4 Lazy AI Side Hustles That Make $1,000
Written by
Andrew Lisa
Edited by
Cory Dudak
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The rise of artificial intelligence sent a wave of panic across the industries most vulnerable to software-based replacement — AI was coming for jobs. For some, that might be true, but for side hustlers across America, the emerging technology is also creating money-making opportunities, as certain side gigs can put $1,000 or more in their pockets.
The following is a list of lazy AI side hustles that can rake in four-figure earnings in an average workweek or less — and none of them require the expertise or hard work of writing program code or building large language models from the ground up.
AI Prompt Writer
- Time to reach $1,000: 42 hours
Celebrity billionaire Mark Cuban recently told CNBC that if he were young today, he’d launch an AI prompt writer side hustle because of the gig’s low barriers to entry — no degree required — and potential for six-figure earnings.
This side hustle involves crafting prompts — specific instructions to guide an AI model to generate relevant, accurate outputs, including images, code and text.
According to ZipRecruiter, the national average pay for AI prompt writers is $24 an hour.
AI Prompt Engineer
- Time to reach $1,000: 19 hours
The terms “prompt writer” and “prompt engineer” are often used interchangeably, but there are key differences in the job description — and in what that job pays.
AI engineers have a more technical role. They create prompts that focus on optimization and take factors like computational cost and accuracy into account.
According to ZipRecruiter, the average AI prompt engineer earns $54 an hour, or $111,552 per year.
AI Tutor
- Time to reach $1,000: 16.5 to 29 hours
AI tutors don’t teach skills to students aspiring to work in the field of artificial intelligence — they teach AI models to learn. According to a Medium profile of the gig, you don’t have to be a tech whiz to make money as an AI tutor — just “decent English writing and research skills” that allow you to feed datasets to AI software, helping it to improve and grow.
Currently, Elon Musk’s xAI company is hiring tutors for remote positions that pay $35 to $65 an hour.
AI Content Writer
- Time to reach $1,000: 25 hours
AI content writers — like those who Amazon is currently recruiting — review AI-generated content to provide preference data for training initiatives. According to ZipRecruiter, the average AI content writer earns $40 an hour. If you decide to take this gig full-time, that’s an $84,151 annual salary.
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