In undergrad, a business professor told us the story of the first time spreadsheet software was debuted for a room of accountants.

He said they were cheering, screaming, standing on chairs, and throwing money onstage for first access to the product.

Why? Because it meant that manually updating rows of information whenever one value changed was now automatic and happened in an instant.

In other words, it removed a huge burden from their plates: hours saved, stress over calculation errors relieved, and time given back to their lives every day.

Here are the top five AI tools I’ve used for work and real life that would make me launch $100 bills onstage if I were in the room when they debuted.

Lovable

This no-code site builder let me turn an idea that had rattled around in my brain for years into an MVP I never expected to build myself. It took a few hours over the span of three days to bring it to life, and I hope to share it with the world when the time is right.

Claude Cowork

I built content automations with this tool that ran daily and helped me fill a content calendar as a team of one. But its real value came when I used it to do what I couldn’t: build an entirely new landing page in HubSpot, custom-coded to level up the design from traditional B2B (read: boring) to modern and sleek. I never thought I’d call a landing page sexy, but y’all…

Gamma

I learned about this one from a colleague in my last role. While it’s seen as a design tool, it’s actually a stealthy content-repurposing engine. Have some high-performing blog posts or fresh product messaging? Give them to Gamma, set the output guardrails, and turn existing content into something new. From pitch decks to ebooks and social graphics, you get custom content with illustrations, infographics, and approved imagery that you can further customize with simple controls.

Monarch Money

While not explicitly an AI tool, this is the best budgeting app I’ve ever used. It’s smart, categorizes spending exactly like I do, and gives me a snapshot of investments and income when I need it. But its best feature is the AI assistant. I’ve used it to build savings strategies, analyze spending, and run retirement scenarios that my wife and I discuss and plan around. In the nine months I’ve used the app, its AI has improved so much, and I trust it to keep getting better.

ChatGPT and Codex

Everyone has their AI of choice. ChatGPT is mine. If you looked inside my account, you’d find:

• My meal-planning automation, which has saved me from counting macros, kept me full, and helped me lose six pounds in two weeks.

• My “career coach” chat, which has brought me face-to-face with great new connections and opportunities.

• My “web manager” chat, where I plan website updates and then use Codex to bring them online for this very website!

I understand why some people call their AI tools a “second brain.” Mine are more like pairs of hands — headcount added across my life for the price of a few subscriptions.

What are your go-to AI tools? And how do they make your work, or personal life, better?