How to Make Money With AI: 7 Proven Strategies

If you’ve been wondering about using AI to make money, you’re not alone. According to one survey, 65% of aspiring business owners say they are likely to use AI to launch their business in 2026.

Some of the possibilities for how to make money with AI include freelancing, AI model training, digital product creation, and content creation. Using artificial intelligence to make money may enable some individuals to leverage the skills, knowledge, and experience they already have.

Read on to learn more about making money with AI.

Understanding How to Use AI to Make Money

Using artificial intelligence to make money typically means finding ways to incorporate the technology into an existing business or side hustle to improve efficiency and production, or developing a new business idea that runs on AI technology. In these scenarios, AI doesn’t replace you as the head of your business; instead, it ideally acts as a tool that allows you to generate income more efficiently.

Using artificial intelligence to make money typically involves:

•   Developing a business or side hustle idea that incorporates AI

•   Researching ways to monetize that business with AI tools

•   Marketing what you produce to buyers

Some AI entrepreneurs offer services; others use AI to create products or content. AI income may be passive or active income, depending on what the technology is being used to do. Tech skills are not necessarily a prerequisite to use AI to make money, as long as individuals are willing to learn how these tools work.

Some people may hope to make money fast with AI. That may be possible in some instances, but AI is not a get-rich-quick-scheme, nor is it risk-free. Learning about the technology, including its advantages and disadvantages, may make you a better and informed AI user.

Recommended: Weird Ways to Make Money

7 Ways to Make Money With AI

Evaluating your skills, expertise, and interests is helpful when learning how to make money with AI. It’s also important to think about how much time you have to invest in a side gig or starting a business that uses AI. With those things in mind, here are seven ideas for potential making money with AI.

1. Provide AI-Powered Freelance Services

If you already offer freelance services, such as writing or editing, AI could help you complete tasks more quickly. You can train an AI content creation model to “learn” your clients’ style, tone, and voice preferences, then use specific AI prompts to generate content in minutes. You would likely still need to edit the content, and perhaps do some rewriting, to ensure alignment with the client’s specifications. But you may be able to significantly increase the volume of work you’re able to handle by using AI.

However, keep in mind that using AI to make money as a freelancer requires transparency. Some clients may be in favor of using AI tools, while others may be strictly opposed. Violating the terms of a freelance contract by using AI when it is not allowed might cost you a client.

2. Become an AI Model Trainer

AI model trainers help train large language models (LLMs) and other AI systems by finding and fixing errors in data and organizing it into a neat format. The goal is to teach the AI how to read and interpret data to generate accurate answers to questions. Model trainers provide feedback to the model, telling it which actions to replicate and which ones to avoid.

Model training can be an industry-specific side gig for some individuals. You may need to have data analysis skills as well as a background in a particular industry or in-depth knowledge of certain subjects to use AI to make money as a model trainer. For instance, if you have a medical, legal, or financial background and you know how to work with data, you might be able to train AI models on medical, legal, or financial texts.

3. Create and Sell Digital Products

You might consider using AI to make money with digital products if you’d like to generate passive income. Using AI to create products typically involves the following steps:

•   Brainstorm product ideas

•   Feed a detailed prompt into an AI design tool to create the product

•   List the product for sale on your website or an online marketplace

•   Market it using social media

•   Collect money each time your product sells

Once your product is listed, you can potentially sell it over and over again, which could put passive income into your bank account. This is one possible side hustles for couples and individuals that may produce passive earnings.

4. Offer AI Automation Consulting for Small Businesses

AI can automate administrative and operational tasks for business owners, leaving them free to focus on more important activities. If you’re knowledgeable about how to use different AI tools to create and implement automation workflows, you could potentially make money as a consultant for small business owners.

For example, you might assist businesses with automating payroll, email marketing campaigns, or onboarding new clients. You might consider specializing in and targeting a particular type of business or industry where demand for automation is highest.

5. Launch an AI-Assisted Blog or Website

Starting a blog or website is another way to use AI to make money if you’re interested in content creation. AI could help you develop drafts for blog posts or even write them for you, so that all you have to do is edit them, add images, and upload them. You could then earn income from on-page ads, sponsored posts, digital products, and affiliate partnerships. You could also offer AI-powered freelance services through your site for another income stream.

You could also use AI tools to build and design a website, such as an ecommerce site or a website representing a business, in days or even faster, depending on the complexity of the site.

