Onix launches a "Substack for bots": AI twins of health experts, sold by subscription

Startup Onix is launching what its founders call a "Substack for bots": a platform where health and wellness content creators can build their own AI twins and monetize them through subscriptions.

Here is how it works. An expert, such as a nutritionist, a physician or a mental health coach, goes through onboarding on the platform, uploads their materials and trains a personal bot on their voice, style and knowledge. Users pay for access to that bot and can ask questions at any time of day, with no appointment and no waiting list. The influencer earns royalties on every subscription.

A separate layer of the business model is native commerce. The bots can recommend products from the person they are modeled on, such as supplements, meal plans and books, and complete the purchase on the spot. In effect, it is an AI salesperson that never gets tired and never goes on vacation.

The platform targets the space between "too expensive for a personal consultation" and "too specific for ordinary ChatGPT." Onix is betting that people care about the expert's personality, not just the answer to a question: they want advice from a person they trust, even if it comes as a digital copy.

The model raises obvious questions. How accurately does the bot reproduce the views of the real person? Who is responsible if a doctor's AI twin gives incorrect medical advice? How does a user tell where the expert's knowledge ends and the model's hallucination begins? Onix has not yet published a detailed answer to these questions.

Still, the market is clearly moving in this direction. Personalized AI assistants built on one person's personal brand are a logical next step for both the influencer economy and the AI industry. Onix is trying to claim this niche first and build the infrastructure before larger platforms do.

If the model catches on, it will change not only how people get health advice, but also how experts monetize their expertise, turning knowledge into an asset that works without their direct involvement.