How to make money with AI

The AI revolution is here, and that means more ways for you to make money.

Man And AI Robot

Much of the media coverage of recent developments in AI technology has focused on human jobs being taken over by computers. What’s been lost amongst the noise is that while AI poses plenty of risks to people in certain jobs, it also presents a range of money-making opportunities.

In this guide, we’ll explore how to make money with AI in Canada and what you need to do to get started.

Train AI

AI robot looking at Training Today on chalkboard

Artificial intelligence (AI) is experiencing rapid growth. A UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report projects that the global AI market will increase from US$189 billion in 2023 to US$4.8 trillion by 2033 in just a decade.

So while AI has come a long way in recent years, there’s a lot of development still to come in the next decade and beyond. As tech firms work on refining and improving their AI models, ensuring that they can produce more reliable and accurate responses in real-world situations, there are opportunities for people like you to make money training AI.

How it works

There are several legitimate companies that pay Canadians and people from all around the world to help train AI models. Rather than full-time work, training AI jobs allow you to choose your own schedule.

Once you’ve created an account on an AI training platform, you’ll be able to pick and choose specific tasks to complete. These tasks can be quite basic, such as tagging images or recording audio, or they can be much more involved. For example, you may need to interact with an AI chatbot and evaluate the responses an AI model gives to real-world questions. Some platforms specifically seek out experts in certain fields, so you may need coding skills or a PhD in physics or mathematics to perform the necessary tasks.

In return for your time, you’ll either get paid an hourly rate or a flat fee per job. In most cases, payment is made via PayPal.

Typical tasks

Common AI training tasks include:

  • Annotating text
  • Tagging and categorizing images
  • Labelling data
  • Transforming text into audio
  • Coding
  • Evaluating AI model responses

How much it pays

The pay rate varies substantially depending on the platform, the complexity of the tasks you need to perform and whether you have any special expertise. Rates could range anywhere from $5 to $150 per hour.

Benefits

  • Flexible hours. You can choose when and how often you perform tasks, so you can tailor your work schedule to suit your lifestyle.
  • Work from home. You can train AI remotely, so this is a side hustle you can do from home.
  • Reasonable earning rate. Compared to many other ways to make money online, training AI offers the potential to earn a decent amount.
  • Contribute to AI models. You get to contribute to the future of AI and support the development of more reliable AI systems.

What to watch out for

  • Qualifications may be required. Some platforms require you to have specific qualifications to be eligible to train AI, such as a PhD, coding skills or a degree in a specific subject.
  • Writing skills are essential. You’ll often need to be a clear and concise communicator to provide effective feedback and successfully complete AI training tasks.
  • Not everyone is approved. You’ll typically need to pass a sample test to qualify to train AI.

Legitimate sites that pay you to train AI

SiteTasks involvedPay range
Alignerr
Analyzing AI-generated outputs in your field of expertise, such as language, writing, arithmetic or chemistry
Up to US$150 per hour
CrowdGen
  • Collecting, annotating and transcribing data
  • Classifying images
  • Evaluating videos
  • Recording audio
Not specified. Check current job listings for the latest rates.
DataAnnotation
  • Completing surveys
  • Interacting with chatbots
  • Completing creative writing tasks
  • Coding
From US$20 per hour
JumpTask
  • Labelling data
  • Categorizing images and information
  • Annotating text
  • Solving CAPTCHAs
JumpTask says casual users earn around US$20 – $50 per month, while active users make around US$50 – $100 per month
Mindrift
  • Copywriting
  • Editing
  • Sharing knowledge from your specialist field, such as coding or physics
Mindrift advertises an average pay of US$300 per week
Neevo
  • Tagging images
  • Annotating text
  • Transforming text into audio
  • Categorizing audio
  • Drawing bounding boxes around objects in images
  • Identifying key people, and places in passages of text
An average of US$10 – $15 per hour
Outlier AI
  • Rating and ranking responses
  • Providing writing prompts to AI models
  • Training AI models to generate and categorize information from images, audio or video
Approximately US$10 – $50 per hour based on jobs listed at time of writing
Prolific
  • Answering surveys
  • Playing decision-making games
  • Participating in studies
Minimum pay rate of US$8 per hour

