We Wrote Off n8n, Then Claude Code Brought It Back From the Dead

Only 2% of Americans pay for AI. TJ Larkin and Shane Brady break down why that number is so low, and what it means for local media, marketing, and your business. This episode is brought to you by GreetForm, the form and offer system that pays newsletters back within minutes of a new subscriber instead of months. If you run a newsletter or local media brand, see how it works at greetform.com. Only two percent of American households pay for a generative AI subscription according to new PNC Bank data, up 155 percent year over year but still tiny in the grand scheme of things. TJ and Shane dig into why so many people still don't see the value, why brands that quietly drop the word "AI" from their marketing are growing faster than the ones that lead with it, and why local, in-person experiences are becoming more valuable as more of life goes digital. They also get into Cloudflare's plan to let AI agents pay publishers by the article, Anthropic's 1.5 billion dollar settlement with book publishers, and DoorDash's new interface that lets AI agents place orders on your behalf. Then TJ walks through why he came back to n8n after writing it off, how using Claude Code and Codex to build the automations instead of learning the n8n interface himself changed everything, and why "I one-shotted this" demos rarely survive contact with a real paying customer. In this episode: -Why brands hiding the word "AI" grew subscriptions 32 percent overnight -Cloudflare's move to let AI agents pay publishers per article, and what it means for the future of media -DoorDash's new AI agent ordering system, and how fast TJ thinks people will actually use it -Why TJ came back to n8n by having Claude Code build the automations for him instead of learning the interface -Inside GreetForm: how a golf simulator business closed 60 percent of leads at $200 a month, turning the cost of growing a newsletter from an expense into a profit Guest: Shane Brady https://www.youtube.com/@Shane-Brady Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:10 Only 2% of Americans pay for AI, and why the number is so low 01:54 The bifurcation: AI power users versus everyone else 04:57 Why nobody outside our bubble even calls it "Claude" right 05:32 Brands hiding the word "AI" and growing faster because of it 06:39 The Great Unplugging, and why local media wins from AI fatigue 08:58 Cloudflare, micropayments, and AI agents paying publishers per article 11:27 Tokenization, stablecoins, and the future of paying for AI 14:54 DoorDash lets AI agents place orders, what that means for shopping 19:40 TJ's n8n comeback and using Claude Code to build the automations 28:20 Building a personalized AI newsletter live on screen 31:02 The niche competitor-intelligence newsletter business idea 32:52 Inside GreetForm: turning newsletter growth costs into profit 40:31 Real case study: 60% close rate on a golf simulator lead 41:34 Why "I one-shotted this" demos rarely survive real customers This episode is part of AI for Media Brands, produced by Modern Media Engine, TJ Larkin's agency helping local media and newsletter brands grow with AI and paid acquisition. Learn more at modernmediaengine.com. #AIforMediaBrands #ArtificialIntelligence #LocalMedia #Newsletters #SmallBusiness