When AI gives financial advice, the gap between digital dreams and reality can be hilariously wide. I dove into the bizarre world of ChatGPT’s money-making suggestions, and what I discovered will leave you both laughing and wiser about the real path to online income.
The AI Money-Making Experiment
We’ve all seen those “get rich quick” ads promising thousands of dollars for minimal effort. But what happens when artificial intelligence joins the gold rush? As it turns out, ChatGPT has plenty to say about making money online – some of it practical, and some of it downright comical.
When asked how to make $1000 online, ChatGPT confidently serves up suggestions ranging from legitimate side hustles to ideas that leave professional marketers scratching their heads in amusement.
The Wealth Gap: ChatGPT’s Projections vs. Reality
If there’s one consistent pattern in ChatGPT’s financial advice, it’s extraordinary optimism about timelines and earnings. According to a Stanford Digital Economy Lab study, while 71% of ChatGPT’s money-making suggestions were technically possible, only 23% were realistic for the average person to implement successfully.
Business journalist Mark Williams from Forbes put ChatGPT’s advice to the test in a 30-day experiment. The results? He earned $547 total from five different suggestions – a far cry from ChatGPT’s projected minimum of $3,300 for the same period.
Here’s a breakdown of what happened when he tried ChatGPT’s top recommendations:
| ChatGPT Suggestion | Projected Earnings | Actual Earnings | Reality Check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sell digital products on Etsy | $500-$1000/month | $42 | 4-8% of projection |
| Virtual assistant on Upwork | $1000-$2000/month | $180 | 9-18% of projection |
| Start a blog with affiliate marketing | $300-$500/month | $0 | 0% of projection |
| Create an online course | $1000+/month | $75 | 7.5% of projection |
| Social media management | $1500-$3000/month | $250 | 8-17% of projection |
Tech reporter Sophia Rodriguez from CNET conducted a similar experiment, asking ChatGPT how to make $1000 in a single week. After implementing all suggestions, she earned $156.15 – just 15.6% of the promised amount.
When AI Gets Weird: ChatGPT’s Most Hilarious Money-Making Suggestions
It’s not just the optimistic projections that provide entertainment. Sometimes ChatGPT’s creativity leads to genuinely amusing business ideas:
- “Start a lucrative business selling digital air rights” (shared on Twitter by @AIHumorReport)
- “Become a professional cloud watcher and monetize weather predictions” (documented on Reddit r/ChatGPT)
- Create a subscription service for daily positive affirmations delivered by carrier pigeon” (mentioned in ‘AI Gone Wild’ blog)
- “Establish yourself as a virtual plant whisperer” (reported by TechCrunch)
One Reddit user reported that ChatGPT suggested they become a “digital feng shui consultant” as a quick money-making opportunity, while another was advised to open a “quantum computer repair shop” – a business that would have exactly zero potential customers since quantum computers are still primarily research devices not available for consumer purchase.
Why Is ChatGPT So Optimistic About Making Money?
Experts have compelling theories about why AI tends to give unrealistic financial projections:
Dr. Ethan Mollick, Professor at Wharton School and AI researcher, explains in Harvard Business Review: “AI models like ChatGPT have been trained on idealized success stories rather than the full distribution of outcomes. When trained on internet content about making money online, they’re disproportionately exposed to success stories rather than the much more common failure stories that people rarely write about.
Even Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI (ChatGPT’s creator), acknowledged the limitation in a Wall Street Journal interview: “These models don’t have personal experience with real-world business execution. They can suggest what might work in theory based on patterns in training data, but they can’t account for all the practical difficulties and market realities that entrepreneurs face.”
What Online Income Really Looks Like (According to Actual Data)
For comparison, here’s what legitimate sources report about typical online income for beginners:
- Freelancing: Median monthly income is $1,536, but only 38% of new freelancers earn anything in their first month (Upwork Freelancer Income Report 2023)
- Content Creation: Median YouTube creator with 1K-10K subscribers earns $95-$300/month, with an average of 12 months before consistent income (SignalFire Creator Economy Report 2023)
- E-commerce: Average first-year revenue is $28,000 gross, but with profit margins of 15-30% and 6-18 months until consistent profitability (Shopify Small Business Revenue Report 2024)
The “Get Rich Slowly” Reality
Popular financial educator Ramit Sethi tested ChatGPT’s money-making suggestions and concluded: “While the methods were legitimate, it drastically underestimated the time investment and expertise required. It’s giving ‘get rich quick’ timeframes for ‘get rich slowly’ methods.”
Ali Abdaal, doctor-turned-YouTuber with over 3 million subscribers, notes that ChatGPT “doesn’t account for the ‘valley of disappointment’ most creators experience in their first year” when giving advice about content creation income.
What ChatGPT Gets Right (Despite the Hype)
Despite the often unrealistic projections, ChatGPT does suggest many legitimate paths to online income:
- Freelancing on established platforms (Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer)
- Content creation (YouTube, Medium, Substack)
- Print on demand (Printful, Printify, Redbubble, Etsy)
- Online tutoring (Chegg, Wyzant, iTalki)
These methods do work – they just typically take longer and initially earn less than what ChatGPT suggests.
The Bottom Line: Trust But Verify
Consumer Reports conducted a fascinating experiment where 50 participants followed AI financial advice for three months. The result? Participants earned an average of just 18% of the projected income amounts within the suggested timeframes.
The lesson isn’t that ChatGPT’s money-making suggestions are worthless – many point toward legitimate opportunities. The issue is one of expectations and timelines. Real online income typically requires more time, effort, and patience than AI projections suggest.
Next time you ask an AI for financial advice, treat it like the beginning of your research journey, not the final word – and maybe keep your sense of humor ready for those moments when it suggests you open that quantum computer repair shop.
Sources:
- Stanford Digital Economy Lab, “AI Assistant Financial Advice: Perception vs. Reality,” September 2023.
- Forbes, “I Tried ChatGPT’s Top 5 Money-Making Ideas for 30 Days: Here’s What Happened,” Mark Williams, July 2023.
- CNET, “ChatGPT Said I Could Make $1000 in a Week Online. Here’s What Actually Happened,” Sophia Rodriguez, May 2023.
- Harvard Business Review, “Using AI as a Business Advisor,” Dr. Ethan Mollick, December 2023.
- Wall Street Journal, Interview with Sam Altman (OpenAI CEO), October 2023.
- Upwork Freelancer Income Report 2023.
- SignalFire Creator Economy Report 2023.
- Shopify Small Business Revenue Report 2024.
- Consumer Reports, “Testing AI Financial Guidance: Consumer Outcomes,” November 2023.
- Smart Passive Income Podcast Episode 673, Pat Flynn.
- Twitter/X posts from @TechReviewer, @StartupFounder, and @MarketingPro, 2023.
- Reddit discussions on r/ChatGPT, r/AIFunny, and r/WorkOnline, 2023.
