2024 was the year of AI tools. Thousands of new apps launched \u2014 some just photo generators and gimmicks, others much more useful. What stood out to me were the tools that actually helped you get things done.<\/p>\n
This list comes from a16z\u2019s AI Unwrapped<\/a>, which largely features consumer apps for personal use. I\u2019m calling out a few favorites from categories like productivity, audience growth, learning, and even building your own tools. You can try these tools tomorrow to start being more productive.<\/a><\/p>\n Whether you need a research dump on space agriculture, want to clone yourself into a short-form video creator, or just stop typing everything out by hand, there\u2019s something here worth trying. Let\u2019s get into it.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve ever wished you could talk to your laptop instead of typing, Flow might be the AI tool you\u2019ve been waiting for.<\/p>\n\n Source<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Similar to Grammarly, Flow embeds itself into every application that you use. But instead of fixing your grammar, Flow lets you control all your apps by speaking out loud. You can write emails, respond to Slack messages, edit Google Docs, and more \u2014 all without touching a keyboard.<\/p>\n We all type way too much. Between emails, Slack, docs, and text messages, it adds up. Flow is trying to cut out the extra effort by making it possible to talk to your computer the way you\u2019d talk to an assistant.<\/p>\n Flow is built to be integrated into your workflow, meaning you can:<\/p>\n Speak out a full Slack response instead of typing. I tested Flow, and here\u2019s how it works:<\/p>\n Hold down the space bar, speak your command, and Flow transcribes it in real time. Here\u2019s a screenshot of Flow in action:<\/p>\n\n Source<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n My take:<\/strong> Editing by voice is weird at first but kind of amazing once you get used to it. If you\u2019re someone who lives in Slack and email, Flow is worth trying<\/p>\n Cubby is a research assistant for people who hoard information. If you\u2019re the kind of person who has 50 tabs open at all times, you should try Cubby. This tool makes remembering where you saw that one quote, article, or podcast clip simple.<\/p>\n\n Source<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Instead of dumping links into a Notion doc or bookmarking things you\u2019ll never revisit, you can just drop everything into Cubby. That includes PDFs, podcasts, MP3s, MP4s, YouTube videos, social media threads, articles, and files from your computer. Then, Cubby can transcribe and organize the information into something useful.<\/p>\n AI tools promise to make life easier, but Cubby solves a real problem: Research is a mess.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve ever tried to do a deep dive on a topic, you know how it goes. You start by reading one article, which links to a whitepaper, which references a podcast, which makes you think of a YouTube video someone recommended, which leads to another article. Now, you have a dozen sources but no structure.<\/p>\n Cubby acts as a central brain for all your research, pulling everything together and making it searchable and usable. Instead of keeping track of tabs and notes, you just dump everything in and let AI handle the rest.<\/p>\n Drag and drop anything you\u2019re researching into Cubby. Source<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n My take<\/strong>: Cubby acts as a personal research assistant, helping you find connections between different sources without manual effort.<\/p>\n Delphi lets you create an AI clone of yourself that people can interact with. Instead of constantly answering the same questions or trying to be in a hundred places at once, you can train an AI model on your knowledge. Your audience can then \u201ctalk\u201d to you even when you\u2019re not there.<\/p>\n\n Source<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Let\u2019s say you\u2019re a content creator, consultant, or educator. You probably get a lot of the same questions over and over again \u2014 how to start a newsletter, how to grow an audience, how to price services.<\/p>\n Normally, you\u2019d have to either:<\/p>\n Answer every question manually (exhausting). With Delphi, your AI clone can answer those questions for you in a way that feels interactive and personal. AI pulls from everything you\u2019ve ever said, written, or recorded and responds in a way that sounds like you.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve built an audience and people value your expertise, Delphi lets you scale that engagement without being on call 24\/7.<\/p>\n You train Delphi on your existing content \u2014 articles you\u2019ve written, your podcasts, your videos, and any relevant recordings. Once your AI clone is up and running, people can go to your page and have a conversation with it.<\/p>\n Delphi\u2019s chatbot is built to sound like you and to give answers based on your perspective \u2014 not just generic, AI-generated advice.<\/p>\n I tested this out with the AI clone of Brian Halligan, co-founder and executive chairperson at HubSpot. I wanted to ask questions about growing to $30M ARR and got some pretty helpful responses, along with referral links where I could learn more from Brian.