Their clients simply don’t know what to do with their own money.
A small group of luxury courtesans charges chronically time-starved IT businessmen from Silicon Valley thousands of dollars an hour, offering sex, attention, and intelligent conversation in return. Forbes USA explored why, in an era of growing popularity of cheap and accessible AI companions, the rates for live interaction are skyrocketing.
In 2024, Meida Marek (an online pseudonym) graduated from college and began working in finance. It was then that she wondered: what will happen when AI learns to do my job better than I can?
Marek reflected on what she has. She is smart, can hold a conversation, gets along well with people, and enjoys topics like AI, biohacking, and cryptocurrencies — in general, everything that can turn a simple dinner into a three-hour debate. So she decided to turn this skill set into a new profession — and entered escorting.
For Marek, this is a job with a special approach: premium companionship for the most popular and tech-savvy clients from Silicon Valley — those who usually work in AI or related fields. Recently, she has had many clients from Nvidia.
Women like Marek can be counted on one hand. And, like their clients, they also earn well.
"I would call this approach 'geeks in line,'" shares Ayla, a well-known online sex worker who became a sensation on X (the social network is blocked in Russia) thanks to her application of data analysis to her personal life. Today, she spends more time on advocacy in AI safety — for example, conducting an intensive called "Please Don’t Kill Us" to prepare influencers for the emergence of superintelligent artificial intelligence, but she still talks about what she has personally faced — men want an attractive, smart girl to take their ideas seriously.
The interest of escort workers in science and technology is described in their promotional materials. All the girls actively maintain pages on X, where they post provocative selfies while also commenting on various topics like AI and longevity. Marek's booking site looks like a text-based role-playing game, where users must fill out interactive fields with prompts. Talia Sable positions herself on her own website as a "big nerd" and notes that she previously worked as a programmer and is also interested in Dungeons & Dragons, AI, and supply chain topics. Sable charges $3,000 an hour.
"Posts about AI really work," says Ada Hopper (also an online pseudonym). "Suddenly, some guys from Nvidia pop up and are surprised: 'Wait, you know what a graphics processor is? Wow!'
In the escort aggregator Tryst, $1,000 an hour is already a high price. Marek charges $3,500. She has no problems with clients, and since the beginning of the year, her rates have nearly doubled. According to her, her schedule is currently fully booked for several months ahead, and new requests are coming in so frequently that she is considering raising her prices.
"The girls with the highest rates are not the most beautiful," says Hopper. "These are girls who are both attractive and smart." Hopper claims she charges $5,000 an hour.
During the gold rush, the biggest money was made not by the miners but by those selling picks, shovels, and housing. In the context of the AI rush in San Francisco, a similar service layer is forming. One of its components has turned out to be paid companionship for new miners.
Dating as a Service
The demand for escort services is generated almost entirely by the culture of Silicon Valley, revolving around busy schedules. The workers in the industry that Forbes spoke to deal with entrepreneurs, researchers, and executives living by the clock. Many of them want something akin to dating: attention, warmth, conversation, sex if possible, but without the unpleasant aspects, the risk of rejection, and other difficulties of modern romance. This ethic has even spawned branded merchandise. A meme about the businessman who is "single until round B" (the stage of venture financing where a startup raises capital to scale its business) has become a slogan and later found its way onto caps. It’s half a joke and half a confession, as long as the company isn’t a "real" one, relationships are seen as a burden.
"I remember at least one girl who called herself 'Claude's widow,'" notes porn actor Mark Nadal from San Francisco, who moonlights in male escorting and refers to the AI chatbot from Anthropic. "She lost her husband due to stress caused by AI."
Marek says her average client is quite young, usually between 30 and 50 years old. According to her, they are not just buying sex. What matters most to them is time with someone who can engage in conversations on their favorite topics.
The girl recalls a long night at the Ritz-Carlton, where she lay in bed with a client and simply talked.
"There was a huge window," says the escort worker. "I remember how the sun set and rose again, and we were still talking about the future. In between, there was some sex, but most of the time we had playful, pleasant conversation."
As a result of the AI revolution, colossal fortunes are being made. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently noted that the company has created an unprecedented number of billionaires among its managers. In October, OpenAI allowed more than 600 of its employees to sell shares worth up to $30 billion. Upcoming IPOs of OpenAI and Anthropic are expected to create what IT entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley call "wealth that is passed down through generations."
Even if it’s not entirely about cash in the bank, many in Silicon Valley feel they have scored a major victory. And after the question "How much?" the most pressing question becomes "What do I do with this now?"
They don’t need luxury cars, they don’t need expensive watches," says a person helping newly minted AI millionaires choose a charitable strategy. "They simply don’t know what to do with their own money."
One of Marek's clients, a businessman who made a fortune trading securities during the COVID-19 pandemic and is now launching a new AI startup, says he reached out to her after reading her posts online. "Now I’m much more selfish with my time," says the man. "Paying for time is much easier because the boundaries are clearer."
Ayla's Path
The current generation of escorts should be grateful to Ayla, the first of her kind to target geeks. Starting her career as a webcam model 15 years ago, she produced what is known as "meme porn": dressing up as a mime and putting on circus shows with aphorisms while engaging viewers in long philosophical discussions. In 2018, she moved to the San Francisco area to better integrate into the local community and brought this approach into her work in the sex services industry.
"Clients really want a sexy girl to appreciate their intellect as well," explains Ayla, adding that although clients often choose her for her intelligence, they usually talk about themselves while she simply listens and shares her thoughts.
Ayla's own data analysis confirms everything: once she conducted a cloud study on the words used, which revealed that escort workers who display erudition are worth much more in the market than those who focus solely on sex. The girl claims she now charges $6,000 an hour, although she only meets with a few clients a year.
Kim Lee, a dominatrix with over 20 years of sex work experience in the San Francisco area, who trains colleagues in managing their niche business, has observed rising rates among the upper echelon in escorting over the past few years.
Her scale looks something like this: entry-level workers charge about $300 an hour, while their mid-tier colleagues demand $500–800. Five years ago, the ceiling was $1,000 an hour.
"Now I notice that in the ultra-premium segment, the rates have risen even more," the woman admits. "You can see around $2,000 an hour. But there are very few of those. A big rarity."
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