The Best AI Productivity Tools: Chatbots, Transcribers, and More

 The Best AI Productivity Tools: Chatbots, Transcribers, and More

Work smarter, not harder, with these AI productivity tools that save you time and make your life easier.

As AI experiences a new spring, ushered in by the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, AI technologies have become a staple of our daily lives – and for good reason.

Best AI Productivity Tools

By automating manual processes, AI tools help us work faster and smarter. In fact, results from our own report show that 72% of workers who use AI heavily report high levels of productivity. However, with so many AI tools cluttering the app stores, it's not always easy to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Whether you're looking to streamline processes with task managers or create powerful copy with content creators, we've rounded up nine AI tools designed to boost productivity, broken down by different uses. Read on to see our top picks - including their price and features - or jump to a specific tool using the links below.

9 AI Tools to Increase Your Productivity

Artificial intelligence tools take the legwork out of the way and you can focus on more important tasks. Check out our top picks and their USPs below.

1. ChatGPT (AI chatbot)

2. Gemini (AI chatbot)

3. Claude (AI chatbot)

4. Otter AI (AI transcriber)

5. Riverside (AI transcriber)

6. Jasper (AI content author)

7. CopyAI (AI content author)

8. Trevor (AI scheduling software)

9. Clockwise (AI scheduling software)

Best AI Chatbots

If you are limiting yourself to one AI tool, we recommend using AI chatbots. Generative AI applications are trained on vast amounts of data, giving them essentially unlimited applications. Check out our favorites below.

1. ChatGPT

• The best multipurpose chatbot

• Key use cases: Copy translation, content creation, data analysis, email writing, coding

• Price from: Free

If you're looking for an all-round AI tool, look no further than ChatGPT. The OpenAI chatbot started the AI ​​boom in 2022 and created an army of copycats. However, in most respects, the originator still remains undefeated, thanks in part to its powerful GPT language model, relatively large context window, and impressive language options.

ChatGPT Advances is now powered by the sophisticated GPT-4 model. Source: Tech.co testing

LLM GPT-4 chatbots – available to ChatGPT Plus users – are trained on a much larger dataset than Google's Gemini (1.1.7 trillion parameters versus 540 billion), making them better able to respond to a wider range of queries. This makes it more useful for users looking for a versatile tool with many uses.

ChatGPT is also great at learning from the conversations it has with people, making it useful for tasks like learning a new language. However, despite improvements in this area, ChatGPT is not as strong as its competition when it comes to numerical tasks such as coding and mathematical equations.

The chatbot is available to users free of charge. However, to access GPT-4 and use additional tools such as DALL-E and advanced data analysis, you will need to upgrade to a Plus ($20/month), Team ($25/month) or Enterprise plan. However, we have found a few ways to access GPT-4 for free.

2. Gemini

• Best for coding and research

• Key use cases: generating images, summarizing text, coding, solving mathematical problems, conducting research

• Price from: Free

Google's recently rebranded Gemini (formerly Bard) is an extremely capable AI chatbot, and its offering is also constantly evolving. The chatbot recently switched from his LLM to Gemini Ultra, improving his numerical skills and getting better at tasks like coding and maths.

Best AI Productivity Tools

Gemini's powerful LLM model makes it excellent at creating test copy and summaries. Source: Tech.co testing

Currently only available to Gemini Advanced users, Gemini Ultra outperforms GPT-4 in a number of other areas as well. With improved multi-model understanding, Gemini is more powerful in image generation and voice data understanding. Gemini's real-time access to the Internet makes it a more reliable source of information for research and educational purposes.

While the chatbot may still be prone to the occasional hallucination, its seamless integration with Google Workspace will undoubtedly make it a better alternative for many teams. Like ChatGPT, the chatbot currently offers a free version as well as an advanced tier that costs $19.99 per month.

3. Claude

• Best for viewing large documents

• Key use cases: organizing transcripts, analyzing large files, conducting research, summarizing articles

• Price from: Free

Founded by AI research lab Anthropic in 2021, Claude is a capable chatbot that prides itself on being "harmless" and maintaining a "high degree of reliability and predictability" when answering user queries. While it may not boast the computing power of more established chatbots, its unique input features set it apart from the crowd.

Unlike rivals like ChatGPT and Gemini, Claude lets you upload files by clicking an attachment button. Users can upload up to five files at a time, each up to a 10MB limit. In addition to automatically summarizing content, Claude is able to learn from files and use the information for future queries.

Claude also allows you to submit links and summarize online articles. This is a huge advantage for users who want to quickly summarize long articles for research purposes. However, like Gemini, Claude can be subject to strange hallucinations, so it's worth checking the facts if you're unsure.

Claude is available for free, but if you want to benefit from the recently released Claude 3 AI chatbot model, you'll need to pay $20 per month for its Claude Pro plan.

The best AI transcription tools

Manual transcription is a thankless task. By adopting AI tools, you can automatically transcribe audio recordings and unlock additional features such as text translation and summarization. Check out our top picks.

4. Otter AI

• Best for transcribing work and school calls

• Key use cases: Audio transcription, meeting playback, call summaries, speaker identification

• Price from: Free

OtterAI is a user-friendly AI meeting assistant that allows you to record, transcribe and summarize meetings in real time. The tool integrates with web conferencing platforms like Google Meet and Zoom, allowing users to access audio without switching between apps. Its free plan is also very generous, allowing users to transcribe 300 minutes of audio per month from three audio and video files.

