Unless you’ve been living under a rock this year, you’ll have heard of ChatGPT.
This AI tool, and many others, have taken the world by storm. And the good news is, it’s easy to master these tools and learn how to make money with AI.
My personal experience with AI and machine learning goes back to 2017, when I started my PhD in computational social science at the University of Bath. Since then, I’ve published academic work involving machine learning analysis of large data sets.
I’ve also integrated a range of AI content creation tools into my SEO and digital marketing workflows. They’ve played a key role in helping me build two profitable blogs (check out my recent interview with Business Insider where I talk about this in more detail).
Let’s find out how to make money with AI, no PhD required.
How To Make Money With AI in 2024: 15 Actionable Ideas
1. Start a Freelance Writing Service
Providing human-quality writing generated by AI algorithms is one of the most promising business opportunities out there right now.
Companies have near-infinite demand for high-quality, affordable content. With the right AI tools, you can position yourself to meet that demand far faster than humanly possible.
The best part is that the technology is now accessible enough for non-techies to take advantage of. User-friendly writing assistants like ChatGPT or Claude make it simple to input topics and generate entire articles from scratch.
But keep in mind, AI writing tools still make obvious factual mistakes at times. You should always invest some time in editing and revising content before publishing the final version. This approach allows you to deliver reliably accurate work tailored to each client’s brand tone and guidelines.
Also, you should make it clear to your client that the content is AI-generated, rather than trying to pass it off as entirely human. If you do a good job at prompting, fact-checking, and editing, then the content can still be of excellent quality.
To get started, experiment by prompting some free AI writing assistants with sample requests to assess the type of output. Make note of their strengths and limitations and customize the revisions for client-ready polish.
As you streamline your process, you can develop service packages and pricing plans tailored to common client content needs – such as blog posts, LinkedIn content, newsletters, web page copy, product descriptions, landing pages, and so on.
Best tools to get started
- Claude 2 from Anthropic
- ChatGPT 4
2. Start and Monetize Your Own Blog
Blogging is still one of the best ways to build an online income.
But many new bloggers get overwhelmed at the sheer quantity of blog posts needed to start ranking in Google and attracting traffic. Here’s where AI tools can help you out.
For starters, you can use AI writers to create all of the content for your blog.
Tools like ChatGPT and Claude make it simple to describe post topics and generate entire drafts from scratch. The AI captures patterns and nuances that often pass for human-written quality on first read.
You can either use the AI tool to create a blog post outline, then fill in each section one by one. I prefer doing it this way as it gives me more control. I also slot in manually written content where I think it’s necessary (for example, when I need to talk about my personal experience with something).
Alternatively, you can use “one shot” blog post generator tools, where you just plug in the target keyword and it generates the whole post from beginning to end.
Personally I don’t use these, but I know lots of people who’ve had great results with them. It partly depends on your niche. One-shot blog generators aren’t always a good fit for complicated niches.
Keep in mind that AI-generated drafts won’t usually be perfect. Expect to put in editing time to correct factual errors and refine the tone of your brand’s voice. But even with revisions, you’ll create posts 10x faster than writing them by yourself.
AI tools also make great assistants for easily repurposing blog content for multiple other platforms.
Once your blog starts pulling in some organic traffic, you can explore monetization strategies. Popular ones include display ads, affiliate marketing, and selling digital products.
Best tools to get started
- Claude
- ChatGPT
- Byword
- Koala Writer
3. Build a YouTube Channel
YouTube is one of the best opportunities to make money online in 2024.
It’s a powerful search engine that’s still less saturated than Google search itself. That’s why it doesn’t take many videos to start making an impact in your niche.
What’s more, showcasing your expertise on video is one of the best ways to build authority and attract a loyal audience who are ready to buy from you.
But a lot of people either don’t love the idea of appearing on video, or get put off by the amount of editing required to produce good-quality videos. That’s where AI will be your savior.
AI can help you with many parts of the video creation workflow. For example, you can ask an AI tool to generate a video script around a certain topic, or use an existing blog post as a jumping-off point.
Then, you can plug that script into a teleprompter app and read it into the camera. This is a simple way to make a YouTube video that requires minimal editing afterward.
But if you want to go a step further, you can use AI to generate a custom avatar that looks exactly like you, speaks in your voice, and can appear on the YouTube video for you. So if you’re afraid of being on video, this could be the perfect solution for you.
