3 Things AI: Issue #5

[2026 - Week 4]

Welcome to Issue #5 of 3 Things AI - a weekly note where I share three practical or interesting ways I used AI this week.

This week was dominated by playing with different tools, which I’d break down into two categories:

The technology is moving so fast and there’s a gazillion articles about this tool or model vs. that tool or model, so I don’t care to do that here. I just want to share real life examples that you can use at home and at work. I even built a couple tools linked below and you can use right away, so enjoy!

If you’ve read past issues, you know I'm all in on voice features. I predicted voice would become the norm for interacting with AI tools in the first issue, then put that theory to the test in Issue #4 when I spent over an hour talking ChatGPT through my smoke-filled basement crisis. Some people are super fast typers, but for others, our thoughts come out faster than we can type (I’m in this camp). Many people simply express ideas better or differently via their voice.

So I tried a tool called Wispr Flow, which installs on your computer, and simply by holding one or two buttons (differs between Mac and PC), Wispr Flow listens to you speak and uses AI to automatically turn your words into polished, professional writing. It also works on mobile but I haven’t tried that.

Results? Amazing. I’m super impressed. It magically matches your tone and even nails the punctuation. For example, it can even get bulleted lists with no instructions, just by hearing the pauses in your voice. Here's a list of apps I've used it with:

Everything you just read starting at "For example…" was transcribed via Wispr Flow, including the bullets. I fixed one error but otherwise it nailed it. It matches your tone automatically, whether that's a work email, text to a friend, or ChatGPT brainstorm. It also has features I haven't tried yet, like snippets where you say a phrase and it types out a longer saved message (see screenshot below).

I am on the 2 week free trial but I am leaning towards paying the $12/mo to keep it going. At the speed things are moving I would not be surprised if within the year tools like this will be free (probably minus some features) or just part of computers and phones, so we’ll see! If you click here you can download it and try yourself.

I've heard about this tool forever but finally tried it this week. NotebookLM is Google's free AI tool that lets you upload your own documents (PDFs, websites, YouTube videos, audio files, Google Docs, Google Slides) and then chat with them, generate study materials like flashcards and quizzes, create custom reports, and turn your content into AI-generated podcasts.

Great for self-tutoring or helping kids learn new topics or break through something they're struggling with at school. This Reddit thread has some amazing use cases, including:

I only used the podcast feature, which turns whatever docs or websites you give it into an NPR-style conversation between two hosts. Apparently you can even join the podcast and interact with it?! So much to try, so little time…

My kids are older teens now, but I could see this working great with younger ones on cold Vermont winter days. Give them a few minutes of screen time to enter their interests, watch it create a podcast, throw some headphones on them, and let them wander the house or clean their room while learning something cool.

The more I share about how I use AI tools, the more questions I get about which ones I use for specific purposes. This will be an evolving topic, but here’s where I’m at:

For everyday questions and problem-solving:

ChatGPT is my all-purpose tool. It's always open on my computer, or phone and I use it constantly throughout the day. Random questions, troubleshooting problems, "how do I do this thing" moments - it gets all of that. It's like having a really smart coworker who never gets annoyed when you interrupt them for the third time in an hour.

For improving my own writing:

This is where I've really started gravitating toward Claude. At risk of sounding like I’m comparing records to CDs, it honestly feels “warmer” and less verbose than ChatGPT, and I think it's better at tightening up things I've already written.

To be clear: I don't like letting AI write stuff for me (except mundane things like IT service tickets). I actually enjoy writing. But once I've got my thoughts down, Claude helps me make it more succinct, improve the language, or cut unnecessary words. I write first, then use AI to polish.

For building stuff:

Claude Code is legitimately transformational. I keep hearing it called a "game-changer" and I don’t think that’s hype. It really is world-changing technology. You can read this WSJ article (no paywall) where they describe how people are getting “Claude-pilled.“ I hadn’t typed in a command line interface (CLI) since installing games like King’s Quest in the ‘80s. Now in the time it takes to drink a coffee, I've been building simple prototypes, little HTML files, and actual apps, and it just works.

Amazingly, the team that built Claude Code (Anthropic) just used Claude Code itself to build Claude Cowork which provides a friendlier, less technical interface for people like me. I heard someone say software used to eat the world, now it's eating itself!

I even built two simple tools that readers can use right in your browser, linked below! These were quick experiments with Claude Code, but they actually work. Not sophisticated apps, but the fact that I can build functional tools at all is pretty wild. You can bookmark them or right-click anywhere on the page and "Save As" to download your own copy.

Prompt Library - A collection of professional and personal AI prompts you can copy and use in your chats, plus "power techniques" to make any prompt better. Try them out!

Community Issue Reporter - Drop in a local issue (pothole, broken streetlight, etc.) and it generates a tailored prompt for your AI chat that finds the right department contact info and drafts an email you can customize and send. It motivated me to file an issue about a streetlight that I gripe about every day!

Links to AI Prompt Library and Community Issue Reporter.

For research and accuracy:

I've heard Perplexity is supposed to be great for research and accuracy, but I haven't dug into it much yet. In fact, my kids’ school district sanctions and encourages Perplexity for accurate citations. I've also tried using Gemini for organizing my Gmail (and wrote about scheduling daily reports), but I'm not warm to it yet. Still exploring what works best here.

The takeaway:

I'm moving past the "one AI for everything" phase. Different tools are better at different things, and figuring out which one to reach for is making me way more effective. It's less about which AI is "best" and more about which one fits what I'm trying to do.

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If you have feedback, questions, or an AI tool you’re enjoying, just reply. I’m always curious what others are using.

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