See what you have to hand in first, don’t collect the tools first
Search “what are AI tools” and it’s easy to see a long list of names. After reading the list, I felt like I could do everything; but if I really wanted to start, I didn’t know which one to open first.
The problem isn’t that there are too few tools, but that we often refer to completely different things as “using AI.” Writing an email, finding evidence from twenty pieces of information, generating a product picture, turning the picture into a video, organizing Excel, and modifying a code project all require different abilities.
Don’t choose by product name yet. Make it clear what you want to hand over at the end, and the tools will naturally fall into six categories.
Writing and researching information are actually two types of tools
The first category is general conversation and writing tools. It is suitable for drafting from scratch, as well as for rewriting, summarizing, translating and explaining existing content. Products like ChatGPT can also process uploaded files and images, but "can read files" does not mean "every sentence has a traceable source."
If your task is to write an email, make an outline, or organize spoken language into written language, starting with a general tool will suffice. It is best to give the reader, purpose, length and unchangeable facts in the input.
The second category is tools that work around specified data. NotebookLM's approach is to first let users add sources, then answer based on those sources, and provide citations in the answer. It is more suitable for reading reports, organizing meeting materials, and comparing multiple documents, rather than writing an article for you out of thin air that dares to say anything.
- I don’t have reliable materials at hand and just want to form a rough draft: start with a general conversation tool.
- If you already have a set of PDFs, web pages or meeting minutes in hand, the answer must go back to the original text: give priority to data-based tools.
- Whether it’s numbers, policies or external commitments: No matter which tool you use, go back to the original source and check.
Pictures and videos should be viewed separately
image tools receive text or reference images and generate a new visual result; video tools also require processing time, and may generate segments from text or create motion in a picture. Adobe's public description of Firefly lists separately the capabilities of text-to-image generation, vector and color changes, and image-to-video.
Therefore, "generating pictures" and "generating videos" cannot be confused. When making avatars, poster base images, and article illustrations, you need to look at image tools first; if you want the characters to move coherently and the shots to connect naturally, you also need to look at video generation and post-editing. In most cases, a video that can be published does not end with the click of a button. It also requires selecting clips, adding subtitles, adding sound, and cutting out bad frames.
- Pictures: Focus on checking whether the text is correct, whether the character's hands and product details are deformed, and whether the size can be used directly.
- Video: Focus on checking whether the subject changes from front to back, whether the movement jumps suddenly, and whether the lens length and export specifications are appropriate.
- Prepare for commercial use: Check the training source description, generated content tags, and terms of use of the current account.
The value of office tools lies in moving files less once
The characteristic of office tools is not that they are better at chatting, but that they are in the files you work on. Take Microsoft 365 Copilot as an example. Officials have put it into applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Teams; in Excel, it can generate and interpret formulas, analyze data, and import data around workbooks.
If your daily work involves documents, spreadsheets, emails, and meetings, whether you can use existing files directly is often more important than whether the answer sounds smart or not. First take a real, insensitive file and try it: can you read the header correctly, retain the format, find the reference location, and do you need a lot of rework after exporting?
Some general tools can also upload forms or create slides, but this does not mean that they have been integrated into your office process. When judging office tools, separate "generating content" from "continuing work in existing files."
Programming tools don’t just fill in a few lines of code for you
Programming tools mainly deal with code files, project structure, testing and development commands. In GitHub's description of the Copilot programming agent, the task can start from the problem description, modify the code in an independent environment, run tests, and then submit the changes for review.
People who don't know how to program can use it to make small web pages or understand a piece of code, but this is two different things from being able to safely maintain a real project. There may be account permissions, databases, payment and online environments in the project, and the generated code still needs to be tested and reviewed.
If you just want to write a formula and modify a simple script, general tools may be enough; if you want to understand many files, execute commands and modify them repeatedly at the same time, look at specialized programming tools.
Ordinary people can choose the first tool like this
When choosing an AI tool for the first time, you don’t need to install every category. Come up with one thing you must complete this week and judge it in the following order.
- Write down the final deliverable, such as "a sourced summary of industry information," rather than just "increase efficiency."
- Determine what the input is: a request, a batch of existing data, a reference picture, an office document, or a complete code project.
- Select only one tool in the corresponding category and complete the process from input to export using real materials.
- Record the most time-consuming rework: fact checking, formatting, changing images, editing videos, or fixing code.
- Only if the rework really comes from tool limitations, compare the second product of its kind.
The tools selected in this way may not be the most popular, but they are more likely to stay. Whether a tool can really save time depends on whether the final file, picture, video or code can be handed over. Don't just look at how amazing it is when it is generated for the first time.
official information
This article checks the public description of the product and does not regard the rankings in third-party reviews as fact. Functions will continue to change, please check before actual use:
