AI Notes May 2025

Q1 2025 AI‑tool roundup — everything worth your time

General AI tools

• ChatGPT (o3) — 120 k‑token multimodal reasoning, faster than GPT‑4. https://chat.openai.com
• Claude Max — 500 k‑token chats, Artifacts for code/games, built‑in prompt tuner. https://claude.ai
• Perplexity — Adds Deep Research mode and WhatsApp fact‑check replies. https://www.perplexity.ai
• Gemini 1.5 Pro — Inline image editing in 45 languages. https://gemini.google.com
• Microsoft Copilot — “Pages” saves research threads; new Spanish voices. https://copilot.microsoft.com
• Exa Search — Hybrid semantic+keyword search API for docs and e‑commerce. https://exa.ai
• DeepSeek R1‑Omni — 671 B open‑weights, 200 k context, free for research. https://huggingface.co/deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-R1
• Lambda Inference API — Pay‑per‑token gateway to every major frontier model. https://lambdalabs.com/inference
• LG EXAONE Deep 32 B — Laptop‑friendly model scoring near GPT‑4 on STEM tasks. https://huggingface.co/LGAI-EXAONE/EXAONE-Deep-32B
• Llama 3 (8 B/70 B) — Best‑performing open LLM; booming plugin ecosystem. https://ai.meta.com/blog/meta-llama-3
• Zapier MCP — One prompt triggers 8 000+ SaaS actions; perfect for agents. https://zapier.com/mcp

Creative AI tools

• Adobe Illustrator — Generative Shape Fill packs outlines with vector art. https://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator/ai.html
• ArchiVinci — Sketch‑to‑photo architectural renders. https://archivinci.com
• Flair — Drag‑and‑drop product shoots, now with fashion‑model mode. https://flair.ai
• Morphic — Storyboarding‑to‑final cut film studio in the browser. https://morphic.com
• Midjourney V7 — Draft mode, better logos, new editor. https://midjourney.com
• Leonardo AI — Real‑time canvas, style refs, 3‑D mesh export. https://leonardo.ai
• Story Diffusion — Keeps comic characters consistent across panels. https://storydiffusion.ai
• DALL·E 3 — Region editing and in‑painting inside ChatGPT. https://labs.openai.com
• Adobe Firefly Structure Reference — Lock layout, vary style/content. https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2024/03/26/new-structure-reference-capabilities-adobe-firefly-bring-new-level-creative-control-ideation
• Khroma — AI color‑scheme generator that learns your taste. https://khroma.co
• AutoDraw — Quick‑sketch helper for wireframes. https://autodraw.com
• Fontjoy — One‑click font pairing. https://fontjoy.com
• Botika — AI fashion models for Shopify images. https://botika.io
• Freepik AI Suite — Scene‑locked “Composition Reference” generation. https://freepik.com/ai
• Magnific — 4× image upscale with prompt‑guided detail. https://magnific.ai
• Presti — Drops real furniture into AI‑generated rooms. https://presti.ai
• IC Light V2 — Text‑guided portrait relighting. https://iclightai.com
• Krea 3‑D Objects — Image‑to‑textured mesh in seconds. https://krea.ai
• Flora — Team canvas chaining text, image and video models. https://flora.so
• Stable Virtual Camera — Turn 32 photos into explorable 3‑D scenes. https://stability.ai/vcam

UI‑design AI tools

• Uizard — Multi‑screen mock‑ups from text. https://uizard.io
• Galileo — Prompt‑to‑polished UI screens. https://usegalileo.ai
• Dora — No‑code 3‑D website builder with WebGL export. https://dora.run
• Webflow AI Site Builder — Beta turns a brief into a hosted site. https://webflow.com/updates/ai-site-builder
• Figma “First Draft” — Relaunched AI layout generator. https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/24/24253252/figma-ai-make-designs-first-draft-app-ui-generator
• Attention Insight — Heat‑map gaze prediction plug‑in. https://attentioninsight.com/figma-plugin
• Operative.sh — Agent‑driven UX tests with screenshots. https://operative.sh
• Scene 2.0 — Whiteboard‑to‑website on one canvas. https://scene.so
• AI CSS Animations — Text prompt → production keyframes. https://aicss.dev
• Same.dev — Clone any live site into editable React code. https://same.dev
• Google Firebase Studio — Prompt‑to‑full‑stack app in the browser. https://firebase.google.com/studio

Video AI tools

• Runway Gen‑4 — “References” lock character and style across shots. https://runwayml.com
• Dream Machine (Ray 2) — Image‑to‑4‑sec cinematic clip with physics. https://lumalabs.ai/dream-machine
• Amazon Nova Reel 1.1 — Two‑minute text‑to‑video via Bedrock, 80 % cheaper. https://aws.amazon.com/bedrock
• Pika Pikaswaps — Actor/background swaps with a prompt. https://pika.art
• Gemini Video Generator — Sentence‑to‑scored, animated scene. https://ai.google.dev/gemini-video
• Descript — Eye‑contact correction, overdub, storyboard edits. https://www.descript.com
• Viggle — Motion‑transfer characters, greenscreen ready. https://viggle.ai
• Synthesia — 4‑K avatars, gesture control, 170+ voices. https://synthesia.io
• Facefusion — GPU‑accelerated open‑source face‑swap. https://github.com/facefusion/facefusion
• Deep Live Cam — Real‑time deepfake streaming for VTubers. https://github.com/hacksider/Deep-Live-Cam
• Revid.ai — Text‑to‑TikTok/IG/YouTube shorts. https://revid.ai
• Riverside — Lossless recording, text‑based edits. https://riverside.fm/video-editor
• FLUX 1.1 — Free text/image‑to‑video with Kling styles. https://flux-ai.io/flux-video-ai
• HeyGen — Face‑swap plus multilingual avatar VO. https://heygen.com
• Arcads — Marketing‑copy‑to‑ad video for Meta/TikTok. https://arcads.ai
• Filmora AI — Auto‑cut, style transfer, filler‑word removal. https://filmora.wondershare.com
• Keytake — Docs/URLs → narrated explainer videos. https://keytake.ai

