Conversational AI:
Start Smart, Stay in Control

The AI toolscape is exploding—fast. Much like the martech boom before it, a jungle of new SaaS platforms has appeared, many of them pricey “wrappers” built around the same open-source models. Often bloated. Often unnecessary.

If you’re just getting started, skip the wrappers. Use conversational LLMs (like ChatGPT or Claude) directly. They’re perfect for experimenting, brainstorming, and iterating fast—manually, yes, but intentionally.

Once you’ve defined your needs, custom GPTs or prompts can help semi-automate your workflows. When you’re ready to scale or embed AI into your operations, you’ll face a choice: third-party tools or DIY.

Personally, I prefer the DIY route. A basic API setup—no or limited code needed—gives you more control, better data protection, and far more flexibility than most off-the-shelf solutions.

🛠️ ● ChatGPT ● DeepSeek ● MS Copilot ● Qwen 2.5 ● Claude.ai ● Gemini Hugging Face: ● Hugging Chat ● Open LLM Leaderboard

AI Meets Headless CMS:
Smarter, Faster, More Adaptable

Today’s AI-powered content management systems do more than store content — they structure it intelligently, generate metadata automatically, and adapt formats for web, mobile, or voice assistants.

What’s truly transformative is how AI handles content adaptation: ● It localizes for culture and tone ● Generates complementary assets (images, audio, transcripts) ● Dynamically assembles variations based on real-time user behavior

And beyond automation, AI becomes a quality gatekeeper: ● Even predicting performance before you hit “publish” ● Enforcing brand consistency ● Flagging compliance risks.

● Contentful ● Storyblok ● WordPress ● Kontent.ai ● Magnolia ● Strapi

From Idea to Prototype:
AI in Creative Workflows

Concept Development ● AI helps turn abstract ideas into concrete visual directions—fast. Tools like MidJourney and Figma AI plug-ins generate mood boards, wireframes, and variations in seconds, accelerating early-stage exploration.

Design ● In the design phase, AI integrates directly into familiar tools. Figma auto-generates layouts and UI components, while Adobe Firefly and Canva Magic Design assist with rapid visual editing and composition.

Prototyping ● Platforms like Uizard turn sketches into interactive prototypes, and AI testing tools provide instant feedback on usability—speeding up iteration and improving outcomes.

● Figma ● Canva ● Miro ● UIzard

Document Design & Publishing:
Smarter, Not Harder

Smart Design & Writing ● AI-powered tools like Gamma.app and Canva Docs generate clean, professional layouts with minimal effort. Built-in assistants in Google Docs and Microsoft Word help refine structure, tone, and clarity in real time.

Smart Distribution ● Still exporting to PDF? AI can do better—by adapting your documents for multiple platforms and formats automatically, ensuring your content is always fit for purpose.

● Gamma.app ● Affinity Publisher ● Adobe InDesign ● Adobe Express ● Canva Docs

Text-to-Speech:
Audio Without the Studio

AI-powered text-to-speech (TTS) tools—led by platforms like ElevenLabs—have revolutionized voice narration. Gone are the flat, robotic tones of the past. Today’s models deliver natural, expressive, emotionally nuanced speech in multiple languages, accents, and styles.

For audiobooks ● Faster production, lower costs, and greater accessibility—giving even indie authors the ability to bring their stories to life.

For podcasts ● AI voices enable dynamic narration, multilingual formats, and even fictional characters with distinct vocal identities.

For video ● TTS streamlines voiceovers for tutorials, ads, and explainer videos—no studio time needed.

Tools I use:

ElevenLabs – best-in-class; I stopped looking for alternatives.
Kokoro & Kokoro podcast generator – free, open-source options for experimentation

AI Audio Enhancement:
Studio-Quality Sound, No Engineer Needed

Modern AI tools make high-quality audio production effortless. Platforms like Auphonic and Adobe Podcast Enhance automate what used to require hours of sound engineering.

These tools: ● Remove background noise ● Balance volume across speakers ● Enhance voice clarity through smart EQ ● Deliver consistent, polished audio—automatically

No need for expensive gear or professional post-production. With AI, crystal-clear sound is now part of your standard toolkit.

Go-to tools: ● Auphonic ● Adobe Podcast Studio (prosumer)

AI-Assisted Video & Audio Editing:
Pro Results, Fewer Clicks

For solo creators and small teams, tools like CapCut, Descript, and Runway ML have made high-quality video and audio production incredibly accessible.

Think: auto-captions, background removal, AI voice editing, and smart music suggestions—no production crew required.

In enterprise environments, platforms like Capsule Video, Adobe Sensei, and Synthesia push automation even further: script-to-video conversion, voice cloning, and advanced VFX streamline workflows while ensuring studio-level output.

Adobe Elements deserves special mention as Adobe’s response to new competitors like ByteDance’s CapCut. Few people know that the complete Adobe Elements package (Video and Photos) is significantly less expensive and more secure than CapCut (as of 2025). I appreciate Adobe’s move into the prosumer market—their professional standards have made those of us working in media fall in love with their tools.

My go-to tools: 🎬 Editing & Post: CupCut, Descript, Capsule Video, Adobe Elements 📹 Screen Recording: Loom by Atalassian 🖼️ Enhancement: Topaz Labs 🏢 Enterprise Innovation: Flawless, Synthesia

Translation & Editorial Fine-Tuning:
Precision Meets Expression

Professional-Grade Translation with AI

In the evolving AI translation landscape, DeepL and large language models (LLMs) play distinct but complementary roles.

