14 AI Productivity Tools To Help You Work Smarter

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a continuously evolving computer and data science technology that offers professionals and businesses new tools to handle many forms of work. AI apps can help with everyday tasks in a wide variety of fields; in fact, Accenture reports that large language models (LLMs) like GPT-4 can impact 40% of all working hours.

Productivity is one area where AI can help. AI tools—including machine learning algorithms, predictive modeling, and data analytics tools—can automate repetitive tasks, speed up analyses, and provide insights humans might miss.

If you want to “work smarter, not harder,” the right AI tools can help. In this guide, we’ll look at some of the best AI productivity tools and how they aid productivity.

Best AI productivity tools

AI tools can help people of all professions be more productive. We cover some of the best.

‍AI tools:

1. ChatGPT
2. Otter.ai
3. Jasper
4. Synthesia
5. Beautiful.ai
6. Tara.ai
7. Copy.ai
8. Adobe Sensei
9. Zoom IQ
10. Surfer SEO
11. Dall-E 2
12. Wordtune
13. Genei
14. GitHub Copilot

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1. ChatGPT

ChatGPT is a generative AI chatbot created by OpenAI and Microsoft. It uses LLMs and natural language processing (NLP) to create text responses based on a user’s prompt. The chatbot can automate repetitive tasks that involve text, like report creation, summarization, and coding. ChatGPT can also assist with brainstorming by offering, or helping develop, existing ideas.

Best for: Writers and content creators, developers and tech professionals, and business professionals

Pros:

• Free tier using GPT-3.5 with no time limit
• Good at summarizing content
• Access to plug-ins in the paid tier for more functionality

Cons:

• Plug-ins and GPT-4 aren’t available with the free plan
• Paid tier has a limit of 25 messages per three hours
• Can output incorrect information

Price: Free for GPT-3.5; $20 per month to use GPT-4 and plug-ins

2. Otter.ai

Otter.ai is an AI assistant for businesses and individuals who need help transcribing and taking notes. The real-time transcription service records audio and automatically captures meeting slides during virtual meetings. Otter.ai can also record and transcribe in-person and mobile conversations through a mobile app.

Best for: Businesses that hold virtual meetings and want to record and summarize the meeting content; individuals who want to be more engaged during important conversations

Pros:

• Get summaries of meetings for late attendees
• Notes are easily searchable
• Capture on-screen slides

Cons:

• Transcriptions may not be 100% accurate
• Doesn’t remove filler words
• Per-user pricing

Price: Free version with 300 monthly transcription minutes; paid plans start at $8.33 per user per month (billed annually) with 1,200 monthly transcription minutes and 90-minute sessions

3. Jasper

Jasper is an on-brand AI platform that can create different forms of content, including headlines, SEO-optimized blogs, and advertising copy. The AI can learn specific brand voices and adapt its style for different content. Users can also upload business, product, and audience details, and Jasper will create relatively accurate content.

Best for: Freelancers, marketers, and entrepreneurs needing generative AI to automate daily work in their brand voice

Pros:

• Adapts content to reflect the user’s brand voice
• Unlimited words
• 50+ templates, custom templates, and dynamic templates (unique template based on prompt)

Cons:

• May struggle with more technical topics
• May need to fact-check content for accuracy
• May repeat content on longer content generation runs

Price: Free seven-day trial; paid plans start at $39 per month (billed annually)

4. Synthesia

Synthesia is a video editing and creation platform that helps users transform text into video content. The platform offers over 140 AI avatars to help people take their ideas and create videos without hiring voice actors or buying production equipment. Synthesia can also turn text into speech in over 120 languages.

‍Best for: Course creators, YouTubers, bloggers, and freelancers wanting to streamline the video creation process with a video generator

Pros:

• API access to automate the creation process
• Templates for speeding up the video creation process
• Use brand materials for video creation

Cons:

• Limited personal plan (10 videos)
• Prevents the use of built-in avatars of popular advertisements and paid promotions
• May not be able to compete with professionally produced videos

Price: Paid plans start at $22.50 per month (billed annually) for 10 videos per month with up to 10 scenes per video

5. Beautiful.ai

Beautiful.ai assists professionals in creating slideshow presentations, offering hundreds of smart slides built with AI-assisted design. Users can add their content, and the smart slides will adapt based on that input. Beautiful.ai also allows users to convert their ideas into art, creating images to include in the presentation.