Best tools to get started
- ChatGPT 4 or Claude (for script generation)
- Descript (for easy video editing)
- HeyGen (for generating custom video avatars)
4. Write Email Newsletters
Email newsletters represent major untapped earning potential. People’s attention spans may be short these days, but inboxes remain a unique way to regularly engage audiences.
The trick is consistently creating valuable and targeted newsletters that readers look forward to receiving. But crafting fresh editions week after week can be a creativity drain.
I know the feeling. I’ve been writing a weekly newsletter for almost three months now, and some days it feels like a struggle to get the words on the page.
Here’s where AI comes to the rescue. Tools like Claude make it super simple to generate entire email newsletter drafts around the topics your audience cares about most. Just feed the tool a few key points, curate the output, and watch high-quality newsletters come together fast.
Simply describe the content pieces you’d like included – whether an industry trend analysis, Q&A with special guests, or tailor-made product recommendations. AI can synthesize drafts that capture your unique vision and brand voice.
Review the draft, make edits where you’d like, and before you know it, you’ll have happy subscribers looking forward to your emails hitting their inbox each week, translated into revenue growth.
You could either grow your own profitable newsletter, or sell your newsletter writing services to consultants, coaches, or companies who could benefit from it.
Best tools to get started
- Claude 2 from Anthropic
- ChatGPT
- Bard
- Jasper AI
5. Become a Ghostwriter
Ghostwriting is a lucrative field, with no shortage of people and brands seeking quality writers.
But not everyone has the talent and versatility to produce memorable social media updates, thought-leadership content, or even books on endless topics.
Does it sound overwhelming to constantly be an expert on something new? As a ghostwriter, it often feels that way. But what if AI could help you competently write just about any client request thrown your way?
Well, the latest AI tools make that possible. Describe a client’s concept to a platform like ChatGPT or Claude, validate the key details, and watch the tool produce entire drafts to match different voices and styles.
Don’t feel confident intervening much? No problem – the AI can refine and rewrite content on its own by giving it feedback on what to improve. Before you know it, you’ll have polished drafts that tap into each client’s brand and goals.
In a fraction of the time, you can deliver far more ghostwritten content scaled to each request – from thought leadership articles and LinkedIn content to entire books!
6. Sell Custom AI Images
Visually stunning and unique images are invaluable for brands seeking to stand out. But custom photoshoots and licensing stock visuals don’t come cheap. What if AI could generate custom images tailored to each client’s vision?
Well, the latest AI art platforms make that possible. DALL-E, Midjourney, and others allow you to describe any visual concept through text prompts. Input client requests and watch as the tool synthesizes one-of-a-kind images to match their brand and vision.
The outputs won’t always be glitch-free and you’ll have to tweak them. But they provide fertile starting points to realize visuals that previously required entire creative teams. With light curating, you can deliver images with the style, composition, and bespoke attributes to suit each client’s needs.
And thanks to the automation, you can provide this service at a fraction of traditional photography/licensing costs – all while building a portfolio of happy clients with visuals fine-tuned to their needs.
Best tools to get started
- DALL-E
- Midjourney
- Gamma
7. Write and Sell Ebooks
Have you ever dreamed of authoring an Amazon bestseller? Or even just publishing one quality ebook packed with your insights?
If so, you’re like a lot of experts I talk to – you’ve got the passion and knowledge, but the prospect of a book just feels overwhelming. That blank page is intimidating! And designing a cover that could go viral? Pretty scary for a first-timer.
But AI is leveling the playing field in the world of self-publishing. You can now turn your big ebook dreams from intimidating to totally doable – thanks to some amazing new creative tools.
Imagine just describing your genius book concept to ChatGPT, Claude, or Bard. The tool asks you some thoughtful questions to really grasp your vision. Moments later it’s created a compelling content outline that’s a great fit for readers passionate about your niche.
Or try imagining your perfect eye-grabbing cover and prompting a tool like DALL-E or Midjourney to generate designs striking that exact tone.
Before you know it, every step from concept to manuscript to viral cover gets elevated through user-friendly AI. Your unique ideas get to shine through, while the tech handles the heavy lifting that was formerly out of your reach.
Best tools to use
- DALL-E
- Midjourney
- ChatGPT 4
- Claude
- Bard
- Jasper
8. Create a Digital Course
Digital courses are all the rage, and they’re great for generating passive income (after putting in the work upfront). But there are at least three common roadblocks that tend to block creators from making progress:
- Mapping out a comprehensive curriculum covering niche skills
- Recording quality videos to demonstrate each lesson
- Imposter syndrome and overwhelm
It’s not surprising most aspiring course creators stall out in overwhelm (I’m definitely one of them). But AI is about to shortcut those steps for you in a major way.