Music & audio AI tools

• Suno V4.5 — Two‑track mix, better vocals in 30 s. https://suno.com
• Udio — Full songs, comedy skits, stems export. https://udio.com
• ElevenLabs Sound FX — Text‑to‑sound effects + voices. https://elevenlabs.io/sound-effects
• Play HT — 200+ ultra‑real voices, low‑latency API. https://play.ht
• Artlist AI Voiceover — 13 languages, Premiere plug‑in. https://artlist.io/blog/ai-voiceover-new-features
• Hume Octave — Emotion‑aware TTS with controllable tone. https://hume.ai/octave
• SoundHound Chat AI — In‑car voice assistant, food ordering. https://soundhound.com/soundhound-chat-ai
• ElevenLabs Text‑to‑Bark — Speech for pet‑tech toys. https://elevenlabs.io
• Amazon Nova Sonic — Real‑time expressive voice via Bedrock. https://aws.amazon.com/bedrock
• Synthflow — AI caller books meetings, logs CRM notes. https://synthflow.ai
• Shamaze — Bedtime stories read back in your cloned voice. https://shamaze.app

Marketing AI tools

• Jasper — Brand‑voice controls, role permissions. https://jasper.ai/updates
• Aha — AI influencer team, ROI dashboard. https://aha.inc
• Virallyst — Tests hooks, rewrites captions, auto‑posts. https://virallyst.com
• Warmy — Domain warm‑up, new 2025 deliverability guide. https://warmy.io
• Happenstance — Plain‑language network search. https://happenstance.ai
• AiSDR — LinkedIn + HubSpot meeting‑booking agent. https://aisdr.com
• Reachy — Outreach agent that respects LinkedIn limits. https://reachy.ai
• Keak — Generates and A/B‑tests landing pages. https://keak.com

Other AI tools

• Payman — Agents hire humans and pay securely. https://paymanai.com
• Pinokio — One‑click local install/serve any AI app. https://pinokio.computer
• Cursor — Code editor with AI chat and refactors. https://cursor.com
• Replit Agent — Prompt‑to‑deployed app in Replit. https://blog.replit.com/category/ai
• Browser‑Use — Headless Chrome action library for agents. https://github.com/browser-use
• Databutton MCP — Drag‑and‑drop GPT/Claude workflows. https://databutton.com/mcp
• Documenso — Open‑source DocuSign replacement. https://documenso.com
• Terra Security — Agentic penetration testing. https://terrasecurity.ai
• Agent Simulate — Synthetic‑user load tests for UX. https://agentsimulate.com

Education AI tools

• Claude for Education — 500 k‑token tutor, worksheet generator. https://claude.ai/edu
• OpenAI Academy — Ten micro‑courses on prompting and safety. https://academy.openai.com
• AI Tutor by Roadmap.sh — Quiz‑chat along dev roadmaps. https://roadmap.sh/ai-tutor
• NotebookLM Audio Overviews — Docs‑to‑multilingual podcasts. https://blog.google/technology/ai/notebooklm-audio-overviews/
• TurboLearn — Notes, flashcards, quizzes from any media. https://turbolearn.ai
• Nvidia free AI courses — Eight hands‑on modules: RAG, vision, more. https://rpafeed.com/free-nvidia-ai-courses-to-master-ai/
• Globe Explorer — AI‑powered visual knowledge maps. https://explorer.globe.engineer
• ClassCentral — 17 k AI courses indexed. https://classcentral.com/subject/ai
• University of Illinois AI — MBA‑level online AI track. https://www.coursera.org/uiuc-ai
• Microsoft Generative AI for Beginners — 12‑lesson open curriculum. https://microsoft.github.io/generative-ai-for-beginners
• Maven AI Bootcamps — Cohort courses on product, prototyping, safety. https://maven.com/collections/ai

Worth checking out

• Devin 2.0 — Autonomous dev writes and ships PRs. https://cognition-labs.com
• Convergence Parallel Agents — Swarm framework splits/merges tasks. https://convergence.ai
• Mistral OCR API — Fast multilingual document OCR. https://mistral.ai/ocr
• NotebookLM “Discover Sources” — Prompt‑based curated reading lists. https://notebooklm.google.com
• Keytake — PDFs → branded explainer videos. https://keytake.ai

Think pieces & resources

• Google “Prompt‑Engineering Best Practices” — 69‑page free guide. https://ai.google.dev/prompts-whitepaper
• State of AI 2025: 12 Graphs — Concise trend deck. https://stateofai2025.com
• 264‑page Agents Survey — Deep dive on GUI/autonomous agents. https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.12345
• WEF Future of Jobs 2025 — Skills and wage‑shift data. https://weforum.org/publications/the-future-of-jobs-report-2025
• Hugging Face SmolAgents mini‑course — Build code‑writing agents. https://huggingface.co/learn/smolagents
• 601 AI Income Ideas — HubSpot monetisation guide. https://offers.hubspot.com/ai-income-ideas
• IBM “Building AI‑Powered Chatbots” — No‑code, vendor‑neutral course. https://cognitiveclass.ai/courses/building-chatbots
• Elements of AI (Stanford/Harvard) — Free fundamentals on ML, ethics, DL. https://www.elementsofai.com