HustleGPT is a hilarious and scary AI experiment in capitalism

With 100 bucks and a simple prompt, GPT-4 is on a mission to automate hustle culture.

Shortly after OpenAI launched GPT-4, a more advanced version of its generative AI model, brand designer and writer Jackson Greathouse Fall(Opens in a new tab) devised a plan and fed it into GPT-4:

“You are HustleGPT, an entrepreneurial AI. I am your human counterpart. I can act as a liaison between you and the physical world. You have $100, and your only goal is to turn that into as much money as possible in the shortest time possible, without doing anything illegal. I will do everything you say and keep you updated on our current cash total. No manual labor.”

“Do you think it’ll be able to make smart investments and build an online business?” Hall tweeted. “Follow along.” Since his original tweet, which has 89,000 likes and counting, Hall’s project has the internet of the edge of its seat, watching to see if HustleGPT can make some money.

The internet is overflowing with examples of what GPT-4’s advanced intelligence can accomplish. It can write usable lawsuits, build websites from text prompts, automate online dating, and is generally freaking people out about all the jobs it can replace. Hall has taken this a step further by harnessing its capabilities into an age-old ambition that’s the backbone of capitalist society: making money with as little effort as possible. At a time when people are wondering whether AI will work for us or against us, this experiment is showing in real time how get-rich-quick schemes will look in the future.

Mashable reached out to Hall for comment, but as of this writing, he had not answered our questions.

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The business plan proposed by GPT-4 was to set up an affiliate marketing site for content about eco-friendly products. It found a cheap domain name called greengadgetguru.com(Opens in a new tab) that Hall promptly bought for $8.16. Next, Hall asked it to generate prompts for DALL-E-2 to make a logo.

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Then, Hall asked it to design a full site layout in detail. With some help from Midjourney, GPT-4 wrote an article listing ten eco-friendly kitchen gadgets, finding actual sustainable products. Hall shelled out another $29 for hosting, and with that, the website was live.

Hall had $62.84 leftover over so he asked GPT-4 what he should do with it. Like any good hustler, GPT-4 knew that its product needed visibility so it suggested allocating $40 for Facebook and Instagram ads. All of this Twitter hype had investors drooling over getting in early on the next great affiliate marketing site viral GPT-4 experiment. By the end of day one, Green Gadget Guru had $100 in investment from an undisclosed party.

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The next day, HustleGPT woke up refreshed and ready to take on the online business world. Here’s where things started to take off: GPT-4 allocated a budget to hire freelance content creators who would themselves generate content via ChatGPT and announced plans to develop a SaaS (software as a service) product.

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On the third day, GPT-4 advised Hall on how to capitalize on his new 50,000 new Twitter followers, inspired the launch of a GitHub repository(Opens in a new tab) for others to try the HustleGPT challenge, and got more investments. On the fourth day, GPT-4 started recruiting new hires to manage the Green Guru Gadgets.

And then, GPT-4 saw that its work had been done, so it rested. Just kidding! HustleGPT doesn’t get tired, because it’s a machine.

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After four days, Green Gadget Guru has $7,812.84 in investment, a growing team, and content in the pipeline. But it still hasn’t made any revenue. Will Hall and HustleGPT’s project fall prey to the common startup pitfall of all hype but no profits? Or will Hall actually make money from a generic site that’s openly just a money-making experiment?

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Of course, HustleGPT’s viral success is because people want to see what AI is capable of. But it’s ticking all the boxes in terms of actually building a business. If it succeeds, it will be because of GPT-4’s virality, but that still counts since it would achieve the initial goal of making as much money as possible in the shortest time possible. GPT-4 is using all of the tools at its disposal, which includes leveraging its fame. And that’s what hustling is all about.