Instead of drafting lessons and filming videos, simply describe your course vision to text-to-video AI tools. Suddenly you have polished video lessons generated automatically to align with the curriculum plan you outlined.
And if you change your mind about the section order or concepts covered? No problem, just revise the text and the AI tool will render updated videos showcasing your refinement.
Before you know it, you’ve got a complete course capturing knowledge that resonates with students seeking your unique expertise. You can even keep their attention spans locked in with things like AI-generated motion graphics and smart visualizations to keep the material crisp and interesting.
9. Sell AI Prompts
Unleashing AI’s creative potential requires providing effective prompts. But crafting quality prompts is challenging since small tweaks can impact results.
What’s more, many people don’t fully understand how to write an effective prompt that leads to the right outcome. It’s important to remember that interacting with an AI tool is an iterative process, so you need to be prepared to go back and forth to fine-tune the output.
Skilled prompt writers can provide value by selling tailored prompts to creators in their niche. For example – an art prompt that returns specific visually stunning results could sell to sci-fi game developers or comic artists.
The key is mastering prompts that reliably yield desired outputs in your specialty. Once you get used to creating prompts, you’ll be able to analyze patterns in the wording and style that lead to high quality results.
Once your prompt catalog produces consistently useful creations, you can package up your top prompts as products for others! Offer creators a shortcut by selling prompts fine-tuned for their needs, such as digital marketing tasks.
In time, a wide range of teams may purchase your prompts – from startups to big companies.
10. Build Your Own Simple AI Product
Believe it or not, you can make money by creating a simple AI product even if you’re not technical.
First, think small. Identify an everyday irritation like forgetting to walk the dog or losing track of your budget. Your product can solve basic problems that bug you or your friends.
For example, online entrepreneur Pieter Levels created an AI tool to review dating profiles.
In the past, you needed to write lines of code to build the functionality of an app.
But now, you can create products using lines of text in an AI prompt. You just have to figure out how to craft the prompt in the right way to reliably get the output the user needs, then package it up in a way that appeals to them.
You could keep the tool as simple as the example above, or hire a frontend developer to create a nice interface for it.
Best tools to use
- ChatGPT 4’s custom instructions feature
11. Create AI Chatbots
Need a business idea that can work around the clock with little ongoing effort? AI-powered chatbots are your ticket.
These virtual assistants handle common customer queries on your website 24/7. The more they field basic questions and guide users, the more time you regain to focus on the more complex cases.
Best of all – ease of setup today allows anyone to build chatbots for their business, even without technical expertise. User-friendly platforms like Landbot provide drag-and-drop interfaces to visually map out conversations.
You simply structure if-then logic to recognize question types and provide answers or routing. Then add relevant links, images, or videos to enrich responses.
Use chatbot platforms’ built-in analytics to continuously improve performance. Identify common questions missed or misunderstood and refine the bot’s knowledge base.
Once you’ve smoothly automated basic customer interactions, you can market your bot as a service. Other sites in your industry would love plug-and-play support options.
With some creativity, almost any business can leverage a customized AI chatbot.
Best tools to use
- Landbot
- Hello AI
- Frank AI
12. Sell Digital PR Services
Digital PR campaigns are one of the most effective methods to build visibility and attract high-value backlinks from top-notch media outlets.
Brands will pay thousands of dollars a month for well-thought-out digital PR campaigns. But first, you need to come up with original and exciting story angles to catch the attention of journalists.
One of the best ways to find these is by drawing new and original insights from existing public data.
AI tools can help you find ideas, craft new angles from existing data, and even crunch data into an interesting story to pitch to journalists. When you have the data, write it up into an interesting story that would appeal to journalists in your client’s niche.
Once you’ve created a suitable story that fits your client’s brand, you can then consult a database such as MuckRack, Roxhill, or Meltwater to find relevant journalists and start preparing targeted pitches.
Best tools to use
- ChatGPT 4 (for data crunching)
- Claude (for writing and idea generation)
13. Provide AI Training or Consulting
Although AI tools are becoming popular, many still struggle to apply these tools effectively for their needs. That’s where you come in!
Use your knowledge of these tools to offer services training others on how to maximize emerging AI technologies for their personal and professional goals.
For training services, you could develop both live and recorded courses guiding users in structuring prompts that reliably yield their desired outputs from tools like ChatGPT.