Play Games & Test Apps

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  • Make an average of $300 per offer
  • Cash out at $2
  • Get a $5 sign-up bonus when you start your first offer

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  • Earn up to $120 per test
  • No limit on how much you play games or complete surveys
  • Earn money while playing games

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  • Earn between $5 and $100 per month
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Content creation

Woman and robot doing a podcast

Audio, video, images and text—you name it, and chances are there’s an AI tool that can help create it. From writing blog posts to social media marketing, AI content creation can help you generate material that resonates with your audience, and it can help you save time and money in the process.And its use is on the rise. Data from Statistics Canada reveals that in the first quarter of 2024, around one in seven Canadian businesses were already using (9.3%) or had plans to use (4.6%) generative AI.

How it works

ChatGPT is currently the best known AI content creation tool. Simply tell this AI language model what you want, and it can write blog posts and stories, create academic quizzes, compose music and a whole lot more.

But ChatGPT is far from the only AI content creation tool available. There are AI models available to help with freelance writing, graphic design, video and audio editing, online course creation and search engine optimization.

You’ll need to provide the AI model with clear instructions about the type of content you want, your desired tone and your target audience, then assess and refine the generated content to make sure it meets your requirements.

How much it pays

It varies. The sheer range of content you can create using AI, and the equally diverse range of purposes that content can be used for, makes it impossible to put a definite price range on how much you could potentially earn.

Benefits

  • Huge range of tools available. You can use AI tools to generate and refine a wide variety of content types.
  • Improve efficiency. If you’re building a website for your business, generating a social media marketing campaign or performing a range of other content creation tasks, AI allows you to quickly and easily generate the content you need.
  • Affordable. Using AI models for content creation is often cheaper than hiring real writers, SEO specialists, social media marketing experts and other professionals.
  • New ideas. Content creation tools can help you generate new ideas for creative projects, marketing campaigns and more.

What to watch out for

  • Don’t expect to become an overnight millionaire. There’s plenty of competition in the online world, and you’re not the only one trying to find out how to use AI to make money. So while there’s the potential to earn extra income, don’t quit your day job just yet.
  • Quality concerns. Not all AI content creation tools were created equal, so the quality of the finished product can vary greatly depending on which programs you use.
  • Human input is still required. AI tools aren’t a magic bullet that can instantly solve all your content creation problems. You’ll still need to provide detailed guidance, and there’s a significant time investment required to review and refine content.
  • Plagiarism. You’ll also need to be wary of the risk of plagiarism and generating unoriginal content.

Content creation trends and ideas

You can use AI models to generate a diverse range of content types and styles, which you can then monetize. Here’s a look at how you could potentially use AI content creation to make money.

Writing

Freelance writers can use AI tools to write blog posts, articles, sales copy, poems, ebooks and novels. There are also AI editing tools to help you perfect your grammar and punctuation.

Graphic design

From brand logos and posters to infographics and social media graphics, you can create a huge variety of content for your business.

Art

You can create and sell AI-generated artworks, or use print-on-demand services to sell physical items featuring your work.

Website building

Creating a website for your business? There are AI tools to help with everything from graphic design and layouts to copywriting and SEO optimization.

Video creation and editing

There are AI tools that can turn text, image and video prompts into videos. AI can create voiceovers for your content as well, while there are also platforms designed to automate the video editing process.

Podcast recording

Podcast generators let you turn text into audio and choose from a range of voice options. Audio mixing, noise reduction and other editing tasks can also be automated with AI tools.

Course development

AI course generators make it quick and easy to create interactive courses, including videos, quizzes and assessments, and you can then sell those courses through your online training platform.

Social media marketing

From brainstorming content ideas to generating videos and graphics, writing and scheduling social media posts and analyzing data, AI platforms allow you to automate your social media marketing.