Otter AI lets you transcribe 300 minutes of audio or video content for free every month. Source: Otter.ai

Otter AI also allows you to chat with other teammates for free, helping you collaborate more effectively. Alternatively, if you're happy to invest in a transcriber, its Pro plan ($10 per month) allows users to transcribe 1,200 minutes of content per month, from up to 10 audio or video files, and access advanced features such as advanced search and playback.

5. Riverside

• Best for transcribing interviews

• Key use cases: Transcription of complex audio with multiple speakers, audio translation, audio editing, identification of different speakers

• Price from: Free

Riverside is an audio and video to text transcriptionist that claims to transcribe content with 99% efficiency, making it a great choice for users who rely on accurate transcription, such as those working in law, real estate, or finance.

Riverside rewrites content with up to 99% efficiency. Source: Riverside

Its speaker discrimination feature, which automatically distinguishes between speakers in transcripts, makes it a great tool for transcribing interviews and other conversational spoken situations where multiple participants are involved.

Riverside's free plan is much more limited than the Otter AI plan, but only allows two hours of audio and video at a time. This means users looking to get the most out of Riverside will be better off paying for their Standard ($15 per month) or Pro ($24 per month) plan.

Top AI content writers

AI content creators help streamline your content creation by helping you with ideation, copy creation, editing and more. If you're interested in getting the ball rolling with smart AI software, check out our top picks below.

6. Jasper

• Best for creating longer format content

• Key use cases: Creating compelling long copy, improving existing copy, generating content ideas, reviewing and analyzing documents

• Price from: $49 per month

Jasper, formerly known as Jarvis AI, is an excellent AI authoring tool that helps users create a wide variety of content including documents, product descriptions, blog posts and more. In addition to useful content templates, the tool is also able to modify existing copy to make it more creative and engaging.

Jasper.ai allows users who want to create or enhance existing content to offer a wide variety of templates. Source: Jasper.ai

Jasper's Long Form Assistant is especially great for users who want to create or rework longer copy such as articles and documents. Jasper's built-in grammar checker, plagiarism and SEO tools ensure that your content is high quality as well as discoverable, giving the tool a huge advantage over its competitors.

However, the feature-rich Jaspers software comes at a price. The tool currently doesn't offer a free plan, which means you'll need to invest $39 per month in the Creator plan or $59 per month in Jasper.ai Pro to take advantage of its benefits.

7. CopyAI

• Best for creating short content

• Key use cases: creating engaging short copy, writing product descriptions, checking for plagiarism

• Price from: Free

CopyAI is another popular AI writing tool designed to help users overcome writer's block. The platform runs on GPT-3, supports more than 25 languages, and offers over 90 writing templates (compared to the 50 offered by Jasper).

Copy.ai offers more than 90 writing templates. Source: Copy.AI

It offers an excellent user experience and responds quickly to challenges, making it a good choice for users who need to produce high-quality content under tight deadlines. However, as it lacks features dedicated to creating and editing long copy, its use is limited to creating short content.

Users can get started for free with its free plan, but to unlock unlimited credits and projects, you'll need to choose its Pro plan ($35 per month) or custom plan.

The best AI scheduling software

Scheduling software helps you use your time more wisely. By letting tools organize your day for you, you'll have more time to complete tasks, socialize and find balance.

8. Trevor

• Best for simple daily planning

• Key use cases: Creating daily schedules, time blocking, organizing tasks, writing to-do lists

• Price from: Free

Trevor is a user-friendly daily planning app designed to help users maximize deep work and be as productive as possible. The to-do list feature of this tool gives you a complete overview of your daily tasks and allows you to customize it to your liking. Trevor even syncs your to-do list with Google or Microsoft Calendar to help coordinate your plans across platforms.

Trevor AI scheduling software allows you to create customizable daily schedules. Source: Trevor AI

The time lock and Trevor focus mode features work in tandem to help users work for a set amount of time without distraction. For users who are overwhelmed by long to-do lists, Trevor's software breaks down tasks into 5 steps to make them feel more achievable.

To access advanced features like personal AI model, recurring scheduled tasks, and personal scheduling statistics, you need to upgrade to the Pro plan, which costs $3.99 per month.

9. Clockwise

• Best for syncing calendars

• Key use cases: Create daily schedules, track time and attendance, reduce scheduling conflicts, block time, sync work and personal calendars

• Price from: $6.75 per month

Clockwise is another AI-powered scheduling software designed to help users increase their productivity. Like Trevor, Clockwise uses time blocking to allow users to work longer without interruption. However, the platform also offers advanced calendar sync options that allow users to combine events in their personal and work Google calendars.

Clockwise AI lets you sync your personal and work Google calendars. Source: Clockwise AI

Its free version is quite comprehensive, allowing you to automatically figure out the optimal time for your tasks and routines, schedule outside of your organization, and view personal time for meals, travel, and more. However, if you use it for business purposes, we recommend upgrading to the Teams ($6.75 per month), Business ($11.50 per month), or Enterprise plan.