Unless you make it your full-time job, it’s impossible to keep up with the latest developments in AI. In this post, I break down my top tools and how I use them in my work and life.
Work
My work broadly falls into three categories – planning, writing, and coding. Each has its own unique AI workflow that I’ve refined over time.
Planning & Strategy
ChatGPT is my primary tool for planning and strategic thinking. While I heavily used GPT-4 last year, I’ve now shifted to using the reasoning models (o1 and o3) as they excel at creating structured, logical plans. These models serve as invaluable brainstorming partners when I’m:
- Planning client projects
- Developing startup strategies
- Creating structured workplans
- Organizing my daily workflow
The collaborative chat interface works particularly well for this use case – I can bounce ideas back and forth, get feedback on my thinking, and gradually build out a master plan through discussion.
Writing
For writing tasks, Claude has become my go-to tool. I’ve invested time in training it to understand and adapt to my tone of voice by providing examples of my past content. This works particularly well for:
- Email outreach to companies
- Social media content
- Blog posts
- Professional communications
My workflow with Claude is quite dynamic. Sometimes I’ll provide specific context and ask for a draft in my voice, but more often I’ll engage in a freeform conversation, letting my thoughts flow naturally while Claude helps structure them into coherent content. I particularly value Claude’s ability to ask probing questions that help extract deeper insights from my stream of consciousness.
Development
For coding and building, I use a combination of tools in a sequential workflow:
- First, I use o1 or o3 for high-level architecture planning, especially for complex systems like AI agents
- Then I take that structural plan to Claude, which I find particularly adept at generating clean, well-structured initial code
- Finally, I move to Cursor for the iterative development process, building out additional features and refining the implementation
This multi-tool approach lets me leverage the strengths of each model at different stages of the development process.
Research
For research work, I’ve been using Google’s Deep Research since its release a few months ago. While I haven’t tried OpenAI’s Deep Research yet (though I hear it provides even more detailed results), I’ve actually built my own research tool using various APIs and open source models. This custom solution, while perhaps not as comprehensive as the commercial options, meets my needs well and operates at a fraction of the cost.
Personal
My personal use of AI broadly falls into three categories: learning, search, and advice.
Learning
ChatGPT is my primary learning companion, particularly GPT-4. Whether I’m trying to understand complex scientific concepts or learn something new, I find myself defaulting to ChatGPT’s interface. Its canvas feature is particularly useful for visualizing concepts – while Claude offers similar functionality, I’ve found myself naturally gravitating toward ChatGPT for this use case.
Language learning has been revolutionized by ChatGPT’s advanced voice mode. Being able to have natural conversations with immediate pronunciation feedback has been incredibly helpful for language practice. The voice mode is also great for learning on the go – I can have educational conversations while walking down the street, making the most of otherwise idle time.
Search
For general search, I primarily use ChatGPT, with occasional use of Gemini or traditional Google search. Google’s integration of Gemini into search results, providing AI-generated summaries at the top, has been a welcome addition. I find myself switching between ChatGPT and Google+Gemini depending on the type of information I’m looking for.
Personal Advice
Claude has become my go-to for personal advice. I particularly appreciate Claude’s personality and its willingness to speak its mind more freely compared to other models. While I wouldn’t call it therapy, it serves as a helpful sounding board for personal matters – something akin to a thoughtful friend you can bounce ideas off of.