<\/p>\n Delphi is a great idea for someone who has a wealth of expertise and with little time for one-on-one convos.<\/p>\n That said, this tool does raise a bigger question: Do people actually want<\/em> to talk to an AI version of you? If someone is looking for a step-by-step process, they might be fine talking to AI. But if they want real feedback, ideas, or emotional connection, they\u2019re probably still going to want you, not your clone.<\/p>\n My take:<\/strong> Right now, Delphi is best for creators who already have deep knowledge in a specific space and a community of people who are eager to access it.<\/p>\n AI-generated video content has come a long way.<\/p>\n A few years ago, most AI avatars looked stiff and robotic, the kind of thing you\u2019d see in a bad deepfake. But, HeyGen is pushing the boundaries. People might actually mistake an AI-generated version of you for the real thing.<\/p>\n\n Source<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n HeyGen lets you clone yourself into a high-quality AI avatar. Your digital self can then give presentations or even just talk to your audience, without you stepping in front of the camera.<\/p>\n To experiment with the tool, I cloned myself and delivered an entire course through my AI clone.<\/p>\n HeyGen isn\u2019t like those weird robotic avatars from a few years ago. The tool now has smoother facial movements and better hand gestures, which means the uncanny valley effect is shrinking.<\/p>\n In fact, some people didn\u2019t realize AI was presenting my course. They emailed me afterward, saying I seemed \u201ca bit off\u201d because I was keeping my hands still \u2014 something the early HeyGen model required. However, even that level of confusion shows how far the tech has come.<\/p>\n If your content is purely educational or instructional, HeyGen is a great way to create at scale without having to appear on camera every time.<\/p>\n For people who need to create video content at scale, HeyGen is actually a really useful tool.<\/p>\n If you run an online course, you could use HeyGen to create lessons without filming every single one. My take:<\/strong> Just like with Delphi, there\u2019s one big question in my mind. How much do people actually want to engage with an AI version of you instead of the real thing?<\/p>\n If your content is purely informational, this could be a great way to scale video creation. But if your audience is invested in YOU \u2014 your unique expressions, humor, and energy \u2014 an AI clone isn\u2019t a real substitute.<\/p>\n This one is specifically built for short-form video. Argil is a startup that lets you clone yourself with just a couple minutes of video. You can then start generating AI-powered videos by typing out a script.<\/p>\n\n Source<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n When browsing examples from their site, I noticed Argil focused on quick, punchy, creator-style content. It\u2019s not trying to replace HeyGen or other full-scale avatar tools. Argil is built for speed and simplicity.<\/p>\n You upload a short training video and then use your AI clone to generate clips that teach, promote, or entertain. Argil\u2019s quality isn\u2019t perfect \u2014 especially in the voice and visual realism \u2014 but it\u2019s fast and lightweight.<\/p>\n Argil is best suited for:<\/p>\n Creators making short-form content on platforms like TikTok or Instagram. Just like HeyGen and Delphi, the real value here comes after you\u2019ve built an audience and figured out what kind of content resonates.<\/p>\n Record a two-minute video of yourself, and Argil generates an AI clone. From there, you can script videos by just typing text. The clone will read it back, fully animated. The interface is simple and feels more like a Notion doc than a video editor, which makes it pretty approachable.<\/p>\n My take:<\/strong> Argil is a cool concept for short-form creators, but you\u2019ll get the most out of the tool if you already know what audience you\u2019re speaking to.<\/p>\n Opus is a tool most people already know. It takes long-form video \u2014 podcasts, interviews, keynotes \u2014 and automatically cuts it into short, shareable clips.<\/p>\n Given that editing video is one of the biggest time sucks in content creation, tools like Opus can be especially valuable. I tested it using an episode from Lex Fridman\u2019s podcast. Opus grabbed highlights from the conversation and turned them into clips for TikTok, Shorts, Reels, and beyond.<\/p>\n\n Source<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n People consume short-form videos at scale, but creating engaging clips from long content is tedious. Opus helps by:<\/p>\n Identifying key moments in your video (so you don\u2019t have to scrub through hours of footage). If you\u2019re producing long-form video content, this is a must-try \u2014 even if you have to tweak the AI-generated clips.<\/p>\n However, here\u2019s the reality: These tools create the average version of short-form content. They\u2019ll get you something functional, but if you want something that really stands out, you still need to put in the work.