You should also teach them best practices in when to trust vs fact check AI, and how to integrate human input into the final AI output.
Another important area is to highlight effective workflows integrating AI tools for critical thinking support – such as identifying biases, generating ideas/questions, or rephrasing complex points.
Personally, I find Claude invaluable for acting as a sounding board when I come up with new ideas both in life and business. It helps me apply extra logic, extend ideas in new angles that I might not have thought of, and shed new light on existing approaches.
One-on-one or small group consulting can provide personalized guidance tailoring AI tools to streamline individual workflows covering notetaking, writing support, research, and more for knowledge workers or students aiming to upgrade productivity.
As AI assistants become mainstream, there will be lots of opportunities for experts who can skilfully mentor individuals and teams, delivering AI training that’s suited to each client’s individual needs and risk comfort levels.
14. Start an SEO Agency
As AI comes to the forefront, the world of SEO is changing dramatically. The recent Helpful Content Updates are a prime example of that, as Google shifts its algorithms to prioritize certain types of content over others.
As Google starts to integrate AI more frequently into its search results, SEO professionals must adapt to keep up. That creates an excellent opportunity to build an AI-first SEO agency.
Caveat: I’m not suggesting that you build an SEO agency just to churn out loads of generic AI content. Instead, approach it in a smart way that leverages AI tools to extend and improve specific aspects of the typical SEO workflow.
For example, some areas where AI tools can help with SEO:
- Organizing a list of keywords into logical topic clusters
- Creating compelling click-worthy titles and meta descriptions
- Generating optimized outlines for blog posts
- Using insights from the competition to improve existing content
Remember, AI tools still aren’t a substitute for human skill and experience when it comes to SEO. It’s important to keep the humans in control but use the tools strategically to make the work faster and better.
Best tools to use
- Chat GPT
- Claude
- Jasper
- Surfer
- Keyword Insights
- Scalenut
- Neuron Writer
15. Offer AI Translation Services
Expanding overseas requires translating massive amounts of content. Even large teams struggle with localizing website content, sales documents, and marketing campaigns quickly while still preserving quality and context.
Traditional translation is not only time-intensive but also very expensive to scale across languages. Yet it’s still a crucial factor for providing native market experiences that appeal to global audiences.
This dilemma makes translation services ripe for an AI overhaul – using natural language processing to accelerate high-quality localization.
User-friendly AI-driven platforms like DeepL allow the launching of translation services fast without having any machine learning expertise. You simply pass the text or entire documents through the platform to get entire sections processed into target languages rapidly and accurately.
While AI translation still benefits from human proofing, it unlocks 10x speed improvements over manual efforts. For commonly translated materials such as marketing content, the accuracy of these tools now rivals specialized linguists.
Best tools to use
- DeepL
- Reverso Translation
- Lokalise AI
- Chat GPT
How I Personally Make Money With AI Tools
At the moment, I’m using AI tools to make money mainly through SEO, blogging and content creation.
I normally use a combination of AI writing and human editing to create blog posts, then monetize them with ads, affiliates, or digital products.
I also use AI tools to help me optimize the posts for search, conduct topic clustering with lists of keywords, and come up with ideas for fresh content that goes beyond just keyword research.
In April of 2024, I launched a YouTube channel, in which AI plays a key role.
So far, I’ve made the videos myself, but I may create an AI video avatar of myself for future use. I already use AI tools like Descript to help me edit video footage faster and more efficiently.
I’m also in the process of creating a workflow for repurposing search-optimized blog posts into conversational video scripts that I can then deliver via my teleprompter app.
This will cut down the need for editing and make the whole process faster.
Actionable Next Steps
Learning how to make money with AI is well within your grasp. The first step is really to get to grips with some of the most popular AI tools.
You need to get a feel for how to prompt and how to work with the iterative process that leads to the best results. Think of the situation as having a smart assistant who you can ask to do certain tasks, and ask to make changes if the results aren’t what you want.
My favorite AI tools for the everyday user are ChatGPT and Claude. Both of these tools offer free versions so you can get started quickly and easily.
If you want more processing power or find you run up against messaging limits too quickly, then it’s worth investing in a paid subscription plan.
Both tools have affordable monthly fees of around $20 per month – great value considering the massive potential for making money with AI.
The world of AI is exciting and it’s growing all the time. I plan to extend this blog post with new ideas for how to make money with AI, as soon as they come onto my radar.
