The $1 AI Experiment: Build Something Cool
The $1 AI Experiment: Build Something Cool
Here's a fun challenge: what can you actually build with one dollar's worth of AI?
Not hypothetical — a real dollar, using real AI models, to make real projects you can ship.
When you sign up for AI Pass, you get a $1 credit on signup. That’s your tiny-but-real budget. Below are five mini-projects that fit inside it — each one you can build in an afternoon and that people will actually find useful.
Let’s see what a dollar can stretch to.
How Far Does $1 Go?
Quick numbers so you know what to expect. That $1 credit roughly covers:
- ~500 text generations with GPT-4.1-mini (short to medium replies)
- ~25 image generations with Flux Pro
- ~5 minutes of text-to-speech audio
- ~50 transcription minutes with Whisper
- A few video clips with Sora or Veo
This isn’t a tiny trial that gets you five minutes of tinkering — it’s a real development budget. Enough to prototype, iterate, and ship something useful.
Project 1: The Smart Recipe Generator
Cost: ~$0.05 (text generation only)
Time to build: 30 minutes
Models used: GPT-4.1-mini
Make a recipe generator: users tell it what’s in their fridge and get a practical recipe with step-by-step instructions, timing, and rough nutrition info.
const response = await AiPass.generateCompletion({
model: 'openai/gpt-4.1-mini',
messages: [
{ role: 'system', content: 'You are a creative chef. Given ingredients, create a recipe with steps, timing, and nutritional info. Be specific and practical.' },
{ role: 'user', content: `I have: ${ingredients.join(', ')}` }
]
});
Why it works: everyone has leftovers and no one loves planning meals. A focused tool that makes cooking easy gets shared in group chats and recipe communities.
Project 2: The Logo Sketch Generator
Cost: ~$0.20 (5 image generations for variations)
Time to build: 45 minutes
Models used: Flux Pro
Create a simple logo concept generator. The user describes their brand, and the app spits out five distinct logo ideas to hand off to a designer or iterate on.
const image = await AiPass.generateImage({
model: 'flux-pro/v1.1',
prompt: `Minimalist logo design for "${brandName}", a ${brandDescription}. Clean, professional, modern. White background.`,
size: '1024x1024'
});
const logoUrl = image.data[0].url;
Run the prompt a few times with small variations (minimalist, bold, playful, corporate, creative) and show them in a grid. Five images for about $0.20.
Project 3: The Voice Memo Summarizer
Cost: ~$0.10 (transcription + text summary)
Time to build: 1 hour
Models used: Whisper + GPT-4.1-mini
Build a tiny tool that transcribes a voice memo with Whisper, then summarizes it and extracts action items with GPT.
// Step 1: Transcribe
const transcript = await AiPass.transcribeAudio({
audioFile: audioBlob,
model: 'whisper-1',
language: 'en'
});
// Step 2: Summarize
const summary = await AiPass.generateCompletion({
model: 'openai/gpt-4.1-mini',
messages: [
{ role: 'system', content: 'Summarize this voice memo into bullet points. Extract action items.' },
{ role: 'user', content: transcript.text }
]
});
Two models, one neat feature, and a tiny cost. Super useful for anyone who records voice notes and then never gets around to listening.
Project 4: The Children's Story Creator
Cost: ~$0.25 (text + images)
Time to build: 1 hour
Models used: GPT-4.1-mini + Flux Pro
Make a personalized bedtime story generator. Parents enter a child’s name, age, and interests — the app returns a short story and an illustration.
// Generate the story
const story = await AiPass.generateCompletion({
model: 'openai/gpt-4.1-mini',
messages: [
{ role: 'system', content: `Write a short bedtime story (200 words) for a ${age}-year-old named ${name} about ${topic}. Make it warm, imaginative, and age-appropriate.` },
{ role: 'user', content: 'Write the story.' }
]
});
// Generate an illustration
const illustration = await AiPass.generateImage({
model: 'flux-pro/v1.1',
prompt: `Children's book illustration, warm and colorful: ${topic} adventure with a child named ${name}. Whimsical, friendly style.`
});
Parents love this kind of personalized content — it’s highly shareable in family and parenting circles.
Project 5: The Pitch Deck Reviewer
Cost: ~$0.05 (text generation with longer context)
Time to build: 45 minutes
Models used: GPT-4.1-mini (or Gemini 2.5 Flash for longer content)
Let founders paste pitch deck text and get blunt, useful feedback: what’s working, what’s not, and what investors will ask about.
const review = await AiPass.generateCompletion({
model: 'google/gemini-2.5-flash',
messages: [
{ role: 'system', content: 'You are a veteran VC analyst. Review this pitch deck content. Give specific, actionable feedback on: team section, market size claims, business model, competitive advantage, and financial projections. Be direct and honest.' },
{ role: 'user', content: pitchDeckText }
]
});
Great for startup communities — founders will flock to anything that helps them fundraise smarter.
Total Cost: Under $0.65
All five projects together use less than $0.65 of AI credit. That leaves you about $0.35 from your $1 signup bonus.
Five usable app ideas, each shareable and with real potential to earn (remember: 50% commission on user API calls). All buildable in an afternoon.
The Bigger Picture
The $1 experiment is less about the dollar and more about the signal: the barrier to building with AI is basically gone.
You don’t need enterprise deals. You don’t need $50 in prepaid credits. You don’t need a dozen provider keys.
You need one dollar, one API key, and one afternoon.
Browse aipass.one/apps to see 100+ apps that began exactly this way — developers using a small credit to ship something real.
Read our developer guide for the full platform overview, or jump to the quick start and build your first project right now.
Your Turn
Sign up at aipass.one. Grab your $1 credit. Pick one of these projects — or invent your own.
What will you build?
AI Pass — 35+ AI models, one API key, $1 credit on signup. Build your first AI app today. Browse live apps for inspiration or start building in minutes.