Research note: an updated list of AI use cases and tools I'm using, May 2024

Plus ça change...

Kia ora,

Hope you’re enjoying your Sunday and not missing too much sleep from viewing the auroras…

Recently several Memia readers and consulting customers have asked me for an updated list of AI tools that I’m using now in 2024, and the key use cases I’m finding the most value from using them for.

So here goes, this post is a rapid braindump grouped by:

• General purpose language models

• Coding

• RAG / Internet search

• Image generation

• Audio generation

• Video generation

• Avatar generation

• AI agents

• What’s coming next…

(Updated: Thanks @SamRag for the handy infographic…)

Hopefully there are plenty of useful pointers in here for you to start integrating these tools into your own workflows - as always please reach out if you’re using other tools that aren’t on the list but should be!

(Comparing with my list of tools from a year ago…. some the same, many new…here are two slides from a presentation in July 2023:)

AI use cases and tools (from July 2023)

AI use cases and tools (from July 2023)

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General purpose large language models (LLMs)

Use cases

Fundamentally these early LLM tools continue to mature and I find are the primary workhorse general-purpose productivity boosters for all my individual information work… (Currently I don’t see them being particularly usful for improving team collaboration… yet, at least).

The science / art of prompting continues to evolve and my personal view is that the concept of “prompt engineering” will just fade away as the model UX improves beyond chat and the AI just gets better and better at understanding and anticipating what the user’s requirements are in any context or moment. That said…