Podcast Summary: Everyday AI Podcast

Episode Title: EP 431: Top AI Tools and Features of 2024
Date: January 2, 2025
Host: Jordan Wilson

Overview

In this special New Year’s episode, Jordan Wilson draws from over 1,000 hours of hands-on testing and countless expert conversations to reveal his tiered ranking of the top 24 AI tools and features released or substantially updated in 2024. The episode provides fast, accessible guidance for professionals and everyday users on which AI innovations truly matter for boosting productivity, streamlining workflows, and growing a career or business in 2025. The conversation is packed with practical insights, quick takes, and audience interaction, culminating in Jordan’s picks for “Tool of the Year” and a comprehensive segment-by-segment ranking.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

Jordan’s Approach & Methodology

• Selection Criteria: Only tools/features with substantial updates or new releases in 2024 were considered. Tools in limited beta or minimally relevant wrappers were excluded.
• Perspective: Jordan tested everything himself, talked to tool builders, and focused on innovations that deliver real, immediate value:

  "I'm going to cut through the fluff right now. This is not the best AI tools. This is just the top or the most popular." (04:23)

• Audience: List targets “everyday people” seeking practical impact—not niche developer or research tools.

How the Tools Are Ranked

• Tier List: S (Super), A, B, C, D; S is the highest.

  "Just because something's a D, that doesn't mean it's a bad tool. It could be really, really good." (09:20)

• Tools are both independent apps and major new features from bigger platforms.

The Top 24 AI Tools & Features of 2024 – Ranked & Reviewed

Jordan covers each tool/feature in rapid-fire fashion, giving hot takes and actionable context around usability, strengths, and limitations.

S-Tier (Super) – The Very Best

1. Advanced Voice Mode (ChatGPT) [17:40]
   • Enables almost conversational, real-time interaction with a neural agent on your phone; can see, hear, and even process video inputs.
   • "You are literally talking to a neural live agent that can see, right? On your phone, on your iPhone." (19:10)
2. Microsoft Copilot Studio – Autonomous Agents [1:06:30]
   • Lets organizations build no-code AI agents that interact with Microsoft 365 data, dynamically trigger workflows, and act independently.
   • "No code. You don’t have to be an expert ... you can literally build an agent that autonomously does all of these things." (1:08:20)
3. Notebook LM (Google) [1:19:40]
   • Free/paid RAG (retrieval augmented generation) tool. Upload docs, YouTube vids, slides—and AI reasoning stays grounded in your data.
   • "It is literally out-of-the-box, no-code RAG, state of the art model that is grounded ... companies three years ago were paying a million dollars for something like this, and Notebook LM is better." (1:22:55)
   • Jordan's Tool of the Year:

     "Notebook LM takes it because I think one of the biggest problems through the first two years of 'generative AI' is trust and transparency ... It is mind-bogglingly good." (1:33:04)

4. OpenAI 01 Pro [1:24:29]
   • First public "reasoning" AI model, excelling at complex iterative problem-solving; only available to $200/mo Pro subscribers.
   • "I use 01 Pro every single day. It is by far, I think, the most impressive large language model." (1:25:00)

A-Tier – Excellent, Bordering on Best-in-Class

• Canvas (ChatGPT) [22:10]: Inline document-style AI editing; enhances co-working and content creation versus plain chat format.
• Claude Artifacts (Anthropic) [33:40]: Lets Claude render and show real code, mockups, and more—effective for devs and analysts.
• Gemini 2.0 (Google) [44:15]: Google’s latest flagship LLM; high marks for speed, cost, and multi-modality, if a bit uneven in real-world tasks.
• Google Deep Research [52:12]: Performs deep, broad web research via Google's entire cached index; retrieves, summarizes, and sources from hundreds of sites per question.
• Veo 2 (Google) [1:30:13]: Unmatched AI video quality, but not widely available yet.

B-Tier – Strong, Reliable, Not Quite Groundbreaking

• HeyGen V3 Avatars [1:02:02]: Ultra-realistic AI avatars with emotional control for video, leading in its space.
• Midjourney v6.1 [1:03:42]: Matured AI image generation; greater realism, consistent characters, and flexibility.
• Meta Llama 3.2 [1:26:30]: Open(ish) source LLM—pivotal, but only the "small" and "medium" models are public.
• Runway V3 [1:28:00]: Best all-around AI video editing suite for flexibility and creative control.
• Sora (OpenAI) [1:28:55]: Hugely hyped video model; output is impressive but less flexible; physics can be off.
• Suno v4 [1:31:41]: AI song-maker with stunning realism, "it sometimes sounds realer than actual music".

