How do AI influencers actually make money? Breaking down the real business model

I build and teach this, so here's the honest mechanics, not the hype. Build one consistent AI character (custom-trained, not just prompting), run it as a social presence, monetize on platforms that allow AI. The edge isn't quality vs humans — it's near-zero content cost, no burnout, horizontal scaling. The underrated hard part: consistency is genuinely difficult, and the money is in audience relationship management, not the content. The content's the easy 20%. Broader signal: when content cost hits zero, the bottleneck becomes distribution and trust. Applies way past this niche. Happy to go deeper on any part — it's what I do daily.