👟 Lightweight AI Consumer Utility Apps

90 second post

December 29, 2024

I am trying something new with my content. Instead of writing long-form posts like the old days, I am going to publish more short-form stories that you can finish in <90 seconds, optimizing for insights (or laughs) per word.

Read time: 1 min 25 seconds.

Last month, I watched a video about Blake Anderson, a 23-year-old entrepreneur who made over $5M in one year with two AI apps: UMax and RizzGPT. UMax rates people based on their attractiveness and provides them with tips to maximize their appearance, while RizzGPT helps dating app users know what to say to their matches.

What do those two apps have in common, you may ask?

Well... besides the fact that they primarily target single men looking to up their dating game, they are both lightweight GPT wrapper apps focusing on a consumer niche. They were simple - in fact, they were coded by Blake (a business student from Tulane) using ChatGPT in just a month 🤯.

More broadly speaking, they are considered AI consumer utility apps.

These apps have a few common characteristics:

  1. Consumer utility: Apps that target a real consumer pain point (not social apps).

  2. AI wrappers: Typically built around some LLMs or AI models.

  3. Lightweight product and team: Only 1-2 killer features, built by a very, very small team.

  4. Growing trend: Capitalize on a growing trend (e.g., lookmaxxing for UMax and rising dating app usage for RizzGPT).

For AI models, I’ve seen the following being used the most:

I believe there will be an increasing number of these lightweight AI consumer utility apps popping up over the next few years, as the barriers to building these apps continue to drop (thanks to AI coding agents). Slow-moving incumbents risk losing market share to an influx of AI-native apps with better features, UX, and distribution channels.

Below are some of these apps I’ve seen recently, by category:

PRODUCTIVITY

PDF.AI: Instantly chat with or summarize PDF documents

  • Revenue: $50K+ MRR

  • Team: 1

  • Target users: Students, researchers, and professionals

Caktus AI: AI homework helper for students

  • Revenue: $100K+ MRR (based on my estimate of their web traffic — no source here)

  • Team: <10

  • Target users: Students

Cal AI: Track your calories with AI

  • Revenue: $600K+ MRR

  • Team: <5

  • Target users: Fitness and health enthusiasts

CREATIVITY

PhotoAI: Help people save time and money taking photos with an AI photographer

  • Revenue: $100K+ MRR

  • Team: 1

  • Target users: People who need to take photos of themselves

InteriorAI: Redesign your interiors in seconds with AI

  • Revenue: $30K+ MRR

  • Team: 1

  • Target users: Interior designers, homeowners

Musicfy AI: Use AI to create music with your voice or other voices

  • Revenue: $150K+ MRR

  • Team: <5

  • Target users: Artists, content creators

Crayo AI: Easily create short-form videos with AI

  • Revenue: $300K+ MRR

  • Team: <5

  • Target users: Content creators

InkGen AI: Generate tattoo designs with AI

  • Revenue: $10K+ MRR

  • Team: 1

  • Target users: Tattoo enthusiasts and artists

COMMUNICATION

Plug AI (aka RizzGPT): Know what to say to matches on dating apps

  • Revenue: $200K+ MRR

  • Team: <5

  • Target users: Dating app users

BoldVoice: Reduce accents when speaking non-native languages

  • Revenue: $500K+ MRR

  • Team: <15

  • Target users: Non-native speakers looking to improve pronunciation

Are you also building in this space? I’d love to hear from you :)

Leo