"If they are willing to pay you in particular, how many other people like you are they also willing to pay for, and is that number much greater than or much less than the current number paid to do it?"
There are not many Usain Bolts out there: just one, as a matter of fact. Who is Usain Bolt #100? Or #1000?
Paid by the standards of Kenya, perhaps. Not America. And how many of those people were paid anything like a living wage across all of the years of training? And how many orders of magnitude smaller is that number than '8 billion'?
And I note you still haven't answered my question. How many people are willing to pay you - who are not Usain Bolt - your current salary to watch you do whatever it is you do for sheer entertainment value for decades to come?
> Paid by the standards of Kenya, perhaps. Not America.
Well, with him being the world record holder, I'd assume he beat some americans too. And that they were not paid Kenya wages to go to that competition they lost to Bolt.
> How many people are willing to pay you - who are not Usain Bolt - your current salary to watch you do whatever it is you do for sheer entertainment value for decades to come?
Not sure, but i think it can be done. There was a mention of someone doing live coding with a Patreon and all here on HN in the past few years :)
TBH I think that in a few years 'no AI' will become a badge of honour in arts and entertainment. Just like the 'handmade' clothing/furniture...
As for how many people can make a living out of it, most artists/entertainers starve by definition. Or are amateurs. I've certainly paid to do sports before.
There are not many Usain Bolts out there: just one, as a matter of fact. Who is Usain Bolt #100? Or #1000?