I spent the last month digging through 200 different AI business models, and frankly, most of them are destined to fail.
If you spend a few minutes on social media, it's hard to ignore the plethora of "AI businesses" and accompanying prompts that promise big gains with minimal effort. As someone who has seen first-hand just how capable AI has become with agents running my computer and helping me be more productive, I decided to put my email address into the void so I could get those "200 AI business ideas" in my inbox.
Then, I tried many of them from training models and building SaaS to launching entire platforms. I wanted to see if they were as easy as the marketing claimed and if they were unrealistic for a busy person with limited time (or, in my case, three kids and about 20 uninterrupted minutes on a good day).
My test came down to own question for Tom's Guide readers: Which AI business ideas can you actually launch this week? I went through dozens of ideas and filtered them down based on three things: technical skills, hours and clear path to making money.
Here are the ones that passed my test (because I literally do them on the side).
