Top AI Tools of 2024
Which AI tools stood out for me in 2024? My list.
A lot of exciting AI tools were released in 2024 and some of those simply got a lot better.
I’m still in battery saving mode as we head into cold January and 2025, and I’m still mulling over this topic but, let me share what I got so far - & in my internal review of the 2024 AI trends, the predominance of AI tools really does stand out in how people are actually using Gen AI. I recommend reading this on a web browser or bookmarking it to read later.
Let me tell you a badly kept secret. When it comes to AI tools, it’s BOYAI all day long. (bring your own AI toolkit, i.e. different for each person)
As impressive as ChatGPT subscription growth has been, the idea of using AI as some omniscient oracle that’s harvesting my data with Ads on the way isn’t so appealing to me. Especially if there are more ethical, trustworthy, less privacy invasive and better LLMs out there.
I think some of you might agree with me that “AI literacy” doesn’t just consist of using frontier models and prompting techniques but actually knowing which AI tool to use in which task, consumer journey, work or research situation. We could term this “ BYOAI fluidity” and is a built by applied experience of actual adopting these tools in a variety of contexts and personal and professional situations. Also and in my personal opinion, knowing which tasks not to use Generative AI in at all in 2024 and especially in 2025, this will become harder than it appears. Where to use AI scaffolding and even AI-human hybrid agents, and where to keep our original creativity alive is important and often a neglected topic.
We have important questions to ask ourselves as we head into 2025 as many of the category winners consolidate in the AI tool space. Will AI agents help us actually do more and accomplish more with AI at work? To the degree that chatbots and novel use cases of Generative AI have failed so far in this domain since the end of 2022 up until 2025? That remains to be seen. Does saving us time mean it’s making us more productive? A lot of early promises have unsurprisingly failed to materialize, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t AI tools worth checking out.
Here also we must differentiate B2B and B2C use cases, that is, business vs. personal and professional applications as consumers. The use cases at the Enterprise or even SMB or startup level are divergent from AI tools meant for individual consumption.
Code Everywhere!
According to a Bain & Company Quarterly report on AI at the end of 2024, on the Enterprise AI side companies have launched generative AI experiments broadly, with software development, IT, and customer service being the most widely deployed uses, but coding adoption really does lead the way changing how SWEs work on projects.
Top Enterprise AI Use cases of Generative AI (COPS)
Code
Operations
Product
Sales
Worker Productivity (Knowledge worker efficiency)
Finance
Legal & Human Resources
In 2024, we can generalize and say that for Enterprise Adoption the COPS acronym sort of fits the bill. COPS as in AI applications in code, operations, product and sales. But our discovery in AI tools is a more myriad and creative endeavor with a mix of personal and professional use cases.
But to the degree that most of my readers aren’t necessarily coders, software engineers or even sure if investing in learning to code is a great idea in 2025, I will mostly be speaking of Non-code related AI Tools of clarity of statement of purpose of this list.
a16z AI Apps Unrapped 2024
A popular LinkedIn post on the topic of AI tools by a16z I noticed: [click on the image to learn more].
What are the biggest use cases of AI Tools for B2C users or general consumers in the BYOAI use case that is the more common reality?
What were the Best AI Tools of 2024?
What worked among the throngs of Generative AI products last year that might be worth mentioning?
I wanted to do a survey of some of the more mainstream and some of the lesser known AI tools that you might find useful to learn and know more about. I’m interested in nudging my readers in discovering the right AI tools for them and their special use cases. Nobody will use be using AI in exactly the same. Broadly speaking my audience consists primarily of AI enthusiasts of varied levels of adoption or AI application.
It’s my hope that this list will stand the test of time with regards to AI tools. Obviously no guarantees here as consumer behavior and AI tool consumption patterns are highly volatile and fluctuate a lot based on many factors. I noticed this when reading updates by the likes of FlexOS or a16z, among other sources.
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Whatever your level and professional or personal needs, I believe you can find an AI tool in this list that will bring you value. Neither is this draft a final say on this topic for me.
AI tools in 2024 were a bit like cryptocurrencies and altcoins in 2015, many of these won’t stand the test of time, but which are the best in class worth checking out?
Finally, expect to have a budget to try out AI tools as most of the time the best features are only unlocked by a monthly subscription. So when possible, I will list some pricing details as well (which may or may not be out of date by the time you read this list).
Memorable AI Tools of 2024
Useful
Popular
Captures the zeighest of AI product innovation
Fun to try
Personally satisfying
1. 📝 NotebookLM
Google had its “Chat-GPT” moment in September, 2024 with NotebookLM and Audio Overviews.
What
NotebookLM is an innovative AI-powered research and note-taking tool developed by Google. It serves as a virtual research assistant designed to help users manage and analyze their documents more effectively. By leveraging advanced language models, NotebookLM can summarize content, answer questions, and assist in organizing information from various sources, including Google Docs, PDFs, and websites.
How-To
Pricing
Learn more about NotebookLM Plus.
An interesting peak into Global adoption of Perplexity
2. 🔎 Perplexity
It would be hard to argue that Perplexity didn’t become a bigger part of our search, research and analysis process online in 2024. Perplexity evolved a lot in 2024 and is among the best Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) based consumer search products.
What
Perplexity is an AI-powered search engine designed to transform how users discover information. It allows individuals to ask questions in natural language, and it searches the internet to provide accurate, real-time answers. This innovative platform combines the capabilities of large language models (LLMs) with web search technology, enabling it to deliver concise and relevant responses to user queries.
How-to
Use-Case
Primarily for white collar workers who need to research, analyze and search things constantly.
Cost
Perplexity Pro is $20 a month and $200 a year.
3. 🖥️ Claude
With the evolution of Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Anthropic’s Claude in 2024 became the go-to for many coders and users looking for a frontier model chatbot with more clarity and better at following human direction.
What
Claude is a next-generation AI assistant developed by Anthropic, designed to be safe, accurate, and secure. It is built on advanced language models that focus on providing helpful, honest, and harmless interactions. Claude aims to assist users in various tasks, including writing, analysis, coding, and more, making it a versatile tool for both personal and professional use.
How-To
Cost
Claude Pro is $18 a month if Yearly, $20 a month if paid monthly.
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