Best for: Professionals wanting to create presentations

Pros:

• Custom template library
• Viewer analytics for presentations
• Hundreds of pre-built slides

Cons:

• Limited flexibility when moving assets in presentations
• Lacks integration with other office applications
• Unable to edit slides after exporting

Price: Free trial; paid plans start at $12 per month (billed annually) for unlimited slides

6. Tara.ai

Tara.ai is a project management tool for engineering teams. The platform offers a unified view of engineering tasks, project documentation, and project progress. Tara.ai gives teams an easy way to work together, move projects through sprints, meet deadlines, and manage project issues.

Best for: Engineering teams needing help managing projects

Pros:

• Offers auto sprint management (creates sprints based on team’s work and priorities)
• Tool integration will code repositories like GitHub and GitLab
• Measure return on investment (ROI) in real time

Cons:

• Steep application learning curve
• Limited integration with other tools
• No mobile application

Price: Free for individuals; 14-day free trial; paid plans start at $8 per month (billed annually)

7. Copy.ai

Copy.ai is an AI content generator that can create blog posts, ad copy, Instagram captions, and more. The platform offers more than 90 tools and templates. Users simply enter their copywriting project, give Copy.ai a bit of context, and choose between the platform’s options. Copy.ai’s editor can also rewrite paragraphs.

Best for: Professionals wanting long- or short-form marketing content

Pros:

• Supercharge mode allows users to input a URL, and the AI will get the information from there
• Unlimited characters for the Pro plan
• Create custom templates

Cons:

• Content quality can vary
• Limited customization options
• Generated content may not be 100% accurate

Price: Free for 2,000 words per month; paid plans start at $36 per month (billed annually) for unlimited words

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8. Adobe Sensei

Adobe Sensei is a tool in Adobe’s Creative Suite that uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to improve the creative experience. It can help with image editing and document management, and can assist with tasks like color selection, fonts, and object recognition. The platform helps automate workflows and offers insights into marketing data to help creatives with decision-making and generating content.

Best for: Creative, marketing, or business professionals wanting to create the right content and deliver it to the right customers

Pros:

• Insights can help with predicting customer behavior
• Can access Sensei features within other Adobe programs
• Included in the price of Adobe Creative Cloud

Cons:

• Some Adobe Sensei applications have a learning curve
• Concerns over ownership of AI-generated content
• Adobe Creative Cloud can be expensive for those with limited budgets

Price: $49.99 per month (billed annually) for Creative Cloud All Apps with Sensei

9. Zoom IQ

Zoom IQ is an add-on to Zoom Meetings and Zoom Phone designed to enhance productivity on sales calls. The AI tool includes post-meeting analysis and analytics to help users analyze customer interactions, automate administrative tasks, and improve their sales process. Zoom IQ offers smart meeting recordings, generating chapters, highlights, and action items.

Best for: Companies wanting to improve their sales performance with insights into sales conversations

Pros:

• Meeting analysis to show sentiment and engagement
• Offers sales funnel insights
• Track customer conversations and get customer event alerts

Cons:

• Must have access to Zoom Meetings and Zoom Phone for Zoom IQ
• Only supports English language meetings
• Cannot analyze prerecorded Zoom meeting videos

Price: Free basic plan; paid plans start at $12.49 per month (billed annually)

10. Surfer SEO

Surfer SEO helps website owners optimize and produce website content. The AI tool analyzes the top sites on Google to provide a comprehensive breakdown of the factors the top pages have in common—information that search engine optimization (SEO) pros can use to improve their chances of ranking. Surfer SEO also offers content editing, keyword research, on-page audits, and more.

Best for: Webmasters, content writers, and marketers wanting to optimize their content for SEO

Pros:

• In-depth search engine analysis on current competition
• Can choose which top-ranking content to optimize articles against
• Integration with WordPress and Google Docs

Cons:

• Too much data can overwhelm new users
• Keyword research isn’t as advanced as competitors
• Domain Planner only supports the top 100 pages

Price: Paid plans start at $69 per month (billed annually) for 180 articles (15 articles per month)

11. Dall-E 2

DALL-E 2 is an AI image generator from OpenAI that allows users to type an input prompt and get an image as a result. Users can create realistic photos (such as landscapes and cities) or fictional scenes. Dall-E 2 also allows users to customize the images it generates.

‍Best for: Businesses and individuals wanting to create realistic images and artwork from natural language description

Pros:

• Safety mitigations to prevent harmful image generation
• Has greater resolution than DALL-E
• Trained on a larger dataset than DALL-E, generating a wide variety of images

Cons:

• Image generation may not always align with user goals
• Restrictions on the type of images
• Images can sometimes come out blurry or pixelated

Price: Users get 15 free image generation credits per month, then must pay $15 for 115 credits

12. Wordtune

Wordtune is a writing assistant created by AI21 Labs that helps users rewrite sentences for better clarity and precision. The tool can rephrase sentences, suggest synonyms, and correct grammar and spelling errors. It’s available as a Chrome extension, web app, and mobile app.

