9 ways ChatGPT and other AI tools can be used to earn thousands with side hustles

Pitch decks often take the form of a series of slides that combine facts about a company with an overarching narrative.

Scroll through a site like Upwork, and you'll see hundreds of listings from companies looking for someone to make them a winning pitch deck. 

With technology like ChatGPT, OpenAI's text-generating chatbot, and Tome, an AI-powered storytelling tool, freelancers can churn out multiple pitch decks a week. 

Larry Lundstrom, a pastor based in Arkansas, told Insider he makes two to three pitch decks a week using generative AI tools and charges anywhere between $500 to $1,000 per deck. AI tools have helped Lundstrom cut his turnaround time in half, he previously told Insider.

Ammaar Reshi, who works as a product design manager at the financial tech company Brex, used ChatGPT and Midjourney to write and illustrate a children's book titled Alice and Sparkle in 72 hours.   

The book is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Walmart. Reshi told Insider he's already sold over 1,300 copies since Alice and Sparkle went on sale in December and has generated $2,600 so far, noting that Amazon takes a significant cut of the royalties. 

Meagan Loyst, the founder of an online community of young investors called Gen Z VCs, used ChatGPT and DALL-E 2 to self-publish a children's book in less than two hours. 

Her book "Show Me What AI Can Do!" is available on Amazon for $2.99. 

Streaming companies like Netflix and content creators on YouTube and TikTok spend hefty sums on voice dubbers, who help them translate their content into more languages and reach a global audience.

But AI tools are making it easier to outsource that task to freelancers. 

When YouTuber Kris McCauley wanted to launch a translation of his videos to Spanish, he initially turned to translations.com, a go-to among YouTubers, he said in a video. But the company quoted him $4,000 for dubbing 100 minutes of footage. 

Then he came across Nova A.I., a software that can translate and add subtitles to videos. Nova A.I.'s "Pro" plan — priced at $18 a month — allows users to translate 300 minutes of footage into 75 different languages, according to its site.

McCauley mentioned he's saving hundreds of dollars with this new approach — though he's still relying on external dubbers as well. And he noted that an enterprising freelancer could easily turn dubbing into a profitable side hustle with a tool like Nova A.I. 

Henry Williams, a freelance writer based in London, used the bot to generate a marketing article. To his "horror," he said ChatGPT put together a 600-word article in less than 30 seconds.

Williams noted that the bot's tone was inhuman and the structure wasn't particularly sophisticated, but the "key points, the grammar, and the syntax were all spot on."

After a few tweaks, he said it was something he would have charged at least $615 to write.

"ChatGPT can write better cover letters and résumés than almost any person," said Brianne Kimmel, a venture capitalist who founded the firm Worklife Ventures.

As the only general partner at what Kimmel calls a "lean firm," Kimmel said that she and her team work with a lot of freelancers, and she pointed to freelancer platforms like Upwork, where résumé writers are charging anywhere between $25 to $65 an hour for their services.

"I'm really excited about AI because I feel like finally there's this new technology that really helps anyone learn a new skill quickly," she said. "And then there's new technologies where people can actually monetize those skills."

Jordan Poblete, a corporate strategist with a penchant for movie-making, is using ChatGPT and Dall-E 2 to put together a pitch for an independent movie.

"Our particular fim includes magical realism or aspects of magical realism that can't be created in a real world," he said, adding that Dall-E 2 has been especially helpful in achieving the right feel.

Poblete said he plans to pitch the movie to producers later this month. Though he said he's not sure exactly how much money the movie might generate, he's certainly hoping for a hit. 

Reshi used ChatGPT, MidJourney, among other AI tools to make an animated short within six hours. Since it was uploaded to Twitter last month, the video has already amassed more than 7 million views.

While Reshi told Insider he doesn't have plans to launch into animated shorts right now, he said, "If there's an idea that's inspiring enough that is worth monetizing (and I manage to find more time after my day job haha) then definitely!"

That opens up a host of lucrative side hustles for people who don't have direct experience coding in languages like JavaScript or Python.

Ammaar Reshi, who wrote a children's book with ChatGPT, also managed to code two computer games almost entirely with GPT-4.

Reshi said he would type a prompt into GPT-4 like "Add a high-score label that tracks the amount you've eaten" and GPT-4 would provide the requisite line of code in JavaScript. 

Reshi admitted that, at least for now, GPT-4 doesn't generate the most flawless code. However, he does think the tool will make it easier for novice programmers to build out their ideas — and earn money for them. 

Aspiring graphic designers and seasoned ones alike are now using these tools to quickly generate images for presentations, pitches, and marketing campaigns. 

For those looking for help getting started, Worklife Venture's Kimmel had a suggestion:

"You can go on Upwork and bid on graphic design jobs. Then use DALL-E 2 to generate the original graphics." 

Kimmel added graphic designers and logo designers can make hundreds or thousands of dollars per job this way.

Chase Dimond, an entrepreneur who earns seven figures through multiple income streams, uses ChatGPT to find inspiration for his social media posts. And Dimond, who has 100,000 followers on Twitter, almost 180,000 followers on LinkedIn, and 10,000 on YouTube, counts on his social media brand as one of his six income streams. 

Samantha North, a blogger who made $115,000 running two websites last year, said she uses ChatGPT to generate themes and ideas on topics or write introductions for her blog posts. AI has helped her to create more content without the need to bring on an additional employee or outsource work to other freelancers, she said.