Will AI Help Side Hustlers Make More Money? How Can It Enhance Side Gigs?

With AI evolving rapidly, many side hustlers and gig workers are wondering—will AI be a game-changer for making money on the side?

From AI-powered content creation and video editing to automating customer interactions and streamlining freelance work, AI tools are opening up new ways to boost productivity and income. Platforms like ChatGPT, Runway ML, and Canva’s AI features are already helping freelancers, marketers, and content creators scale their side gigs faster.

But what about the challenges? Will AI create more competition, or will it level the playing field for those just starting out?

How do you think AI will impact side hustles in the long run? Have you used any AI tools to enhance your side gig? Let’s discuss!

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Comments

RonErez

I occasionally use AI to rephrase emails or refine a lecture title. However, when it comes to creating content, I feel that it diminishes my skills and doesn’t align with my approach. I’m not particularly enthusiastic about AI in that regard.

Btw, the above was rephrased by ChatGPT, the original was:

"I use AI a little to rephrase emails or rephrase a lecture title. However if I use it to create content I think it makes me worst at what I do and kind of stupid. I'm not a huge fan of the AI thing."

—

In all seriousness AI is a great tool which can easily be abused. Used wisely it can help speed up some steps in course creation. Used poorly it can help people flood the market with poorly made courses. In general I like taking pride in what I do and I really don't like the idea of AI doing it for me.

Another drawback of AI is now many people teach themselves topics directly from AI instead of taking courses. If it gets good enough it might make course creation obsolete.

Janbud

I think that AI is a such a quantum leap in so many respects that it can't be ignored. If you don't make use of it, you are likely to fall behind, no matter what your career happens to be. Many people will wonder if their jobs are at risk, perhaps, but I noted a comment from an illustrator in Shutterstock that made sense to me: he wrote that he is using AI to improve, innovate and speedily create better illustrations than he had done previously. In a nutshell, if you can't beat them, join them.

Things are still in AI's early days, and a lot has to happen in terms of regulation, legislation (e.g. copyright issues), and more. It's best to keep abreast of developments but to use the technology in whatever ethical way it can help you.

I'm very interested in the subject, as I'm involved in book publishing, and that has been hit right on the head. You can produce a complete, 50,000-word manuscript in minutes using AI. So, there's the increase in competition, including from people who usually can't even write a short letter. However, there are issues involved. The final judgement is whether people will buy your book (or illustration, etc.), and that depends on the quality of the product. I can assure you that someone who can't write a short letter is welcome to create a 50,000-word tome on future genome developments, but it won't make any headway. If you don't know the subject, you'll miss errors (and ChatGPT does produce mistakes, oversights and out-of-date information), nor will you know how actually to design an attractive product.

There's so much more to this subject that I can't cover here, not least of all, the issues of copyright and plagiarism. The questions raised by Akhil-DPPPro are valid but can't all be answered right now - the future of AI is changing so rapidly that one has to try to keep abreast of progress but not expect a truly level playing field in the foreseeable future. Do a Google search frequently; that will help.

It would be interesting to hear from someone in Udemy about AI; they may know much more about it than I do?

FrankKane

The general question about "side gigs" instead of being Udemy-specific leaves me wondering if the OP is an AI!

I use AI to accelerate things like writing quizzes and practice exams, analyzing feedback on my courses, and producing study guides. So it has certainly made me more efficient.

But I don't use it to write scripts, generate a voice, or generate videos or images. That strips any sort of individuality out of your course. AI works by mashing together everything everybody has ever done into a blender, and spitting out bland, generic, corporate-sounding output in response. It's also still recognizable as AI.

As a learner on the marketplace, I'm not willing to spend my hard-earned money on content I could just ask ChatGPT about on my own. I'm willing to pay for the human insights of the instructor, their experiences, their stories. And I'm willing to pay to be entertained by a charismatic instructor. AI is not charismatic. AI content might get by on YouTube, but that's only because it's free.

That said, it's possible to fine-tune an model to mimic your own style of writing or speaking. But why go through all that trouble when you can just record the real you? It will always come across as more authentic. And if there's one thing that I think AI will make more valuable going forward, it's authenticity.