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Ranking Our Top AI Tools and Features of 2024
DeekSeek hacks OpenAI data, Alibaba challenge DeepSeek, OpenAI safety researcher leaves, DeepSeek under EU watchdog alert and more!
Everyday AI
January 29, 2025
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Today in Everyday AI
9 minute read
🎙 Daily Podcast Episode: With so many AI tools released in 2024, how can you separate the good from the bad? Don’t worry. We decided to rank the top AI tools and features of 2024. Give it a listen.
🕵️♂️ Fresh Finds: DeepSeek reaches #1 on U.S. Play Store, ChatGPT mobile users are 85% male and Google speaks on AI and national security. Read on for Fresh Finds.
🗞 Byte Sized Daily AI News: DeekSeek reportedly used OpenAI data to train its AI, Alibaba releases LLM to challenge DeepSeek, OpenAI safety researcher leaves and DeepSeek on under EU watchdog alert. For that and more, read on for Byte Sized News.
🚀 AI In 5: We’re diving into ChatGPT Projects to show you how it works and a few secret hacks to maximize its usage. See it here
🧠 Learn & Leveraging AI: We break down and rank the top AI tools of 2024 so you know which ones to use to grow your business or career. Keep reading for that!
↩️ Don’t miss out: Did you miss our last newsletter? We talked about OpenAI unveiling ChatGPT for U.S. Gov., Figure AI launching humanoid safety center and Hugging Face’s plans to challenge DeepSeek. Check it here!
Ranking Our Top AI Tools and Features of 2024 🏆
What AI tools or features should your company be using in 2025?
We'll save you like 254 hours by breaking down the AI tools and features that were all the buzz in 2024 (And ranking the ones that are most useful for your biz.)
We recap and rank the top AI features and tools of 2024.
Join the conversation and ask Jordan questions on AI here.
Also on the pod today:
• Top AI Tools and Features Discussion ✨
• In-depth Discussion of Specific Tools 🗣
• AI Industry Overview 🏢
It’ll be worth your 1 hour and 17 minutes:
Listen on our site:
Click to listen
Subscribe and listen on your favorite podcast platform
Listen on:
Upcoming Everyday AI Livestreams
Thursday, January 29th at 7:30 am CST ⬇️
Here’s our favorite AI finds from across the web:
New AI Tool Spotlight – Quick Mock turns any LinkedIn job listing into a mock interview, Unideck creates personalized dashboards and portals and Brand API helps build features that use customer brand data automatically.
Trending in AI – DeepSeek has reached #1 in the US on the Play Store.
ChatGPT – A new report shows 85% of mobile users are male.
Google - Google has released a statement on AI and the future of national security.
AI Models - DeepSeek R1 is now available on Dell Enterprise Hub.
The beauty of open-source is that it can make its way to enterprise safely in record times!
Happy to announce that @deepseek R1 is now available on-premise through our @DellTech@huggingface collaboration. Cheers @MichaelDell!
— clem 🤗 (@ClementDelangue)
6:25 PM • Jan 29, 2025
AI Startups - SoftBank is investing $500M in robotics startup Skild AI.
AI Video – Replicate now allows you to fine-tune its video models.
You can fine-tune video models now on Replicate. But what can they do? We built Repflix to answer that question.
Each video is generated using a different fine-tuned model, showing how the same prompt can produce different styles and interpretations.
Try it at the link below:
— Replicate (@replicate)
7:38 PM • Jan 29, 2025
Big Tech – ASML’s CEO believes low-cost AI models like DeepSeek helps to drive more demand.
AI in Media – The VP of Ad Sales at Fox Sports believes we will see a lot of AI ads during this year’s Super Bowl.
1. DeepSeek Stirs AI Rivalry with Alleged OpenAI Data Breach 😬
Chinese AI firm DeepSeek is under scrutiny for allegedly using OpenAI's data to develop rival AI models at a fraction of the cost, according to Bloomberg. Microsoft security researchers reportedly detected data exfiltration linked to DeepSeek in late 2024, raising concerns about intellectual property theft.
OpenAI suspects that DeepSeek employed a technique called "distillation" to train its models, a move that breaches OpenAI's terms of service.
2. Alibaba's Qwen 2.5-Max AI Model Challenges DeepSeek 🥊
Alibaba Cloud has unveiled its latest large language model, Qwen 2.5-Max, claiming it outperforms the likes of DeepSeek-V3 and other leading AI models, just in time for the Chinese New Year. This new AI marvel, employing a "mixture of experts" architecture, promises greater efficiency by using specialized models to tackle complex tasks.
It boasts training on over 20 trillion tokens while maintaining a smaller operational footprint, making it more resource-efficient. While previous Qwen models were open source, this version remains exclusive, available via API through Alibaba Cloud.
