This Week’s AI & Side Hustle Trends Summary
Hello. This week has also been a week where I’ve come across various topics related to AI and side hustles. Since I deliver news and individual know-how during the weekdays, I’d like to slow down a bit this weekend and look back at three movements that caught my attention this week. At the end, I will also briefly share what kind of content I will be delivering from next week onwards.
What happened in the field of AI & side hustles this week
What I felt throughout this week is that the topic of “using AI to compress work time for side hustles” is gradually becoming a standard option rather than a special technique. The division of labor—where AI is entrusted with “pre-production” tasks such as drafting text, creating outlines for materials, and preliminary information gathering, while the individual spends time on verification and finishing touches—was repeatedly highlighted in various media and individual posts.
On the other hand, I still see assertive and somewhat sensational posts claiming that “anyone can easily earn money if they leave it to AI.” In reality, what I felt again this week is that what AI is good at is “increasing work speed,” and the parts about what to have ordered or what kind of value to provide are things that you ultimately have to think about yourself. In this article, I will present the points that caught my attention in a way that organizes them without being overly assertive.
Movement ①: More people are using conversational AI as a “subcontractor” for work
The first point is the topic that more people are using conversational AI like ChatGPT (AI services that can be used while exchanging text, images, etc.) for “subcontracting” processes in their side hustles. For example, in writing jobs, the main usage seems to be having it create a draft of an outline, or in research-related jobs, having it help with the primary organization of information.
What is important here, I feel, is not to skip the step of passing the text or summaries created by AI through “your own words and your own verification” before submitting them. Since the deliverables that reach clients and readers are ultimately released under your own name, the habit of performing final checks with your own eyes will likely remain important in the future.
Movement ②: The combination of productivity tools and side hustle know-how is accelerating
The second point is that there is an increase in information that combines not just individual AI tools, but “productivity tools + side hustle know-how.” I often saw posts introducing a series of flows, such as automatically transcribing meeting or interview content with transcription tools and then creating article ideas or proposal drafts for side hustles from there.
It is easy to feel that “it takes time in the end” if you try to complete everything with just one tool, but by lightly combining multiple tools, the burden of the entire work can sometimes be reduced. Since the optimal solution for which tools to combine changes depending on the person, it might be easier to find tools that suit you if you start by identifying one process where you usually stumble (input, organization, writing, etc.).
Movement ③: The perspective of “how to choose tools” amidst too much information
The third point is that the amount of information on AI tools and side hustle know-how itself has increased too much, and voices saying “I don’t know what to choose in the end” have become noticeable. I can also understand the feeling of getting tired just by keeping up with the information on new AI services and updates that come out one after another.
In such a situation, instead of trying all the tools, I recommend the order of first deciding “what is the process that takes the most time in my current work” and then narrowing down and trying tools that fit that. If choosing tools becomes the goal, it is easy to drift away from the original purpose of “increasing side hustle time and results,” so while looking at this week’s information, I felt I wanted to be conscious of that order again.
This week’s mini-checklist
Based on this week’s content, I have created a simple checklist to look back on your own AI & side hustle efforts. Please check the items that apply to you.
・You can name one process in your current side hustle or job that takes the most time. ・You always perform a final check of tasks delegated to AI with your own eyes. ・When you see information about a new tool, you think about whether it fits your needs before trying it. ・You do not recommend AI-generated work to others using definitive expressions (such as “guaranteed” or “for anyone”). ・You have one new thing you want to try next week.
If 2 or 3 of these apply to you, I think you are at a sufficient pace. It is okay if you cannot check off all of them, so please try them out little by little starting from the ones that interest you.
We will deliver content like this next week as well
Next week, we plan to continue delivering specific ways to use AI tools and tips for side hustles and productivity improvements in an easy-to-practice format. We will focus on content that employees can try even in their spare time, while explaining difficult technical terms as simply as possible, so we would be happy if you continue to follow along.
Summary
This week, we looked back at three movements: “the increase in people using AI as a subcontractor,” “the spread of combining productivity tools with side hustle know-how,” and “how to choose tools amidst information overload.” I feel that none of these were about the performance of AI itself, but rather about the ingenuity of the user in terms of “how to engage with it.”
In this magazine, we will continue to avoid definitive hype and focus on things you can actually try. If you like, please follow or subscribe to the magazine so you can see next week’s update immediately. Thank you for reading to the end this week as well.
