There are thousands of AI tools out there, and honestly, new ones pop up every day. Still, most folks just lean on ChatGPT for everything. That’s a big mistake. People who mix and match the right tools are pulling way ahead, and the gap just keeps growing. AI is changing how we work. If you’re not using the right tool for the job, you’re falling behind.
Let’s change that. I’ve spent hours testing hundreds of AI tools across every category you can think of, so I’ll cut to the chase and tell you what’s actually good—no endless trial and error. Let’s start with the basics: emailing and writing.
Emailing and Writing – Claude Opus
I’m just going to say it—most AI writing still sounds awkward and cheesy. That overly cheerful tone, or stuff that just misses the point, you know? I’ve tried all the big models, and Claude Opus stands out. For any kind of writing, it just gets it.
For emails, it’s a lifesaver. I’ll dump in messy threads with ten replies, ask Claude to write something back that actually addresses everything, and it nails it. No lost context, no weird responses—most times, I hardly edit anything.
But the real magic? You can literally teach Claude how you write. Feed it a few samples—your tone, your quirks, your formatting—and it remembers. Every email, doc, or message sounds like you. It’s wild.
Whether it’s essays, project docs, or just daily emails, get Claude Opus on your side. That’s writing, solved.
Deep Research – Perplexity
Research still sucks when you’re juggling a million tabs and getting bombarded with garbage ads. Perplexity makes research almost fun. Let’s say you want to figure out the healthiest diet backed by science. Perplexity hands you real sources—peer-reviewed studies, links, clear breakdowns—no filler.
If you hit the deep research button, it goes even further, pulling together insights from tons of sources, comparing studies, and building you a neat report. Stuff that used to take 30 minutes? Done in two.
You can sort research by topic, so your health notes don’t get tangled with tech or travel. Everything stays tidy.
And the real win: Perplexity isn’t just a chatbot. It pulls from live web results with advanced models. You get accurate info, real citations, not just fluffy recaps.
Learning New Skills or Software – Google AI Studio Live Mode
Trying to pick up a new skill or software? Sure, YouTube tutorials help. But Google AI Studio Live Mode is like having a tutor right there with you, on your screen, exactly when you need them.
Fire up real-time mode, share your screen, and now the AI sees what you see. Stuck on some error in a video editor? Ask, and it walks you through every step, right then and there.
You can cut in, ask follow-ups, go at your own pace. It’s basically someone looking over your shoulder, but works on any app, anytime. Super useful. I’ll add links to all these tools below.
Note-Taking – Notion AI
Note-taking’s a headache when your stuff is scattered everywhere. Notion AI actually makes it manageable. It’s not just for transcribing—It summarizes, pulls out action points, and keeps everything lined up with your projects.
Forgot what you promised in last week’s meeting? Just ask. Notion AI hunts the answer from your notes, even if you barely recall the meeting. The more you use it, the smarter it gets—it builds you a knowledge base you can really use, not just a pile of old notes.
Workflow Automation – Make
Workflow automation is a gamechanger. (Full honesty, Make sponsors this bit.) But I’ll show you how we actually use it, so you see why I’m talking about it.
You probably don’t notice just how much busywork clogs up your day—emails, deadlines, admin, copying the same data over. All the tedious stuff nobody likes. If you mess it up, things start slipping.
We use Make to tie everything together. So, when a business email hits, Make’s AI reads it, figures out what it needs, drafts a reply, and puts it into my queue. I still check and approve—nothing gets sent out randomly. There’s even a reason panel, so I can see why the AI made each choice—easy to audit, easy to trust.
Suddenly, all that boring admin melts away, and the team can focus on creative work. Make doesn’t replace people; it just kills off the repetitive grind. There’s a link for a free pro plan below if you want to try it.
Learning and Absorbing Information – Notebook LM
Notebook LM changed how I learn stuff. Just drag in your PDFs, articles, even YouTube videos, and start asking questions—it breaks things down simply, in plain language.
So maybe I’m tackling project management. I upload the PMP guide, toss in some hiring tips, and a YouTube video. I ask which skills to focus on and get a clear, summarized answer based only on my material.
Here’s the kicker: you can listen to an audio overview, like a podcast between two AI hosts, summing up all that content. That 50-page document? I get the essentials in 15 minutes while I’m driving.
And the best part: Notebook LM sticks to just what you upload. No random facts from the web, no made-up nonsense. It’s all your sources, simplified.
Financial Admin – Claude for Small Business
Managing finances as a freelancer or small business owner is a drag. Invoices, bookkeeping, chasing payments—it’s endless. Claude for Small Business is the best AI I’ve used for all that.
Connect it to your tools—QuickBooks, PayPal, whatever. Then just tell it what you want: reconcile transactions, make a forecast, flag what’s overdue. It’ll chase late invoices, prep tax docs, even send out contracts. Basically, it handles all the backend noise so you don’t have to hire help or pull an all-nighter.
Presentations – Gamma AI
Presentations used to mean hours staring at PowerPoint. Gamma AI flips that. Just tell it what you need—like “a pitch deck for a freelance design agency focused on tech startups”—and in a minute, you get a polished, styled deck.
And you can still tweak everything—add visuals, change the tone, drop in tables. Gamma updates it all on the fly.
If you’re in sales, marketing, or just need decent slides for school, Gamma saves you so much time.
General Assistant – ChatGPT
For a general AI assistant, I’m still with ChatGPT. And yeah, I said not to use it for everything, but hear me out. I save ChatGPT for personal stuff—vacations, food spots, gym plans. Claude takes care of business. This split actually makes both better because they each “get to know” me in those specific roles.
Claude handles all my business emails with my tone. ChatGPT remembers my partner’s birthday and helps plan date night. Keeping them separate means their “memories” don’t bleed together, and I get the best results from both.
Final Thoughts
Here’s the bottom line—use the right tool for each job and you’ll blaze ahead. The people building their own custom AI stacks now are the ones leaving everyone else in the dust.
If you want a shortcut, you’ll find my full cheat sheet—with tools, tips, and sample prompts—in the link below.
And if you got all the way here, type “stacked” in the comments and I’ll hit it with a like. I want to know—what’s your go-to AI tool right now? And if you’re curious about where AI is heading, check out my video on agentic AI next.
