--- title: "That Startup Run by ChatGPT Doesn’t Seem to Be Doing So Great" description: "A guy says he's growing a startup by doing whatever ChatGPT tells him. The only problem? It might not be quite up to the task." date: "2023-03-29" modified: "2023-03-29" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/startup-run-chatgpt" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "OpenAI" tags: - "ai" - "chatgpt" - "entrepeneurship" - "hustlegpt" --- # That Startup Run by ChatGPT Doesn’t Seem to Be Doing So Great ![A guy says he's growing a startup through ChatGPT's wisdom alone. But the company's website is seriously off — concerning, as he's accepting cash donations.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* That startup being [run by ChatGPT]() is still going — but from the outside, it looks like kind of a mess. To recap: about two weeks ago, self-described "AI soothsayer" Jackson Greathouse Fall took to Twitter to [announce]() that he would be commencing what he described as the #HustleGPT challenge. Basically, Fall would ask ChatGPT to start a business, with only $100 to start. He'd get directions from ChatGPT on how to grow and scale the business, and act as the bot's "human liaison," to follow its bidding. The project went viral, with AI bros calling it a "[god mode]()" use of ChatGPT, and at first Fall was posting regular updates that gave a sense of momentum. But at this point, he hasn't posted a new update since last Wednesday — so we're starting to wonder what's going on with the project. For one thing, even when he was still posting updates, progress was sounding iffy. His [last update last week](), for instance, claimed that the company — a sustainable e-commerce website called [Green Gadget Guru]() that ChatGPT directed him to set up — had generated $130 in revenue. Sure, that would be something, but assuming that Fall was working eight-hour days on the project, it still means that as of that update, he'd been making less than $3 per hour. At that rate, it'd be a long road toward making good for his investors, who [he said]() had contributed around $7,700, nevermind turning a profit. In theory, a site like Green Gadget Guru could be roaring along by now. ChatGPT [basically told Fall]() to spin Green Gadget Guru up as an affiliate marketing site, meaning it would recommend products and get a small kickback if anyone bought them. That's an extremely well-established niche, and all the tech exists to quickly fire up a new affiliate operation. At first, it did sound like Fall was making concrete progress. He announced last week that he — sorry, ChatGPT — had hired two humans to help with the business: a [content writer]() tasked with using ChatGPT to generate blog posts for the company website and a [graphic designer]() who would use the text-to-image generator Midjourney to create the site's imagery. Judging by the status of the Green Gadget Guru site, though, ChatGPT seems to be struggling severely. Frankly, it's a bit wretched. Seriously. [Check it out yourself](). For one thing, despite Fall's talk of that human writer producing copy for the site, the only blog posts it's published so far — like this one, "[Ten Eco Friendly Kitchen Gadgets]()" — contain only the "lorem ipsum" text that [designers use to test a layout]() before it has any content. If you think about it, it's also a little strange that ChatGPT told Fall to hire a human writer at all. Why can't ChatGPT write the blogs and copy itself? Another glaring issue is that there don't seem to be any actual products on the site. There are technically product categories, but for some reason all of them — Electronics, Home & Garden, Office Supplies, Personal Care, and Kitchen — are represented by the same picture of a green t-shirt. But nothing seems to happen when you click on them. There *is* a "featured product," which the site lists with the amazingly generic title of "eco-friendly water bottle," but the so-called water bottle is similarly represented by a picture of a green tote bag, and there doesn't seem to be any way to actually buy it. ("It" being either the water bottle or the tote bag.) Particularly weird is what we *can't* find on the site: a single affiliate link to any actual product. And that raises a further question: without them, how did the site generate that piddling $130 in revenue that Fall was talking about last week? Fall didn't address that question when we asked, but he did write us a brief message addressing the status of Green Gadget Guru. "AI directed website moving at human speed," he said. "Promise y'all will have more updates soon, I know everyone's waiting on the edge of their seats." He also pointed us to a [tweet]() in which he seemed to acknowledge that progress had been slow. "I gotta be real with y'all, last week kicked my ass," it read. "I’m still learning how to context-shift multiple times a day and get all my work done." "More GGG + HustleGPT progress threads tomorrow!!!" he added (no new thread appeared the next day.) Other netizens, we should note, have their own misgivings about the ChatGPT-run Green Gadget Guru. "The unfortunate reality is that HustleGPT kinda started as a grift. The guy didn't even fix up the website he took like $7,500 in investments for," [tweeted Dave Craige](), a #HustleGPT enthusiast and Green Gadget Guru pessimist. "We can turn that around! We can push for a radically better approach to ethics / money. We can do things completely different." "Where did the revenue come from?" [asked]() another netizen, in response to Fall's final thread about the project last week, wondering like we did: "how did the $130 in revenue come about??" *Are you involved with HustleGPT or the AI startup scene? Reach out: [tips@futurism.com]().* Of course, starting up a company that actually makes money — especially with only $100 in startup costs — is hard. And it's difficult to believe that very many investors thought that a company run by an experimental chatbot was going to be a watertight financial decision. It's easy to imagine that for most of them, it was like buying a bit of Dogecoin just for the laughs. Still, the virality of Fall's thread compared to the dubious results does illustrate the reality-clouding hype that's sweeping the AI space right now. In fact, it can kinda reek of web3-like grifting — a type of digital scammery made possible by the frothy, unbridled, and often unfounded hype around a new piece of gold rush tech. (Fall, according to his LinkedIn, was the cofounder of a blockchain company back when that market was red hot.) It's worth mentioning that [AI bros]() have already been [pumping up]() Fall's work, celebrating the Green Gadget Guru's supposed $130 in revenue and [calling it]() one of the "most incredible things" that's been done with GPT-4 — *without* addressing any of its glaring and obvious issues. If that's not the hype cycle in action, we don't know what it is. That said, though, it's probably most likely that Fall just didn't expect his tweet to take off, and now has the unenviable job of watching ChatGPT try to run a company, a task that it doesn't seem quite ready for just yet. The reality, of course, is that AI tech still has a lot of rough edges, and its business applications are consequentially still hazy. Its work often looks good on the surface, but there are frequently [deep issues]() under the hood that still need to be worked out. And honestly, who knows. Maybe Green Gadget Guru will become a runaway success with ChatGPT calling the shots. Maybe the chatbot, and Fall doing its bidding, just need a little more time to get it off the ground. We'll be watching. In the meantime, if you have any questions, you can email Green Gadget Guru at its email address, which is [currently listed]() as contact@company.com. Best of luck. **More on HustleGPT:** [*Man Starts Business with Only $100 by Doing What ChatGPT Tells Him*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()