I get asked constantly what AI tools I'm actually using day to day. Here's my honest list right now: no hype, just what's working. **1. Claude**: My go-to for anything requiring reasoning over messy data. I throw CSV exports, policy docs, and meeting notes at it and get structured output back fast. Verdict: *Best all-around thinking partner for finance work.* **2. NotebookLM**: Google's sleeper hit. I upload earnings transcripts, internal reports, and strategy decks, then ask it questions grounded in those sources. Verdict: *Unmatched for source-grounded analysis.* **3. Copilot in Excel**: Still rough around the edges, but the formula generation and data summarization features save me real time on recurring reports. Verdict: *Worth using if you're already in the Microsoft stack.* **4. Perplexity**: When I need to quickly benchmark a metric or find a data point with citations, this beats a traditional search every time. Verdict: *Fastest path from question to sourced answer.* **5. Gamma**: For turning analysis into presentations without spending hours in PowerPoint. I draft the narrative, Gamma handles the layout. Verdict: *Eliminates the formatting tax on deck-building.* If you're building your own AI toolkit, I'd start with the [[notebook/Coursera AI Foundations|Coursera AI foundations]] course to get the mental models right, then layer these into your daily workflow one at a time. The key is not collecting tools: it's building habits around the ones that actually stick. ← [[Signal|Back to /signal]]