6. Develop Simple AI Apps and Tools

If you have some basic coding skills or a willingness to learn them you could build an AI app or tool of your own. To find ideas for tools, start by thinking about common problems people have that you could help solve. For example, you might create a simple AI recipe generator tool that gives people meal ideas using the ingredients they have on hand. Once your app is ready, you can list it for sale in an app marketplace and start marketing it to potential buyers.

7. Sell AI Prompt Libraries or Templates

One of the most challenging aspects of learning to use AI effectively is knowing how to create a solid prompt. If you’re skilled at creating AI prompts, you could build an online library of premade prompts or templates to sell to other AI users. You may benefit from targeting a specific type of user, like graphic designers, writers, or marketers who utilize AI for content creation.

What Are the Risks of Using Artificial Intelligence to Make Money?

Using AI to make money carries some risks, and results or success of using AI are not guaranteed. First, scams are a risk factor. For example, you might come across a business opportunity that promises big profits with AI but it could really be a scam designed to take money from you, not help you make it.

AI use has some ethical and legal risks as well, especially if you’re using it for content creation. For example, digital products created entirely with AI can’t be copyrighted. That means someone else could swoop in, copy your design, and make money from it, potentially cutting into your profits.

Quality is another issue, as AI models are only as good as the data they’re trained on. If you’re using AI to write articles for a freelance client, for instance, it’s possible that you could produce copy that has errors.

Finally, AI’s relative novelty is also a risk factor, and there’s plenty of speculation about whether this technology will end up being a boom or a bust. If you build an AI business around a specific tool that suddenly disappears from the market, your business could go with it.

Using money management skills to create financial stability for yourself no matter what happens with AI moving forward could be very useful.

How to Manage Your New Income With a Bank Account

For those who do use AI to make money, having a bank account dedicated to their new venture is one way to help organize and manage any income they earn. For example, an individual might choose to open a high-yield online savings account for money they make from AI to potentially help it grow. They might earmark those earnings to a future goal, like a down payment on a house.

Or, they might decide to open a checking account online for their AI earnings. They could use this account to cover expenses related to the business.

When choosing a bank, some features to look for include competitive savings rates, and minimal fees. Some individuals might also be interested in features like overdraft protection.

The Takeaway

While it’s possible to make money with AI, the technology is not a magic bullet for creating income. There are risks involved with artificial intelligence, including quality control and ethical considerations. But if you can manage the risks and use AI in a way that enhances skills you already have — and/or improve efficiency for your own business or other businesses — you may be able to generate income that could help you save for the future.

Interested in opening an online bank account? When you sign up for a SoFi Checking and Savings account with eligible direct deposit, you’ll get a competitive annual percentage yield (APY), pay zero account fees, and enjoy an array of rewards, such as access to the Allpoint Network of 55,000+ fee-free ATMs globally. Qualifying accounts can even access their paycheck up to two days early.

Better banking is here with SoFi, named the #1 Bank in the U.S. for the fourth year in a row by Forbes (2026).* Enjoy up to 3.10% APY on SoFi Checking and Savings.

FAQ

Does it cost money to use AI tools?

Some AI tools are free to use, while others cost money. Whether it makes sense to pay for AI tools depends on your budget, what the tool can do, and the return on investment you expect to get. You might look for AI tools that offer a free trial or demo so you have a chance to test them before you commit to a purchase.

Do I need to be a programmer to use AI to make money?

You don’t need to be a programmer to use AI to make money, or even to have specialized tech skills. There are AI tools you’ll need to learn how to use, however — typically, you can learn how to use many AI tools online for free.

How long does it take to learn how to earn with AI?

The amount of time it takes to learn how to make money with AI typically depends on which tool or tools you’re using, how you’re using them, and what you’re doing to market your product or service. If you don’t spend enough time marketing your AI business, it may take much longer for it to take off.

Can AI completely replace my full-time job?

Whether AI could replace the income from a full-time job generally depends on your skills, how you’re using AI to make money and the amount of money you’re hoping to replace. Unlike a full-time job that offers a steady paycheck, using AI to make money is not necessarily stable. It is typically contract work, and may ebb and flow, which means income can also ebb and flow. Building a healthy emergency fund, paying down debt, and trimming your budget as much as possible may help create some financial security for individuals hoping to replace their full-time job with AI income.

What are the legal considerations of selling AI content?

Selling AI content raises copyright considerations, since work that is exclusively AI-generated cannot be copyrighted. That means you don’t really own the content or designs the way you would if you create them yourself. If you’re selling your content through online marketplaces, there may be restrictions on whether you can sell AI content without providing transparent disclosures to buyers.

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Photo credit: iStock/DjelicS

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