<\/p>\n You upload your long-form video to Opus. The AI scans it, detects key moments, and cuts them into short clips that are ready for social media. Opus then automatically adds captions, trims the fluff, and gives you multiple clips to work with \u2014 all in a few minutes.<\/p>\n My take: <\/strong>Tools like Opus are great for saving time, but they won\u2019t make you a great content creator. Use them to speed up the basics, but still put in the work if you want content that hits.<\/p>\n Replit is kind of mind-blowing. Their AI agent is incredible, and the product as a whole is just super fun to use. This is one of the best examples of why we\u2019re all going to have personalized software \u2014 tools that are built by and for us, instead of trying to fit into one-size-fits-all platforms.<\/p>\n\n Source<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Replit AI acts like a co-pilot for coding, helping you generate and refine code based on what you need. That could be a simple scheduling app or a more complex automation.<\/p>\n\n Source<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n The results are mind-blowing. You can actually build real products for yourself in a matter of minutes.<\/p>\n Let me give you a real example. I was watching TV and talking to my partner. We talked about getting better at scheduling. We have a 10-month-old, and every hour of the day counts.<\/p>\n We were using Google Calendar, but it wasn\u2019t exactly what we needed. So, I built something for us. It\u2019s a basic scheduler that shows both of our days side-by-side from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. We can add tasks, mark them as completed, and see where we overlap, especially when we want to play with our daughter or give each other a break.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not a polished app, but it works. And that\u2019s the point: I didn\u2019t need every feature under the sun \u2014 I just needed something that worked exactly the way I wanted.<\/p>\n Replit is a game-changer for entrepreneurs and business owners who need custom software but don\u2019t want to hire developers for every little thing.<\/p>\n Replit is great for:<\/p>\n People who want to build personal tools that don\u2019t exist yet. Replit uses an AI agent that supports you through the entire coding process. You describe what you want to build, like a scheduling tool or a custom dashboard, and it generates the underlying code.<\/p>\n You can make changes in real time, and the AI continues to adjust, refine, and debug as you go. You don\u2019t need to know what you\u2019re doing to get started, and that\u2019s kind of the point.<\/p>\n My take:<\/strong> The big unlock here is personalized software. Instead of buying generic tools or trying to force your workflow into a template, Replit lets you build exactly what you need in the exact way you need it.<\/p>\n Notebook LM was one of the best AI products released last year, and not nearly enough people are using it. If you deal with a lot of information \u2014 docs, ideas, meeting notes, research \u2014 it\u2019s easy for things to get scattered. Notebook LM turns all of that into a structured, searchable, and actually usable knowledge base.<\/p>\n It\u2019s like your second brain but better organized.<\/p>\n\n Source<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n If you\u2019ve ever wished your notes could actually work for you, this is the kind of tool that could change how you process information.<\/p>\n\n Source<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n I use Notebook LM all the time. I\u2019ve got it hooked up to all the different folders I use for work. It lets me:<\/p>\n Create briefing docs based on everything in a folder. Basically, it\u2019s like having an AI-powered assistant who helps you turn scattered material into usable output without having to manually sort through everything.<\/p>\n Notebook LM is especially useful for people who deal with a lot of information but don\u2019t have the time to manually sort through everything.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a huge win for:<\/p>\n Writers and researchers who need to quickly summarize large amounts of text. You connect Notebook LM to the folders or files you\u2019re working with. AI analyzes the content and then generates summaries, notes, and guides.<\/p>\n You can query it like a research assistant. Ask it to surface themes, explain complex concepts, or highlight key ideas across documents. One of my favorite features is the study guide tool \u2014 you drop in content, and it builds out a full learning guide based on what\u2019s in the folder.<\/p>\n My take: <\/strong>Notebook LM is one of the best AI tools I\u2019ve used in the past year. If you haven\u2019t tried it yet, start now. It\u2019s the kind of product that feels more valuable the more you feed into it.<\/p>\n Most AI image generators are built for entertainment or aesthetics. They\u2019re fun to play with but not really designed for business use. Napkin AI flips that. It\u2019s focused on helping you create polished, professional visuals specifically for business content.<\/p>\n\nAI Tools for Productivity and Audience Growth \u2014 My Top Picks<\/h2>\n
1. Flow Voice: Hands-Free Productivity with AI<\/h3>\n
Why Flow Is Interesting<\/h4>\n
\n Edit a document just by saying what changes you want.
