- AI is helping people automate skills that used to take years to master.
- It's lowering the barrier to entry for highly skilled work like writing, designing, and coding.
- Here are 3 ways people are making more money with generative AI tools such as ChatGPT.
Since OpenAI launched ChatGPT last November, some workers have been using the chatbot to boost their productivity and make their jobs easier. Now, users are discovering new ways to make money off the new technology as the AI hype continues.
"We are currently in the gold rush era of AI," said Laura Anderson, a TikToker who advised viewers to charge customers for resume revisions made with ChatGPT. She said the software can make people lots of money — and said it was in its goldrush era.
The internet is now flooded with content from AI enthusiasts who claim that ChatGPT can be a viable source of income.
Search "How to make money off ChatGPT" on YouTube, and dozens of videos with titles like "How To Use ChatGPT to Become a Millionaire" and "Use ChatGPT to Make $320 Per Day" with hundreds of thousands of views will appear. On TikTok, the hashtag #makemoneywithchatgpt has racked up 3 million views, featuring videos on gigs like selling e-books, blog posts, and marketing plans made with the AI.
Even a cottage industry has emerged around AI educational services. A search for "How to use ChatGPT" on Udemy, an online education platform, yields 10,000 results on courses starting at $14.99 that teach students things like prompt engineering and how to integrate AI into their jobs.
Still, skeptics have criticized these AI-related gigs for exaggerating the monetary potential of AI and for offering a seemingly intuitive service that any novice can learn to do on their own. And of course, as with everything, it's always buyer-beware. Even so, some have proved that raking in extra cash from AI is, in fact, possible.
Here are 3 ways workers are using ChatGPT and other generative AI tools to make more money.
1. AI is helping workers draft marketing and sales content
Workers are using AI chatbots to automate time-consuming tasks — and, in turn, they are making extra cash.
Jacqueline DeStefano-Tangorra, the founder of a boutique consulting firm, said she booked $128,000 worth of new deals after she used ChatGPT to generate marketing posts and personalize business proposals for three months.
AI's potential to generate more revenue spans many industries.
Randy Baruh, a real-estate broker in New York City, used ChatGPT to write the initial drafts of listings for luxury real estate that were search-engine-optimized. As a result, he said he could sell the property for 10% above the listing price.
And Ihor Stefurak, an entrepreneur with no coding experience, got ChatGPT to write code for an AI extension on Google Chrome. He sold the extension for thousands three weeks later.
2. AI has led to new side hustles
ChatGPT is paving the way for new streams of income.
AI enthusiasts are making tens of thousands of dollars teaching students how to use ChatGPT. As of April, Peggy Dean, an artist who teaches creatives how to use ChatGPT on the side, had earned up to $10,000 from her Skillshare course.
Lance Junck, who made more than $52,000 from his ChatGPT course on Udemy in less than four months, quit his full-time job at an e-commerce company in April to focus on building out his ChatGPT-instruction business.
AI aficionados are not alone. Freelancers are making extra cash by using generative-AI tools to make pitch decks, publish books, dub videos in different languages, and write articles — services that freelancers say have helped them earn thousands of dollars.
Zain Kahn and his brother Awais even used ChatGPT to build an AI newsletter called Superhuman, which they say rakes in six figures in ad revenue every month.
3. AI is creating new types of full-time jobs
The rise of generative-AI tools has driven companies to create AI-related roles.
Companies are now hiring for a chief AI officer to join the ranks of C-suite executive roles. Depending on the company, a chief AI officer may offer guidance on developing in-house AI tools, identify areas of the business where AI can be deployed, or become the go-to expert on all things AI in the workforce, WorkLife reported.
AI companies are also hiring prompt engineers — those responsible for training the large language models behind AI chatbots so they can produce the most desirable outputs. Known as the tech industry's hottest job, a prompt-engineering role doesn't always require a STEM degree and can pay as much as $375,000 a year.
Companies are even creating ChatGPT-centered roles such as "ChatGPT email-marketing super-expert" and a "ChatGPT and AI developer."