Affiliate marketing

AI can help automate a range of key affiliate marketing tasks, like building websites, writing content, creating videos and creating marketing emails.

Translation services

There are several AI translation tools that make it quick and easy to convert content from one language to another. Freelance translators can offer their services through sites like Upwork, while you can also use these AI tools to offer text and video content in multiple languages for your customers.

What AI tools are best for earning money?

If you want to make money with AI, here are some popular tools you may be able to use to earn extra income.

AI toolHow it worksPrice range (individual plans)
Adobe Firefly
Generative AI for creating images, audio, video and vector graphics. Provide text and image prompts to create content, with audio and video translation services also available.
$0 – $261.99 per month
Canva
An AI-assisted design tool that allows you to create videos, graphics, social media posts, logos and more.
$0 – $150 per year
ChatGPT
Generative AI chatbot that you can use to have conversations, generate text and images, translate between languages and more.
US$0 – $200 per month
CodeWP
An AI tool for WordPress creators. Use it to create code and WordPress plugins, plus research WordPress plugins.
US$0 – $48 per month
Coursebox
An AI course generator you can use to convert videos, documents and websites into courses. Also features an AI video generator, quiz generator and AI grading and feedback.
US$29.99 – $499.99 per month
Descript
An AI video and podcast creation tool that offers editing tools, captions, transcription services, AI speech and more.
US$16 – $24 per person per month
ElevenLabs
AI audio generation tools that allow you to turn text to speech and speech to text, with dubbing and voice cloning services also available.
US$0 – $99 per month
Grammarly
An AI writing assistant that offers guidance on grammar, punctuation, tone and spelling.
US$0 – $12 per person per month
Jasper AI
Generative AI platform for marketing. It offers tools for text and image creation and editing, a marketing editor and more.
US$39 – $59 per person per month
Lingio
An AI course creator that allows you to turn text into mobile-based training courses.
From US$416 per month
Midjourney
An AI image generation tool that allows you to transform text into images.
US$96 – $1,152 per year
Pictory
A text-to-video tool that also offers video editing, the ability to turn URLs or images into video, and captions.
US$19 – $39 per month
Printify
A print-on-demand platform that offers an AI image generator. Use it to create custom images that you can add to your merch.
US$0 – $29 per month
Speechify
A text-to-speech reader and AI voice generator that also offers voice dubbing and cloning.
US$0 – $11.58 per month
Synthesia
An AI video creator that lets you turn text to video in minutes, with over 140 languages and 230 AI avatars available.
US$0 – $64 per month
Wix
An AI website builder that lets you turn your idea into a website and use AI tools to customize the design, layout, text and images.
$0 – $149 per month (including business plans)

Tips to succeed in using AI to make money

  • Find your niche. It’s a competitive market, so standing out from the crowd can be difficult. You may need to focus on a specific niche or consumer issue to have success.
  • Do your research. AI technology is constantly evolving and new tools become available on a regular basis. You’ll need to stay up to date with the latest developments to make sure you’re using the best AI tools.
  • Boost productivity. Make the most of AI tools to help increase your efficiency and productivity. From transcription apps to grammar checkers, scheduling tools and project management apps, there are plenty of tools to help you save time and get more done.
  • Fact check. Don’t assume that AI-generated content is accurate, original and ready to publish straight away. You’ll need to review it thoroughly before putting it to use.
  • Check the fine print. Check the terms and conditions of any AI tool to find out if there are any restrictions on how you can use the content you generate. Make sure you will have full ownership of the generated content and can use it however you want.

Frequently asked questions

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To make sure you get accurate and helpful information, this guide has been edited by Leanne Escobal as part of our fact-checking process.
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Tim Falk is a freelance writer for Finder. Over the course of his 15-year writing career, he has reported on a wide range of personal finance topics. Whether you're investing in stocks and ETFs, comparing savings accounts or choosing a credit card, Tim wants to make it easier for you to understand. When he’s not staring at his computer, you can usually find him exploring the great outdoors. See full bio

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