Best for: Professionals, students, and individuals wanting to expand on their writing and learn new ways to express ideas

Pros:

• Can make writing more concise, clear, and engaging
• Comes with a browser extension
• Easy to use (simply paste text into the Wordtune editor)

Cons:

• Only 10 free rewrites per day
• Limited features compared to other tools
• Limited free version

Price: Free for 10 uses per day; paid plans start at $9.99 per month (billed annually) for unlimited uses

13. Genei

Genei is an AI research and summarization tool for students and researchers, helping users look at articles and research papers to extract key information without reading every word themselves. This ability comes with a Chrome extension to process information on the fly and save pages to read for later use.

Best for: Researchers and students needing to process large volumes of text to find information

Pros:

• Saves time reading large amounts of text
• Customizes summaries based on user needs
• Document management systems for managing note-taking

Cons:

• Limited customization for basic version
• Can struggle with certain types of document formats (graphs, tables, images)
• May require training for full use

Price: 14-day free trial; paid plans start at £3.99 per month (billed annually)

14. GitHub Copilot

GitHub Copilot is an AI-assisted programming tool that helps developers create code. The tool offers real-time code suggestions based on users’ programming habits that make coding faster and more efficient. Copilot works as a plug-in for development environments.

Best for: Developers wanting to use AI to enhance their coding work

Pros:

• AI model trained on the public code repositories on GitHub
• Integrations with popular code editors (Visual Studio Code, JetBrains, Neovim)
• Supports a wide range of programming languages

Cons:

• Concerns over code licensing
• Can produce incorrect code
• Can be difficult for those unfamiliar with machine learning or NLP

Price: Free trial; paid plans start at $10.00 per month (billed annually) for individuals and $19 per user per month (no annual subscription) for businesses

Uses of AI

AI can help improve productivity by automating and optimizing tasks, including but not limited to:

• Content creation. AI writing tools and image generators can create content by analyzing the meaning of users’ inputs and then generating outputs based on the AI’s training data.
• Automate repetitive tasks. AI can handle repetitive tasks like data entry and customer service inquiries.
• Streamline task and project management. AI can take over administrative tasks like meetings, task management, and project planning by using data to make more efficient decisions.
• Improve transcription accuracy and efficiency. AI transcription services can transcribe audio to save time and achieve great accuracy levels.
• Optimize social media management. AI can automate social media tasks like scheduling social media posts, monitoring engagement, and analyzing performance.
• Improve time management. AI tools can prioritize tasks based on urgency or importance, set reminders, and block out focused work time, helping users manage their time more efficiently.
• Streamline data analysis and reporting. AI and machine learning techniques can analyze vast amounts of data to generate insights or reports.

Benefits of using AI for productivity

AI has many use cases for productivity. We cover some benefits you can experience when using AI for productivity.

• Automation. Reduce your workload by automating manual and repetitive tasks.
• Efficiency. Spend your energy on the work that matters most, and avoid wasting energy on repetitive work.
• Personalization. Get personalized recommendations based on your preferences, needs, and experiences to get relevant content ideas.
• Better decisions. Get help making decisions by using AI to analyze vast amounts of data and generate insights that aid decision-making.
• Greater collaboration. Use AI tools to collaborate when working on documents, generating ideas, and tracking what happens during meetings.
• Time savings. Spend less time on low-value tasks like planning, data entry, and reporting to free up time for higher-value work.
• Scalability. Meet growing demands, eliminate bottlenecks, and ensure productivity during peak periods with AI.

Become more productive with AI

AI’s ability to generate content and analyze large amounts of data means you can automate and streamline many tasks. And it can benefit people in almost every role.

If you’re a business owner wanting to experience increased productivity through AI, browse Upwork to find the right help. Search for AI chatbot specialists or machine learning engineers to help with your next project.

If you’re an AI professional with something to offer businesses, browse AI jobs on Upwork to find your next client.

Disclosure: Upwork is a Jasper Affiliate and may receive referral payments from Jasper. When using Jasper, you will be subject to Jasper’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. As always, independent professionals remain responsible for evaluating the tools offered and determining the fit for their business needs, as well as their own compliance with all laws and legal requirements in operating their freelance business.

Disclosure: Upwork is an OpenAI partner, giving OpenAI customers and other businesses direct access to trusted expert independent professionals experienced in working with OpenAI technologies.

Upwork does not control, operate, or sponsor the other tools or services discussed in this article, which are only provided as potential options. Each reader and company should take the time to adequately analyze and determine the tools or services that would best fit their specific needs and situation.

Prices are current at the time of writing and may change over time based on each service’s offerings.