discussed in polite company.

It didn't win out more broadly because it was better; it won because it gave people what they wanted. (Secretly, in a brown paper bag, under their armpit on the subway and so forth — but still, the point stands).

To rope this back into the present-day… OnlyFans obviously isn’t right for everybody, but the platform’s growth is undeniable: Year-over-year growth in new creator sign-ups was around 40% in 2023 — and about 500,000 new users joined the platform every day that same year.

Interestingly, too: the platform itself has a strict policy against AI (for now). OnlyFans updated its terms of service in late 2023 to require models to disclose any AI-generated content. They’ve even invested in AI detection tech, claiming to be able to identify AI-generated content with 92% accuracy by the end of this year. (Hence, Lisa being called Lisa.)

This has been mostly user-driven: 68% of subscribers expressed concerns about the authenticity of interactions when AI is involved.

Seems like a story rife with drama, no?

Fast-forward (pun intended) to today

“Seems like we’re seeing a certain kind of story undress. I mean unfold,” I say.

Lisa rolls her eyes. She waits for me to get it out of my system. To prep for this meetup, I’d read that an estimated 20% of top-earning OF creators use some form of AI chatbot for customer service. So that’s the route I take.

“Alright so you make the bots handle the ickiness?” I ask. “Some of the… hate?”

“Sure, there’s some of that,” she says. “You’ll have that. But I’m also using them to convert.”

“Imagine you’re on OnlyFans,” Lisa says. “You’ve got thousands of fans.”

“I do? Wow,” I say. “Go me.”

“It is bountiful,” I say.

“Your competitive advantage in this line of work is… is your ability to build relationships with as many people as you can.”

Lisa goes on to explain that it’s like this across all businesses lately. (She not only models, she sells cowgirl-themed jewelry on a totally different account.)

"Think about it," she says. "Whether you're into jewelry, coaching, whatever, everybody just wants a connection now. Most of the time, AI just handles the routine stuff that gets in the way."

And that frees her up to schmooze?

“Therein lies the question,” I say. “How do you trick them into that — feeling special?”

The following is what I got out of asking that (apparently very stupid) question.

3 Lessons We Can All Learn from Lisa

1. Don’t trick anybody: Automate away the routine. Lisa explains she uses AI to handle common questions and manage day-to-day interactions. “If someone asks about pricing or availability, they get an immediate response,” she says. AI bots save time by taking care of the repetitive stuff so she can focus on the real connection stuff.
2. Don’t trick anybody: Personalize (where it matters). Lisa uses AI to gather data — what content fans like, what questions they ask. That way, she can tailor her responses and content to each fan’s preferences. It’s the same principle any business should use: learn what your audience cares about, and speak directly to that. (Aside: “Data” might not sound sexy, but it totally is.)
3. Don’t trick anybody: Be transparent. The key to making this work, Lisa says, is “transparency.” (I hold my tongue at making a joke here, I just wanted you all to know I exercised restraint.) “I let people know I’m using automation if they ask. But they also know when it’s really me.” That builds trust — and keeps fans coming back.

"But isn't there a risk of coming off as impersonal?" I ask (again, stupidly).

"That's the thing," Lisa says, agreeing with me on a point I didn't know I made. "You don’t replace the genuine stuff. You make sure to be there when it actually matters.”

And how do you know what matters?

"You test,” she shrugs.

Is Lisa a better marketer than I am?

I’m left to wonder about this until the bill arrives.

Not unlike creators everywhere else, the difference between popularity and total crickets is how good creators are at capital-M Marketing.

In creator world, it often doesn’t matter how “optimized” your content is. It matters how authentic it is, and how good you are at connecting with people over it.

"Do you ever feel like this is all a bit of a bait-and-switch?" I press my pal. I realize I have only a few minutes left with her and I want the best info I can get.

"Not if you're transparent," Lisa says. "I’m still the one behind the content and the brand. They know when it’s really me. People are too good at that."

And that’s enough?

“I haven’t gotten any complaints,” she says. She eats a stale nacho to punctuate her confidence.

What I learned from my old pal 'Lisa'

One of the best things about longtime friends is how they can still surprise you. But touchy-feelies aside… there’s something quite useful here, too.

OnlyFans may seem entirely distant from the average creator's reality, but the underlying rules of fan engagement are shockingly universal.

And to do these things at a level that allows you to make money these days, you need AI — and you need to be transparent that you’re using it.

When used carefully and thoughtfully, it’s just another tool to help you bridge the gap between that personal connection and the efficiency you need to build a legitimate business.

By taking a page out of the playboy, I mean playbook, of OnlyFans creators, Instagrammers can learn something important: In the end, AI isn’t the enemy. It’s just the perfect partner to handle the dirty work — pun fully intended.

The waiter arrives and places our bill on the corner of the table.