Angelina YangFounder and Host, TwoSetAI · AI builder for visibility and discoverability

OpenAI costs more than my salary, but You get AGI for minimum wage | Mike Taylor, CEO@Ask Rally

9 Jul 2026 · 2 min

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1:47

In this interview, Mike Taylor argues that prompt engineering will never become obsolete, emphasizing that effective AI use still requires clear briefings and managerial oversight rather than pure data‑science skill. He illustrates how AI access is stratified: a free ChatGPT user, a Claude Code Max subscriber, and a heavy spender on a CloudMax plan who consumes roughly a thousand times more AI capacity. Taylor references Sam Altman's announced $2,000 and $20,000 monthly plans, framing them as "PhDs in your pocket". He contends that human intelligence offers a low‑cost alternative, likening it to getting AGI for minimum‑wage labor, and notes that influence in AI does not require a technical background, citing his own transition from marketing to authoring O'Reilly books. The conversation highlights the competitive edge gained by higher‑tier AI usage and the importance of managerial skills in orchestrating AI workflows.

Chapters

One guy came up to me and said, "Has nobody told you that prompt engineering is dead?" The promise was as models get smarter, they'll be able to write the prompts themselves. I think that's just never ever going to be true. We have people who are better than most other people at jobs and they still need legal, they still need HR, they still need managers, you know, they still need employee handbooks and all of these things are prompts.
But you're applying the same skill.
I actually use my managerial skills more with AI than I use my data science skills because most of the time it's about did I provide a clear brief? Did I divide the labor up in between different workers? Like one of the workers doesn't get too confused or overloaded.
Technology and AI is moving so fast now. Ground keeps shifting.
It's like if you don't keep up, then you might not be able to keep up. There's 3 people. One is using free version of ChatGPT. Another one is using like Claude Code Max. And then there's someone else like he's spending like $4,600 a month on 22 CloudMax account. He's basically getting like maybe 1,000 times more usage of AI than, you know, someone who's using the free version. Sam Altman has said there's going to be a $2,000 a month plan and a $20,000 a month plan, which is like PhD in your pocket.
So I think there is this competitive advantage.
I do think like humans are very low. Human intelligence is like a very good deal for how much it costs to feed us. You get AGI for minimum wage, right?
You don't have to be like trained to be a technical person to be one of one of the most influential voices in AI, right? You went from running a marketing agency to writing the O'Reilly books.
I dare to pinch myself sometimes.