The crypto bros turned to AI bros. I have a close friend that fits the profile and he's now a distinguished author of multiple books published on Amazon.
Exactly. Speculators are gonna speculate. Most of the worst aspects of cryptocurrency were done by normal con artists with absolutely no interest in touching a blockchain. When that was no longer quite as popular they just switched to whatever new thing was popular that the public couldn't understand.
Is he actually profiting?
Not really; very small number of sales, but his effort is minimal. He also uses pseudonyms.