3. DeepSeek Under European Data Watchdogs Alert 🇪🇺
DeepSeek, a Chinese AI company, is drawing scrutiny from data protection authorities in Ireland and Italy over its data handling practices. Amid growing concerns, Euroconsumers has filed a complaint citing risks to millions of users' data, prompting the Italian Data Protection Authority to demand detailed transparency from the company.
With DeepSeek's app already removed from Italian app stores, the situation highlights potential privacy and security implications for AI users across Europe.
4. AI Safety Pioneer Leaves OpenAI, Sounds Alarm 🚨
Steven Adler, a key safety researcher at OpenAI, announced his departure, voicing deep concerns about the frenzied pace of AI development. According to Fortune, Adler criticized the race towards AGI among top labs and nations, warning it increases the risk of failing to align AI with human values.
His departure marks a significant chapter in an ongoing saga at OpenAI, which has seen other notable exits over safety concerns.
5. AI Creativity Gets U.S. Copyright Nod 🧑⚖️
The U.S. Copyright Office has announced that artists can copyright works created with AI assistance, highlighting the importance of human creativity in such works. According to The Washington Times, the office emphasizes that human input must be evident in AI-generated works for them to qualify for copyright protection. However, fully machine-generated content remains excluded from copyright claims, as simply prompting an AI doesn't grant ownership rights.
This clarification comes as the office gears up to address broader issues like the use of copyrighted material in training AI models, potentially impacting creatives and industries relying on AI tools.
6. U.S. Navy Issues AI Alert Amid DeepSeek Surge ⚓️
The U.S. Navy has warned its personnel against using China’s DeepSeek AI technology, citing security and ethical concerns, according to CNBC. The advisory comes shortly after DeepSeek’s AI model, R1, outperformed OpenAI’s ChatGPT, shaking tech stocks and spotlighting the competitive AI landscape.
President Trump, newly inaugurated, highlighted this as a critical moment for U.S. tech companies, pushing for strategic advancements to maintain the nation’s edge. Meanwhile, major industry players are on high alert, reinforcing their AI strategies as they navigate this evolving digital battleground.
7. Anthropic CEO Advocates for Stronger Export Controls 👀
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei stated in a recent essay that U.S. export controls are effectively hindering the progress of Chinese AI firms, including DeepSeek. Amodei highlights that despite DeepSeek's advancements, their models lag behind Anthropic's older ones, suggesting current policies are working.
Amodei stresses the importance of further tightening these controls under the Trump administration to prevent China from gaining military dominance through AI. He cautions that without stricter measures, China could leverage its AI advancements for strategic advantages on the global stage.
ChatGPT Projects – Secret ways to use o1 and GPTs and a quick review
OpenAI recently released its new Projects feature!
We’re diving in to show you how it works, when you should use it, and a few secret hacks that we haven’t seen anywhere else.
Check out today's AI in 5.
🦾How You Can Leverage:
Did you try thousands of AI tools and features in 2024?
We did.
And if you’ve felt straight up overwhelmed but also AI FOMO at the same time, then today’s show is for you.
We rated and ranked the top 24 AI tools and features of 2024.
Note — Top does not mean the best.
Instead, we broke down what’s been grabbing the headlines and attention.
Also, we only tackled new LLM updates and AI tools that were released in 2024.
1. Apple Intelligence
Apple finally joined the AI party! And brought... features we had 3-4 years ago.
Sure, it's got edge AI and security on lockdown. But groundbreaking? Revolutionary?
yawns in ChatGPT
At least Siri can now use GPT-4 for the hard stuff?
Tier: D
2. Advanced Voice Mode (ChatGPT)
THIS. IS. THE. FUTURE.
Talk to AI while showing it your broken IKEA furniture? Check.
Get real-time visual help with that thing you can't figure out? Check.
Actually useful in daily life? Double check.
The bugs are gone, the features are fire, and this is how we'll all be using AI tomorrow.
Tier: S
We reviewed advanced voice mode in depth here.
3. ChatGPT Canvas
The sleeper hit of 2024.
Remember how clunky it was going back and forth with ChatGPT? Canvas said "No more!"
Inline editing + AI collaboration = chef's kiss
Think Google Docs meets AI assistant, and you're getting warm.
Everyone's gonna copy this. Because it's just. that. good.
Tier: A
Check out our episode on Canvas
4. Canva Magic Studio
Magic Edit, Magic Animate, Magic Everything!
Takes your "I need this in Photoshop" tasks down from hours to seconds. But in 2024's AI landscape?
It's neat. It works. It's useful.
But revolutionary? Not quite.
Tier: D
5. ChatGPT Search
Oh boy. Where do we start?
Sure, the UI is pretty. Yes, it brings in rich snippets. But try having an actual back-and-forth conversation about your search results and...
watches as ChatGPT gets stuck in an infinite loop
Great concept, messy execution.
