In a fast-paced growing digital world, making use of AI is not just about choices; it is a necessity for every person. Thousands of people are making huge amounts of money through running AI in their businesses. This article discloses some of the ways that you can make use of AI to generate thousands of money for you.
Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that all information shared in this article, titled “How to Make Money with AI in 2026,” is based on my personal observations and research.
Starting a YouTube channel with AI
In this day and age, if you are a beginner and you wish to start a YouTube channel, with the help of AI there is no need for expensive equipment or skills; scripture editors with AI can help you to create content ideas, edit scripture and choose the right niche. AI can help you to start a YouTube channel from scratch to build a name and community. AI can help you with the following to thrive on YouTube:
Choosing the right niche. Using AI tools like Chartparty can assist you with the type of niche ideas based on your interest and what is currently trending in your location or worldwide. AI can also predict the performance of your niche on the market and the types of ideas that people are searching for. Based on my research, as a beginner, I observed that it is prominently important that you conduct thorough research on the type of niche that you want to invade; don’t depend solely on AI.
Tools like Google Trends, Semrush, Similarweb and Ahrefs can assist you in identifying the current trends that people are searching for in your niche; generating content that aligns with the trends can help you to make your channel rank high and be discoverable in the search engine optimisation. AI tools can only give you suggestions; most of the work depends on you.
You are responsible for designing your channel’s identity. If you want to start a channel but you are not comfortable showing your face, you can start a faceless YouTube channel. AI tools can be of assistance in creating those faceless YouTube videos, generating your name and logo. Can utilise the use of Looka and Canva to create your logs and for easy branding.
Content creation. To grow your YouTube channel from 0 audience to millions of audience, creating engaging content is crucial, and AI plays a huge role in creating engaging content. The likes of Notion AI and ChatGPT can create an engaging scripture for you based on the prompt you give them. But what I observed is if you want to build an audience that will align with your story, human editing and creativity and story analyses are essential.
Voiceover. If you don’t have a good accent to create a voice for your content, AI can create voiceovers for you; you can select the type of voiceover that suits the tone of your content. To create voiceovers, you use the likes of AI tools like ElevenLabs, URF AI and Voice Lab. However, you have to make sure you are in alignment with YouTube policies.
Creating thumbnails. Creating an eye-catching thumbnail is a huge step in getting people to click and view your channel. You can create good thumbnails using AI tools like Canva, which offers AI features like Magic AI.
Selling Digital Products
AI has revolutionised the business industry, and entrepreneurs are leveraging the greener opportunity it has offered. Creating and selling digital products with the help of AI is one of the profitable businesses that entrepreneurs have taken advantage of. Creating and selling different types of digital products created with the help of AI is less time-consuming, has a low cost, and you don’t need to be an expert.
While before the era of AI, to create and sell digital products required you to invest a lot of time and effort, required experts, and required you to have design skills, that has changed with AI. AI can perform different tasks, such as brainstorming your product ideas and conducting market research by comparing your product with different types of products in the market, and can assist you in finding the keywords that people are searching for.
If you are a beginner and you are interested in creating and selling digital products, you can make use of different types of AI tools like ChatGPT, Accio, Runway and Canva to create eye-catching products.
Types of digital products that sell
There are different types of digital products that sell well on the market. Choosing the right product requires personal research and understanding the type of audience that you aim to sell to. AI can assist you in supporting the research, but don’t rely on AI to do the whole analysis. Before creating your products, make what you aim to create seek to address a problem and offer value to customers to make their lives easier.
Some common digital products you can consider creating include:
- Ebooks
- Online courses
- Templates
- Planners and journals
- Checklists and workbooks
- Digital games
- Stickers and digital art
- Music and audio files
- Website themes and digital assets
Marketplaces to sell digital products.
There are different types of online market platforms where to sell digital products. Before uploading your products, put it into consideration that each platform has its own rules and regulations and that some platforms are not available worldwide.
- Envato. On Envato you can sell different types of products, such as code, music and audios, website themes, stock photos and videos.
- Amazon and Etsy. If you have online courses, ebooks, games, digital art and printables, journals, mockup colouring books and logs, then try Amazon or Etsy.
- Creative marketplace. If you create website themes, mini courses, paid newspapers, audio guides and toolkits, then this platform is for you.
Here are some profitable digital products that are expected to sell well in 2026.
For the products I listed above, further research is required because product trends vary based on location and the type of your audience. Based on current market trends and observation and research, the following digital products are predicted to continue selling perfectly well in 2026 onwards.
- Ebooks
- Online courses
- Coaching services
- Workbooks and checklists
- Planners and journals
- Templates
How to Use AI Responsibly in Digital Product Creation
If you want to sell your product well using AI, I recommend that you use it as a support weapon, not allowing it to replace creativity. Use AI to help you to brainstorm your ideas, draft and structure your ideas, and lastly, refine your ideas. I observed that as a beginner, you fail in selling your products because of the tendency to produce more products without evaluating if that’s what people want. If you aspire to separate yourself from the crowded market, consider doing the following:
- Avoid selling raw AI-generated product output; rather, redefine the final product to improve content clarity and quality.
- Use your personal voice and insight on the product for the audience to trust you.
- Further edit your product for good product quality.
- Make a good presentation of your product; make use of professional tools such as Canva.
- Always stay on the market trends to see new trends because the market is always changing.
How AI helps small businesses compete and grow
Small businesses suffer from strong and harsh competition, and for them to survive, they need a good survival strategy and tools. In the past years, it has become more available and has transformed how small businesses market, communicate and operate. By implementing AI in a good strategy, it can be useful in supporting small businesses to operate effectively and efficiently and to understand their customers. AI tools can assist with daily tasks and help businesses build stronger, longer-lasting relationships with their customers. While AI does not replace human decision-making, it can make business operations more organised and informed.
AI in marketing and research
For a small business to grow and be visible, a good marketing strategy is essential. From my observations, small businesses have limited budgets to spend on marketing and research. However, with the growth of AI tools, it has made marketing and research a bit easier for small businesses. For small business owners have limited time available for them; therefore, AI can offer them the following:
- Identify general market trends
- Analyse the basic reports.
- Assist in stimulating content ideas and structure
- Assist in creating engaging content for advertisements
- Personalising marketing emails.
- Analysing an audience’s behaviours and patterns
These tools can help businesses make better marketing decisions without requiring advanced technical skills.
AI in sales and leads management
Having a good sales and leads strategy is key to your business’s success, and AI plays a crucial role. AI can support small businesses by helping them better understand sales data and customer behaviour.
- Summarising sales performance
- Suggesting a good pricing strategy
- Tracking your competitors’ performance
- predicting and analysing customers’ data and forecasting their buying habits. This will guide you in making a good strategy to meet your customers’ needs.
By reviewing this information, business owners can make more informed decisions and adjust their strategies to better meet customer needs.
In conclusion
To conclude from my personal research and observation, AI can bring success to small businesses in several ways, but however, AI does not give accurate results, but it is useful when used effectively for small businesses. AI does several things for small businesses, ranging from supporting research and improving communication to analysing results and assisting in content strategy generation. It is essential that you review all the information generated by AI and give it a human touch.