There are thousands of AI tools, and new ones launch daily. Ignore the noise — what matters is the categories, not the brands:
- Chat assistants — Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini. General-purpose thinking partners, and where you'll spend most of your time.
- Image tools — for example Canva's AI features. Useful for marketing assets and packaging your work.
- Coding assistants — chat assistants can write code too. You'll use this in Week 6 even if you've never programmed.
- Automation platforms — Zapier, Make, n8n. They connect apps together with AI steps in the middle (Week 7).
Your move this week
Pick 2–3 chat assistants and stop there. Tool-hopping is one of the most common ways students stall: every hour spent trying a new tool is an hour not spent building your skill or your income project. You'll compare assistants head-to-head in this week's lab and pick a primary.
A useful mental model: the assistant is your engine; the categories above are attachments. Master the engine first.