The new year has kicked off with cries that Terminator’s Skynet has risen and become aware. That’s how many are feeling today with the sheer amount of Artificial Intelligence tools that have grown in popularity overnight this month.

This is no doubt the year of AI tools and the tools have such a diverse amount of uses that people have already started seeing how their jobs will either get a major boost in how they operate or how their jobs will be made redundant within the next few years and it’s time to start learning new skills.

I’ve been testing out a number of the new AI tools and it’s amazing just how much help they can be and the power that regular folks like us now have at our fingertips. The key now is going to be for people to learn how to use these tools because they are going to become one of the greatest assets for us this year.

I’ve had friends who have said they are using the tools to create all of their work e-mail. I’ve seen folks dump entire podcast transcripts or news articles into the AI tools and ask them to summarise it all into its main points for easy consumption. What is impressive about it all is that it does almost anything you ask it to do within seconds.

When you go over the output from the tools, you will realise you may need to make some minor tweaks but everything you receive is pretty much 95 per cent ready to go for you. The scary thing is that AI tools are continuously learning and they are going to be light-years better in the coming months than what they currently are today. This is why you need to get on board and start to learn them as best as you can.

I’ve compiled a list of the top 12 AI tools that you need to know and should learn how to use as of Feb 2023.

1) Chat GPT

2) Chat Sonic

3) Synthesia

4) Lexica

5) Mid-Journey

6) Well Said Labs

7) Runway

8) Leia Pix

9) Scenario GG

10) Rytr

11) Jasper AI

12) Adept AI

Chat GPT: Chat GPT is like a super smart and funny robot friend who you can talk to and ask anything! It’s like having a genie that can answer all your questions, tell jokes, and even write stories for you. Just be careful what you wish for because Chat GPT is so smart, it might surprise you with its answers! (I asked Chat GPT to give a brief description of itself to someone who has never heard of it but make it funny, that’s what it came back with). You can ask it questions, write code, create copy, write emails and just so much more. Take the time to learn all of the prompts and uses for Chat GPT so that it can aid you in your jobs and tasks. Chat GPT’s knowledge base is accurate up to September 2022 so keep that in mind.

Chat Sonic: This tool on the other hand is directly connected to Google’s data source and is equipped with up-to-date knowledge at your disposal and operates very similarly to Chat GPT. The free version gives you up to 25 commands per day.

Synthesia: This tool creates AI videos in up to 120 languages and does all of this with text-based inputs. Rather than having to film people, you can create your scripts in Chat Sonic or Chat GPT, feed all of the content to Synthesia and it will create a 100 per cent AI-based video of realistic talking AI Avatars, greenscreen backgrounds and much more.

Lexica: Allows you to find images and give you the prompts needed to create similar styled images in Mid-Journey, Dall-E2 and Stable Diffusion.

Mid-Journey: Like Dall-E2 and Stable Diffusion, this AI tool allows you to create graphics and art via text inputs. Tell it exactly what you need out for an image and it will create the image for you within seconds. Pair this up with tools like Canva and you have an amazing combination to create graphics for social media content.

Well-Said Labs: Create 100 per cent sounding voiceovers for your content via text inputs.

Runway: An AI video editing tool that can do some amazing things.

Leia Pix: Turns all 2D graphics into 3D images with depth and allows pictures to breathe.

Scenario GG: Upload your art and this tool creates dozens of variations to the original.

Rytr & Jasper: AI tools to help you write and create content.

Adept AI: General intelligence task-based tool. I’ve asked Adept AI to create Excel spreadsheets and create the formulas, all via text inputs. You can ask it to search the internet and find you a place to rent within your specified budget and it does all the work for you. Check this one out!

There you have it, 12 AI tools that you need to check out immediately and start learning how to use to save time and money. These tools aren’t going anywhere and only those who remain oblivious to them will face the reality of becoming redundant.

Keron Rose is a digital strategist who works with Caribbean Entrepreneurs. Learn more at KeronRose.com or listen to the Digipreneur FM podcast on Apple Podcast/Spotify/Google Podcast.