Recommended AI Tools

The Starter Kit: Simple AI Tools Anyone Can Use From Day One

Rolando De La Torre
Share:

Note: None of the tools mentioned in this list are sponsored or affiliated. These are simply tools I’ve used, explored, or consistently recommended because I genuinely believe they offer real value. My goal is to save you time, help you work smarter, and share resources that have made a meaningful difference in my own work.

Base Toolkit + Rapid Learning

Consider the following:

  • There are already more tools available than you can possibly use
  • The pace of new tool development is lightning fast (and accelerating)
  • Many specialized tools may become obsolete as foundation models improve

Given these realities, it's critical to develop a three-part strategy: maintain a core go-to toolkit (a handful of tools you know exceptionally well), stay aware of specialized tools in the ecosystem, and cultivate the ability to master new tools within hours when needed.

If a specialized problem arises that you can't quite solve with your toolkit (or you feel a specialized tool might do a better job), you can actually use your existing toolkit to research specialized solutions. For example, go to Perplexity and type: "I have the following problem [describe the problem] I'd like to solve using a no-code AI-enabled app. Which tools are currently best suited to solve my problem?"

In my opinion, the most helpful resource:

DeepLearning.ai

The short courses and newsletters can help you advance from novice to pro at your own pace. Thank you to Andrew Ng and his team for creating this immensely valuable resource. It can be a game changer for those who commit to learning and solving problems using AI.

DeepLearning.AI is an education technology company that is empowering the global workforce to build an AI-powered future through world-class education, hands-on training, and a collaborative community.

Recommended Toolkit

Below are the core tools I've found most valuable, offering the right balance of versatility, power, and ease of use for handling a wide range of tasks.

  • Claude
    Smart assistant for complex thinking, strategizing, and organizing. Also, my preferred coding tool.
  • ChatGPT
    All-around helpful tool. Especially good with image generation.
  • Perplexity
    Amazing research assistant.
  • Real Python
    Powerful resource for those interested in learning to write pyhton code (especially for machine learning).
  • Notebook LM
    Allows you to absorb and organize enormous amounts of information from web, Youtube, and pdf sources.
  • GitHub Copilot
    Very handy coding tool in your IDE.