Yet, still undoubtedly a top AI feature of 2024.
Tier: D
We compared the top AI models and their search capabilities.
6. Claude Artifacts
The Swiss Army knife of code rendering.
Python? Rendered.
HTML? Rendered.
Your entire website mockup? RENDERED.
It's so good, we're literally using it to make this tier list. Soooooo good.
Tier: A
7. Claude Computer Use
First to the agent party! But fashionably... early and clunky?
Props for being first, but it's janky and needs a PhD in patience to use.
Docker required? In 2024?
sad developer noises
Tier: D
8. Cursor AI
The coding assistant that went viral before it was cool.
Not the first, not the best, but hit that sweet spot of "good enough" at just the right time.
Build a web app without coding knowledge? Sure!
Is it the BEST way? Well...
Tier: C
9. Eleven Labs Conversational Agents
Text-to-speech gets a brain upgrade!
Visual flows ✓
Knowledge base integration ✓
Multiple agent routing ✓
Solid features, but in 2024's AI arms race? Just... fine.
Tier: C
10. Gemini 2.0
Google woke up and chose VIOLENCE in the middle of OpenAI’s 12 Days of Shipmas.
Topped ChatBot Arena rankings ✓
Crushed benchmarks ✓
Made everyone forget about their messy 2023 ✓
The quiet kid in class finally showed up with straight A's and slick AF.
Tier: A
11. Google Deep Research
The research beast that puts Perplexity to shame.
Crawls 200-300 sources in minutes? CHECK.
Has Google's entire web cache? DOUBLE CHECK.
Perfect outputs? Well...
If only it was more steerable and less... paragraph-happy.
Tier: A
12. HeyGen V3 Avatars
Text-to-emotion-to-face?
The new king of AI avatars just dropped the mic.
Real-time translation, emotion tweaking, and outputs that make you go "wait, that's AI?"
Tier: B
13. Meta Llama 3.2
The "open-ish" model that could.
Not fully open source, but open enough to matter.
Small and medium versions shine.
Big version? Still waiting...
Tier: B
14. Midjourney V6.1
The OG image generator got FLEXIBLE.
More control, better consistency, and character creation that actually... works?
Still leading the pack, but the competition's getting HOT.
Tier: B
15. Microsoft Copilot Studio Autonomous Agents
NO. CODE. AUTONOMOUS. AGENTS.
drops mic
picks mic back up
Build agents that actually DO things in your Microsoft ecosystem without writing a single line of code?
This isn't just good. This is "redefine your business" good.
Tier: S
Check out our dedicated episode on Copilot Agents.
16. Microsoft Copilot Vision
See everything on supported websites - even stuff you can't see!
The catch? "Supported websites" list is shorter than my patience for bad AI.
When it works? Amazing.
But that "when" is doing A LOT of heavy lifting.
Tier: C
17. Notebook LM
NO-CODE RAG THAT ACTUALLY WORKS.
50 MILLION WORDS.
AI PODCAST HOSTS.
JOIN LIVE FEATURE.
Companies paid MILLIONS for worse versions of this last year.
Now it's basically free.
This isn't just a tool. It's a revolution in how we process information.
Tier: S
We recently reviewed NotebookLM’s latest update.
18. OpenAI's O1 Pro
The first public reasoning model just... gets it.
Yes, it's $200/month.
Yes, it's worth every penny.
Forget benchmarks. This thing THINKS.
Tier: S
19. Runway V3
The creative studio that happens to use AI.
Not the best outputs, but the most flexible video platform right now.
Like having a mini production studio in your pocket.
When art meets AI, Runway leads the dance.
Tier: B
20. Sora
The hype train finally arrived at the station!
Nine months late, but who's counting?
Physics? Never heard of her.
Everything else? Pretty darn impressive.
Tier: B
We gave a first look at Sora after its official release.
21. Stream Real Time (Google)
Talk to Gemini live! Share your screen! Show it things!
If only it were as good as Advanced Voice Mode...
If only it weren't buried in Google AI Studio...
If only...
Tier: D
22. Suno V4
Sometimes better than real music.
Always mind-blowingly good.
Write a song about ANYTHING.
Make it sound AMAZING.
Spotify, you seeing this?
Tier: B
23. VO2
Google said "Hold my AI beer" and dropped this MONSTER.
Better than Sora.
Better than Runway.
Better than EVERYTHING.
If only we could actually use it...
Tier: A
24. Zapier Agents
7,000 service connections + ChatGPT interface = Marketing automation heaven.
Natural language automation building? YES.
Price tag that makes you sweat? Also yes.
Powerful but... we expected more.
Tier: D
….. And the “Winner is”
Our favorite AI tool/update of the year = NotebookLM
And our audience’s favorite tool of the year (tallied by their votes) = NotebookLM.
Now This …
Let us know your thoughts!
Vote to see live results
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