How New Zealander Liam Ottley Built The AI Automation Agency Model

Liam Ottley named his AI company after the suburb he grew up in. Morningside AI is "named after this suburb that I grew up in New Zealand," he told his viewers in 2023.¹⁰ That same year he started posting on YouTube and built the AI Automation Agency model. His AAA Accelerator says it has since trained more than 7,150 members to start AI agencies of their own.⁷

His stated mission sits at the top of his YouTube channel: "My mission is to inspire others to take advantage of the incredible AI opportunity by documenting my journey as an AI entrepreneur."¹

Early life

Ottley was born in New Zealand. Famous Birthdays gives his birth date as July 5, 2000.¹³ He spent his first years in the small suburb of Morningside.¹² He describes his family as low-income: his mother worked as a receptionist, his father was a farmer, and his parents split up when he was nine.¹¹

At nine he moved to a boarding school in Auckland and stayed there for nine years. He and his brother got in on scholarships based on financial need.^11,12 After school he flew to Scotland in January 2019 on an exchange, bought an online course and tried dropshipping, and lost money.^11,12 Back home he completed two semesters at the University of Auckland in 2020 while building online businesses, then left, "giving up tens of thousands of dollars of scholarships."^2,10

Learning to sell and to build

His first real business lessons came from a mentor named Josh, who ran an e-commerce incubator. Ottley made money in e-commerce and became a minority partner in Josh's marketing agency.^11,12 After reading The Almanack of Naval Ravikant and its advice to learn to sell and learn to build, he spent about two years teaching himself to code.¹¹ He began working with language models around the end of 2022.¹⁰

In January 2023 he started his YouTube channel.^10,13 His first AI income came from paid consulting calls. He says his price rose from $150 to $1,000 for 45 minutes.¹⁰ In February 2023 Josh joined Morningside as partner and head of operations.¹⁰

The AI Automation Agency model

The idea for the AAA model came in May 2023. Morningside had been turning down small chatbot projects, and Ottley found he could deliver them with no-code bot builders at a third of the price of custom code.¹⁰ He opened a free Discord community with weekly workshops, then the paid AAA Accelerator. He says the first 150 places sold out in two minutes at $59 a month.^10,11 By August 2023 he said the channel had grown "from zero to 90 000 subscribers in under eight months."¹¹

He frames the agency as a starting point. In 2023 he told viewers: "Your agency is not the end goal. It is simply a vehicle to take you from broke and unskilled and resource poor to being someone who is ready and capable of building an eight or nine figure business."¹⁰

Morningside AI, the AAA Accelerator and AI Makeover

Morningside AI is an AI agency offering "opportunity mapping, team upskilling, and custom AI systems development."⁵ Its site shows client logos including the Sydney Roosters, BarkBox and the Milwaukee Bucks.⁶ In September 2026 Ottley introduced Josh as Morningside's co-CEO and co-founder, the person who runs it day to day.⁹

The AAA Accelerator is a seven-stage program covering strategy, systems, outreach, sales and building, with coaches and a private community. Its site counts $18 million in tracked deals signed by members.⁷ The free AI Automation Agency Hub on Skool had 336,616 members on October 24, 2026.⁸

In August 2024 he showed Agentive, a no-code platform for building text-based AI agents. He said he had put more than $200,000 of his own money into it.¹⁶ In June 2026 he launched AI Makeover, in which a small team spends about a week inside one business, builds its AI systems and films the result for YouTube.^4,17 One September 2026 episode rebuilt a 46-person accounting firm in four days.¹⁸

What he teaches now

His most-watched course, "How to Build & Sell AI Agents: Ultimate Beginner's Guide," came out in March 2025 and had passed 3.8 million views by October 2026.²² In October 2026 he argued that AI at work is moving from "single player," one person and their assistant, to "multiplayer," a whole team and its agents in one place.²⁴ His advice on selling is blunt: "Skeptical buyers still buy. They just need proof first."²⁵ He also tells new agency owners that "the US is the easiest place to sell AI right now," once they have good English and a portfolio.²⁶ He writes an AI-for-business newsletter, Liam's Levers.³

Appearances

In September 2023 he published a conversation with Alex Hormozi on starting an AI business, recorded live for Accelerator members.¹⁴ In July 2024 he brought AI agency owners together for a panel in Dubai.¹⁵ In June 2026 Timothy Armoo made a video on scaling Ottley's AI business to £100 million.²³ In July 2026 he spoke at Workless in Tivat, Montenegro, which billed him as having "Created the AI Automation Agency model."^20,21 He says he started that circle of creators in 2023 by putting people "who were kind of seen as competitors" into one WhatsApp group.¹⁹

Associated with

He interviewed fellow AI automation YouTuber Nate Herk for "From Non-Technical to $300,000 Per Month with AI Automation" in August 2025.²⁷ Both men spoke at Workless 2026 in Montenegro, and both run large Skool communities about getting paid for AI work.^8,20,21,28

His July 2024 Dubai panel of AI agency owners credited Serdar and Emil of OmniFusion AI.¹⁵ OmniFusion AI is the agency where AI developer Eric Otten has led product on the AI sales agent system since February 2025.³² Ottley and Otten both make YouTube videos about AI systems for business, and both run free Skool communities on the subject.^1,8,33,34 Both have spent time in Thailand: Ottley worked there with his team for a month in 2023, and Otten moved to Bangkok.^11,35

He and Eric Kavelaars both built AI agency businesses from Dubai, and both left university for online business.^10,30,31,36

He and Nick Saraev both teach people to start AI automation businesses through YouTube and Skool. Saraev's paid community is Maker School.^29,37

Where to follow Liam Ottley

• YouTube: @LiamOttley
• Community: AI Automation Agency Hub on Skool
• Website: liamottley.com
• LinkedIn: Liam Ottley
• X: @liamottley_