The AI Tools I’m Actually Using Right Now

And how they’re giving me unfair leverage in real life.

Let’s cut the fluff: most “Top AI Tool” lists are just SEO bait. They’re packed with tools the writer has never opened—or used once, badly.

This isn’t that.

This is what I actually use. Every day. To write, build, animate, automate, create music, code, ship, and scale. These tools aren’t magic. But when you stack them right, they feel damn close.

Let’s go.

ChatGPT

Still the MVP.

I use ChatGPT like a second brain. It writes with me, builds ideas with me, helps me think through hard stuff, and makes me laugh sometimes in the process.

Whether I’m designing a landing page, rewriting a cold email, or exploring an idea like “how does fear impact innovation?”—this is where I start.

Especially now with GPT-4o, the speed, vision, and context have leveled up. I’m not just typing—I’m talking, uploading screenshots, walking it through messy ideas and getting real clarity back.

It’s my first tab of the day. Every day.

Claude

Smarter, calmer, and a better coder than ever.

Claude just dropped 4.0, and it’s seriously impressive. It now handles code like a champ—and I mean better than ChatGPT in many cases.

It’s still the model I turn to when I’m thinking deeply through documents or working on long-form strategy. But now? I’m using it to debug, explain, and optimize code, too. It’s thoughtful, conversational, and shockingly competent across the board.

I don’t just use Claude for writing. I use it for thinking.

Vidu

Midjourney for motion. No cringe, no jank.

Vidu is where things start to feel cinematic. I use it to animate book covers, AI-generated images, and scenes for trailers. The motion is smooth, the timing is smart, and the output looks like something I paid a creative team for.

If I want a 5-second loop of a rocket taking off behind a children’s book cover—this is it.

Suno

The first AI music tool I actually vibe with.

Suno makes original songs from text prompts—and they’re surprisingly good. We’re talking full vocals, structure, hooks.

I’ve used it for trailer music, social audio, ambient loops, even a theme song or two. It gives me options. It plays well with video. And it doesn’t sound like a robot ate GarageBand and threw up.

Runway AI

Editing, upscaling, and text-to-video without the stress spiral.

Runway’s my post-production suite in the cloud. I use it to clean up trailers, remove backgrounds, upscale footage, and experiment with text-to-video ideas.

It’s not just for editors. It’s for builders like me who want things to look polished without having to be a Final Cut nerd.

N8N

The invisible backbone of my automations.

N8N is like Zapier’s open-source cousin that lifts weights and doesn’t flinch at API docs. I use it to run my AI agents behind the scenes.

It connects everything—OpenAI, Supabase, JSON2Video, SendGrid, all of it—into smart little flows that run 24/7. Think: trigger this, call that, format it, send it, save it.

I don’t have to touch it once it’s built. It just runs.

v0.dev

When I want UI without the drama.

v0 lets me type “I need a hero section with testimonials and a signup form” and then boom—Tailwind React components appear.

I tweak it, drop it into my Next.js project, and keep moving.
No design spiral. No scope creep. Just flow.

Bolt.new

MVPs in minutes.

Bolt lets me take an idea from a GPT and turn it into a SaaS product instantly—UI, login, payments included.

I use it when I want to test something fast. “Can this GPT make money?” → Bolt it. Share it. See what happens.

Fast feedback. Fast iterations. Fast validation.

Cursor

The coder that doesn’t sigh or judge you.

Cursor is my AI coding partner. It runs inside a fork of VS Code and actually works the way you want: it explains things, edits with you, builds small functions, and helps you understand why your regex is garbage.

I use it for everything from microservices to full backend logic. It feels like pair programming with a friend who never needs a break.

Final Thoughts

You don’t need a hundred AI tools.
You need the right stack—and the willingness to ship before it’s perfect.

These tools work because I put them to work.
They don’t replace creativity. They amplify it.

And when you stack them right, it starts to feel like you’ve got a crew of creative weirdos building at your side. Coders, writers, editors, musicians—all automated, all working together while you stay in the role you’re best at:

Creative director of your own damn empire.