The AI boom is good for people who write about AI. Ask Derek Thompson.

Courtesy of Derek Thompson; BI The AI boom is swallowing the US economy That extends to people who make a living writing, says author Derek Thompson: Stories about AI are the most lucrative thing he can produce. Thompson, who writes about a wide range of topics, says he's torn between writing stories he knows his audience wants, vs other topics he cares about. Derek Thompson writes and talks about a lot of things. But some things pay better than others: "Dimes for analysis, dollars for facts, and Benjamins for facts about artificial intelligence," he tells me. Thompson, a longtime Atlantic writer who left to launch his own Substack in 2025, has an avid following — Barack Obama reportedly reads him to stay on top of AI developments.