C-Tier – Worth Checking Out, but Context-Dependent

• Cursor AI [38:30]: User-friendly AI coding assistant; not unique, but very accessible for non-coders.
• 11Labs Conversational Agents [41:30]: Most advanced text-to-speech AI; drag-and-drop agent creation.
• Microsoft Copilot Vision [1:12:49]: Lets Copilot see and interpret full web pages (not just screenshots), but only for select sites/browsers so far.

D-Tier – “Good, Not Great” in the 2024 Landscape

• Apple Intelligence [12:30]: Secure, privacy-centric—but unspectacular features that largely replicate what others offered years ago.
• Canva Magic Studio [26:22]: Fantastic design productivity, but didn’t move the AI needle compared to competition.
• ChatGPT Search [29:30]: Web search built into ChatGPT; still buggy/unreliable for interactive workflows.
• Claude Computer Use [36:01]: Anthropic’s first programmable “agent”—niche, clunky, for power users.
• Stream Real Time (Google) [1:29:53]: Real-time video and screen sharing with Gemini inside AI Studio; feels early, not always performing as promised.
• Zapier Agents [1:32:12]: Lets you build automations in chat-style, using 7,000+ app integrations; not revolutionary for existing users, but powerful.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Notebook LM’s paradigm shift:

  "Companies were literally paying millions of dollars for this ... now it's available for free. Even if you're not a Google organization." (1:33:20)

• On Apple Intelligence’s underwhelming launch:

  "Nothing in Apple Intelligence impressed me hardly at all. It's all stuff we've had for many years. Apple is just extremely late to the party." (12:38)

• On S-tier selection discipline:

  "These are all tested, tried and true. You can’t go wrong using these." (1:32:49)

• On Microsoft Copilot Studio:

  "If you haven’t used Copilot Studio and Autonomous Agents, it is only our second S tool ... Y'all should use it." (1:09:56)

• On Suno and the future of music:

  "It is stupid. That’s like a good thing. ... Sometimes sounds realer than actual music, right? It is so good. It is concerning." (1:31:41)

Audience Interaction and “People’s Choice”

• Listeners in the livestream actively voted for their top picks and added hot takes that Jordan promised would be featured in the newsletter.

  "Get your vote in right now ... I always said Everyday AI is for all of you, right? This isn’t just something I run ... Y’all run it." (10:11)

Key Timestamps

• 00:17 – Jordan’s intro/experience, episode purpose
• 09:20 – How the tools are ranked and methodology
• 12:30-33:40 – Rapid-fire reviews of each tool/feature
• 1:06:30 – Microsoft Copilot Studio Autonomous Agents (S-tier)
• 1:19:40 – Notebook LM and “Tool of the Year” discussion
• 1:24:29 – OpenAI’s 01 Pro, reasoning models
• 1:32:12 – Zapier Agents, wrap-up, final list rundown
• 1:33:04 – Jordan’s “AI Tool of the Year” reveal

Final Takeaways

• 2024 was described as a “paradigm shift” year: Tools like Notebook LM and Copilot Studio mark the start of an era where AI becomes grounded, reliable, and massively democratized.
• Transparency and grounded AI (RAG) are top priorities: Notebook LM, with grounded and auditable reasoning, emerged as the top solution.
• Enablers, not platforms, win: Tools that let users “do more” with less friction (Canvas, Veo, Suno, Runway) got higher marks.
• AI is now for “everyday people”: Most of the top-ranked tools no longer require technical skills, and integration into existing workflows is smoother than ever.
• Big Tech dominates the future: Jordan is skeptical of small, thin AI wrappers; predicts survival and consolidation among tools that build genuine IP and user value.

Tool Tiers (At-a-Glance)

S: Advanced Voice Mode (ChatGPT), Copilot Studio Agents (MS), Notebook LM (Google), OpenAI 01 Pro
A: Canvas (ChatGPT), Claude Artifacts, Gemini 2.0, Google Deep Research, Veo 2 (Google)
B: HeyGen V3 Avatars, MidJourney v6.1, Meta Llama 3.2, Runway V3, Sora (OpenAI), Suno V4
C: Cursor AI, 11Labs Agents, Copilot Vision
D: Apple Intelligence, Canva Magic Studio, ChatGPT Search, Claude Computer Use, Stream Real Time (Google), Zapier Agents

For more analysis and access to the Honorable Mentions list, sign up for the Everyday AI newsletter or engage with the livestream community as recommended by Jordan in the episode.