AsqMe, a startup aiming to help online creators better connect with audiences at scale, unveiled a new AI-powered inbox tool on April 18. The AI inbox automatically generates draft responses to fan questions using large language models, which creators can edit and send out.

Co-founder James Alexander calls the AI inbox “a stepping stone to a much bigger vision” of deeper artificial intelligence integration across AsqMe’s platform. He sees the flood of questions from fans and followers as “opportunities” ripe for monetization.

Early feedback from creators using the AI inbox has been positive, with 47% previously utilizing AsqMe’s separate AI writing aide. One creator who charges $5 per audience question raved about how it qualifies high-value inquiries that often lead to larger revenue opportunities down the line.

The AI inbox launch comes as AsqMe’s overall audience question volumes have grown 43% month-over-month since January. Even more encouragingly, revenue earned by creators on the platform spiked 68% over the same period as some began testing higher pricing tiers.

James Touts New AI-Enabled Inbox for Creator Economy

The AsqMe co-founder is bullish about the startup’s latest product update – an AI-enabled inbox designed to help online creators efficiently handle inbound questions at scale. “Our motivation for AsqMe is the same motivation for the inbox. And that’s ultimately to save creators time answering questions,” James says of the new AI inbox feature.

He argues that this “important form of engagement” is currently unserved by major platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, as well as creator economy companies like Patreon. “They’re not providing creators with the tools to help answer questions at scale.”

James calls questions from fans and followers “opportunities,” explaining: “There’s gold in every question. Every question can be monetized, either indirectly or directly.” According to the product management leader, indirect monetization could mean prompting someone to re-engage with a creator’s existing content where their query is addressed.

A key aspect of the new AI inbox is that it generates an attempted answer using AI as soon as a question is opened. “All you have to do is hit tab, and you can edit it if you feel it needs improvement,” he notes. “We’re seeing an incredibly high number of creators using that feature.”

Other workflow enhancements include the ability to hide questions, mark favorites, and easily see what has been answered or not. According to James, these AI capabilities extend beyond just generating answers. AsqMe can detect incoming question languages and automatically translate them, then translate the creator’s response back to the original language.

AsqMe’s AI-Powered Workflow Boosts Creator Efficiency

At the heart of AsqMe’s new AI-enabled inbox is an intelligent workflow designed to save online creators valuable time. James walks through the experience, showcasing the platform’s key features and efficiencies.

When a new audience question comes in, creators receive an email notification letting them know what they’ll earn for a timely response – creating an incentive to address inquiries promptly.

The AI-enabled inbox greets creators with the audience questions translated into their language if needed. Time-saving tools let them hide, favorite, or begin answering the query with a single click.

“There’s an answer waiting here for me,” James says of the AI-generated draft response. “If I want, I can just tab, and I have an answer waiting for me from ChatGPT.”

Creators can use the AI’s suggested answer as-is, edit it, or discard it entirely. They can also re-prompt the AI to dig deeper into specific aspects of the original query. Once satisfied, creators can flesh out and polish the answer, attaching any relevant photos or videos before sending it off.

AsqMe puts answers on a 24-hour, timely response window to maintain quality standards and build user trust. Creators who charge per question and respond within 24 hours get paid even if the audience member isn’t satisfied.

“We want to ensure we’re keeping things on a tight schedule,” says James. “We want to ensure we can fulfill that brand promise to the audiences and fans of the creatives who use AsqMe.

Audience members are then notified when their question is answered and given a chance to provide feedback—they can request up to two follow-up questions if the response misses the mark. If the audience members are satisfied, they drop into AsqMe’s “ThankBank,” where they can say “thank you” with stars, a personal note, and an optional tip.

“Star ratings are social proof, which is so important,” James notes, showing how audience feedback scores get displayed to inform future audience members about a creator’s overall responsiveness.

The workflow is designed to align incentives, with creators getting compensated for quality responses while audience members get the timely expert answers they seek. AI is the seamless enabler, augmenting creative output.

Creator Feedback Highlights AI Inbox’s Promise

While AsqMe’s AI-powered inbox is still a new offering, early feedback from creators points to its potential as a powerful tool in the creator economy.

Before the AI inbox’s release, around 47% of question notification emails sent to creators prompted them to use AsqMe’s AI writing tool, “First Draft.” The company’s surveys showed about 80% of creators report using AI like ChatGPT at least some of the time when answering audience questions.

“Now the answer is just waiting for you. It’s right there,” James says of the integrated AI capabilities. “You don’t have to do anything else once you get into AsqMe.”

One creator who charges $5 per answer praises the quality filtering the paid question model provides. He sees it as a way to attract “valid, qualified leads” and avoid wasting time on speculative inquiries.

“If they’re not willing to spend a few bucks, I’m not going to get the question,” the creator told AsqMe. Yet that $5 transaction often opens the door to much bigger monetization opportunities down the line.

“That $5 question in most cases turns into a $50 revenue opportunity, $100 revenue opportunity, $150 revenue opportunity,” he said, referencing his ability to surface relevant affiliate product offers then.

James cites the creator’s perspective as validating AsqMe’s role in prioritizing high-value inquiries and revenue streams instead of dealing with noise.

Overall, question volume growth on the AsqMe platform has been 43% month-over-month since January. Impressively, revenue growth for creators has outpaced that at 68% m-o-m during the same period.

The revenue acceleration seems driven by two factors – existing creators testing higher price points and new creators coming in at premium rates. One recently launched creator charges $15 per question while also enabling an optional $5 tip function.

“It’s really phenomenal to see that growth happening,” James says, both in terms of question volume and creators experimenting with what to charge per response.

While still early, James believes the growth metrics and qualitative feedback suggest AsqMe’s AI-enabled inbox is resonating with its core creator audience by providing efficiency gains and new revenue opportunities.

AI’s Double-Edged Sword for the Creator Economy

While bullish about artificial intelligence’s potential to empower creators, James also harbors concerns about potential downsides if the technology’s deployment is unchecked. “We’re a little worried about how it plays out in the creator economy as a whole,” the entrepreneur says. “We want to protect creators from what we think could be a very bad scenario.”

His fears include widespread intellectual property theft, which he believes is already happening as AI companies potentially scrape creator content from platforms like YouTube to train their models. He also wants to insulate human creators from an onslaught of AI-generated synthetic media that could subsume their work.

“What’s the value of being a creator if robots are getting all the views?” James posits. “We want to promote creators as humans, as authentic. We want to help creators do what we call ‘signaling their humanity.'”

Yet he recognizes that creator adoption of AI tools like ChatGPT is inevitable. That’s why AsqMe’s AI inbox allows creators to edit and personalize the AI’s output before sending it. “We can’t stop that train,” he says, so the company is focused on making its AI offering as “bespoke and useful” as possible.

By ingesting the creators’ videos, posts, and previous Q&A, AsqMe plans to train customized AI language models capable of generating hyper-relevant responses beyond what generalized systems can produce. It will also be able to surface relevant snippets from their existing content libraries automatically.

The goal is clear: Leverage AI to empower creators and boost engagement, not replace them.

“It’s going to save them even more time,” James says of the AI’s content processing capabilities. “We’re betting on the humans.”

While enthusiastic about AI’s potential, he remains pragmatic, stating that finding the right balance and safeguards will be essential to ensuring it truly benefits creators and their communities.