Sell AI to the People Who Refuse to Learn It
The speaker argues that despite widespread perception of AI adoption, only 5% of the population uses paid AI tools, creating a lucrative opportunity to sell AI services to businesses that refuse to learn it themselves. Success comes from positioning yourself as an AI expert (like Sophie's cousin Marcus) rather than trying to learn AI alongside the tools.
Summary
The speaker challenges the common misconception that AI adoption is widespread by providing evidence: only 5% of the world's population has paid for a paid AI tool. He illustrates this by noting that calling local businesses like gyms, HVAC companies, plumbing services, and even credit card companies reveals they still rely on humans or outdated systems—not AI. This gap creates a business opportunity: selling AI-generated content services (managing blogs, newsletters, tweets, and social media) for around $1,000/month to business owners stressed about content creation.
The speaker uses an analogy about three cousins to explain different relationships with AI: Jake casually uses ChatGPT occasionally and thinks he's using AI; Marcus is a genius who actively leverages AI; and Sophie smartly recognizes Marcus's expertise and delegates real estate deal-finding to him without questioning his methods or trying to replicate his work. Sophie represents the ideal AI user—someone who gets out of their own way and trusts the AI system. Most people, the speaker argues, are like Jake or Eric (who questions Sophie's approach), failing to truly leverage AI because they either use it superficially or try to validate AI decisions themselves rather than trusting the tool. The real opportunity lies in selling to people who recognize they should delegate AI work to experts rather than attempting to learn and implement AI themselves.
About this episode
✅ Grab my free Scale Workbook — the operating system I use with founders to turn a chaotic business into a growth engine that runs without them: https://go.danmartell.com/4gDFMJZ I'm Dan Martell. I built and sold three companies by 35, wrote the bestselling book Buy Back Your Time, and founded Martell Ventures, an AI venture studio launching new companies every month. Everything I share comes from real world pain and success… my own companies and the operators I work with every week. But it wasn't always like this... By 17, I was arrested twice and spent 11 months in a youth rehab center. Until finding a dusty Java programming book sparked my new addiction. Software. After two failed companies in a row… something finally clicked with Spheric. Built it from the ground up all the way to exit. Then I started Flowtown, then Clarity.fm. And it kept snowballing. A decade later I've invested in, advised, or worked with thousands of founders going from 0 to $100M+. All while mentoring youth through my free program Kings Club, and not sacrificing spend time with my wife and two awesome boys. Always growing. Let me know how I can help. Keep building your empire, -DM — Educational content only. Nothing here is financial, legal, or investment advice — do your own homework before making decisions about your business. Your results may vary. © 2026 Dan Martell.
Key Insights
- Only 5% of the world's population has ever paid for a paid version of AI, meaning 95% of potential customers remain untapped despite widespread perception of AI adoption
- The speaker claims that most people using ChatGPT casually (like asking about vacations once a week) are not actually 'using AI' in any meaningful business sense
- True AI value comes from delegating to experts and 'getting out of the way' rather than trying to learn and validate AI outputs yourself, similar to how Sophie trusts Marcus to handle real estate without second-guessing
Topics
Transcript
[0:00] Level one of making money in AI, it's essent you just have to sell to the people that refuse to learn it. That's the majority. There's only 5% of the world's population right now that has ever paid for a paid version of AI. So, it is even though people think everybody's doing this, nobody's doing this. I can prove it. Pick up the phone and call all the local gyms or the HVAC or the plumbing companies or even call your [0:30] credit card company. Guess what you're going to hear? Dial one for this or you're going to hear a real human answer that is too busy to take your call. So, right off the bat, nobody's…
Full transcript available for MurmurCast members
Sign Up to AccessMore from Dan Martell Daily
"If Nobody Would Buy Your Business, Why Own It?"
The speaker argues that a business is only valuable if someone else would buy it, and that the key to wealth creation is understanding and eliminating constraints in your business using the Theory of Constraints. He emphasizes that most entrepreneurs distract themselves with non-essential tasks rather than attacking the actual bottleneck limiting their throughput.
This Will Make You 3X More Productive With AI In 60 Seconds
The speaker discusses WhisperFlow, an AI productivity tool that uses voice input via a function key to communicate with AI at 200 words per minute versus 80 for typing. He argues that AI is uniquely programmed in English, making it more accessible than traditional programming languages, and demonstrates how he uses voice commands across multiple applications to accomplish complex tasks.
The Reason Your Team Should Ask You For Money
Entrepreneurs should function as capital allocators, deploying profits strategically into their businesses to maximize growth and ROI. Success requires identifying business constraints, calculating payback periods, building a team capable of making sound investment decisions, and focusing capital on high-probability opportunities with asymmetric risk-reward ratios.
The Best Framework To Make Hard Decisions In Business
A framework for making difficult business decisions involves clearly defining the problem to solve, evaluating no more than three options, and removing emotional bias by imagining you're advising someone else. The speaker emphasizes finding the intersection of what you love, what you're good at, what the world needs, and what people will pay for.
If You Only Learn One Skill This Year, Learn This
The speaker argues that sales is the most critical skill to master when building a business, more important than marketing. Great sales success is built on certainty and asking excellent questions rather than persuasive talking, and the salesperson who is most certain about the outcome wins the deal.