\n Translate text on the fly.
\n Control your entire workflow with voice commands. <\/p>\nHow Flow Works<\/h4>\n
\n Live editing is possible \u2014 just tell it to delete, rewrite, or change wording.
\n You can even reply to Slack and email hands-free. AI makes sure your messages don\u2019t sound like a robotic mess. <\/p>\n2. Cubby: AI That Organizes Your Research for You<\/h3>\n
Why Cubby Is Useful<\/h4>\n
How Cubby Works<\/h4>\n
\n Cubby transcribes everything and pulls out the key points.
\n You can ask it questions about the content instead of manually digging through hours of material. <\/p>\n3. Delphi: AI Clones for Content Creation<\/h3>\n
Why Delphi Is Useful<\/h4>\n
\n Create FAQ pages or pre-recorded videos (helpful but static). <\/p>\nHow Delphi Works<\/h4>\n
4. HeyGen: AI-Powered Video Avatars<\/h3>\n
Why HeyGen Is Interesting<\/h4>\n
Where HeyGen Could Be Helpful<\/h4>\n
\n If you record a lot of social media content, HeyGen could help you create short-form videos faster.
\n If you need to translate videos into different languages, HeyGen can dub your avatar\u2019s voice while keeping a natural lip sync. <\/p>\n5. Argil: AI Cloning for Short-Form Video Content<\/h3>\n
Why Argil Is Useful<\/h4>\n
Where Argil Could Be Helpful<\/h4>\n
\n People who already have an audience and want to repurpose or batch video production.
\n Anyone experimenting with AI avatars who doesn\u2019t need a full production studio. <\/p>\nHow Argil Works<\/h4>\n
6. Opus: AI-Powered Video Editing<\/h3>\n
Why Opus Is Useful<\/h4>\n
\n Auto-generating captions and subtitles for social media.
\n Cutting multiple clips at once to batch-create content. <\/p>\nWhere Opus Could Be Helpful<\/h4>\n
How Opus Works<\/h4>\n
7. Replit AI: Personalized Coding and Automation<\/h3>\n
Why Replit Is Useful<\/h4>\n
Where Replit Could Be Helpful<\/h4>\n
\n Teams looking to spin up lightweight internal tools fast.
\n Marketers or operators experimenting with productized utilities or free tools as part of their marketing strategy. <\/p>\nHow Replit Works<\/h4>\n
8. Notebook LM: AI for Smarter Note-Taking<\/h3>\n
Why Notebook LM Is Useful<\/h4>\n
\n Generate audio reviews of content.
\n Turn raw content into study guides or structured summaries. <\/p>\nWhere Notebook LM Could Be Helpful<\/h4>\n
\n Students and professionals who want AI to pull out key insights from notes.
\n Content creators who juggle multiple projects and need to stay organized. <\/p>\nHow Notebook LM Works<\/h4>\n
9. Napkin AI: AI-Generated Business Visuals<\/h3>\n