DeepL captures nuance, maintains consistent terminology, and preserves document structure—ideal for legal, technical, and corporate content. ● Unlike LLMs that often prioritize creativity, DeepL delivers reliable, standardized output with enterprise-ready security (end-to-end encryption, GDPR compliance). ● Its bulk translation capabilities make it a go-to for efficient, high-volume, multilingual workflows.

Editorial Fine-Tuning with AI

AI doesn’t just translate — it enhances how we write. ● Think of it as a super-thesaurus: LLMs understand context and tone, offering smarter, more expressive rewrites than any synonym list ever could. ● Generate multiple versions of a paragraph, adjust tone, simplify for accessibility, or elevate for style — all within minutes. Provided you can describe the outcome you want to achieve (tonality, wording, rhythm..) which means: conversational AI doed not make you a writer, if you never dealt with the foundations & methods of writing (creative, journalistic, scientific, marketing etc.).

🖋️ Literary translators, too, increasingly use LLMs as creative collaborators.

Drafting, revising, and refining text while keeping full creative control. ● This blend of precision and flexibility empowers professionals to scale quality across languages, formats, and audiences.

DeepL is the Best of Breed for professional translation.

AI as a Data Storytelling Partner

AI now plays an active role in turning data into insight-rich narratives and visuals—without needing a data science degree.

What it can do: ● Transform structured data into clear, human-readable stories ● Auto-generate and refine charts and graphs ● Recommend the most effective visual formats ● Highlight trends, outliers, and anomalies in real time ● Respond to natural-language queries about your data ● Summarize complex dashboards into concise narratives.

In my work, AI has been especially valuable for chart creation and dataset interpretation—once tedious, now intuitive. Conversational tools let users ask: “What’s the trend here?” or “How do this year’s sales compare to last year?” — no SQL, BI tools, or dashboards required.

Tools I use:

Claude.ai ● ChatPGT ● MS Copilot ● Map tools: Mapbox.io ● Chart design: Mermaid.charts ● Convert graphic interface to data: OmniParser V2 ● Extract and visualise data from text: Napkin

Speech-to-Text & Dubbing:
Transcribe, Translate, and Repurpose at Scale

AI transcription and dubbing tools have unlocked powerful new workflows for accessibility, content repurposing, and global distribution.

Transcription: Instant Access & Repurposing

Tools like Whisper and Otter.ai convert speech to text in real time—enabling: ● Captioning for accessibility ● Turning podcasts into blog posts ● Automating meeting notes and interviews. / Newer tools like Letterly, AudioPen, and Oasis go beyond basic transcription—summarizing voice input into bullet points, structured notes, and narrative drafts.

AI Dubbing: Speak Any Language, Naturally

Platforms like ElevenLabs and DeepDub offer multilingual dubbing with natural tone, lip-syncing, and custom voice styles—dramatically reducing the time and cost of traditional dubbing workflows. Perfect for global content creators, these tools make it easy to publish in multiple languages—without losing your voice (literally or figuratively).

Best-of-breed: ElevenLabs STT “Scribe” (developer API & web interface) ElevenLabs/STT and DeepDub (multilingual dubbing with lip sync)

Free & open-source: Jojo Transcribe ● WhisperWebGPU and Whisper Large V3 via Hugging Face ● Whisper Diarization (in-browser speaker + word-level recognition)

Next-gen voice note tools: Letterly ● AudioPen ● Oasis ● TalkTastic (voice-controlled desktop interface)

Note-Taking & Knowledge Management:
Smarter Recall, Deeper Insight.

Modern tools like Notion, Obsidian, and Mem have evolved from simple digital notebooks into intelligent knowledge engines.

With built-in AI, they can: ● Summarize meetings and extract key insights ● Auto-organize notes and suggest connections between ideas ● Answer natural-language queries about past content—instantly

The real breakthrough? Context awareness. Ask, “What did I write about audience segmentation last spring?” — and it finds it.

Tools I rely on: TalkTastic – voice-controlled notes and knowledge search across apps ● Notion.ai – for smart summaries, project management, and knowledge linking

💡 Notion AI, which integrates ChatGPT & Claude, has become my 24/7 second brain.

Web & Media Extraction:
Smarter Scraping, Deeper Parsing

AI-powered tools now allow you to extract structured information from websites, documents, and even videos—without writing custom scripts.

Commercial Tools: Landing.ai Advanced AI for agentic document parsing and object detection in images. Ideal for complex layouts and unstructured data.

Free & Open Source via Hugging Face ● AI SCRAPER – Scrape and summarize website content using large language models. ● Assistant Builder – Create a custom assistant by selecting a model and inputting specific domains or URLs to crawl and extract.

Video Parsing & Analysis ● Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking (Experimental) – Test advanced summarization and insight extraction from YouTube videos and other rich media.

AI-Powered Music & Sound Design:
Custom Audio, On Demand

AI is transforming audio production—from full music compositions to immersive sound effects—making pro-level sound accessible to everyone.

Music Composition Tools like Suno AI and AIVA generate original soundtracks in seconds, tailored to any mood, genre, or format—from videos to podcasts to interactive media.

Sound Effects & Ambient Design Platforms like  Optimizer.ai and Boom Library AI create on-demand sound effects and ambient soundscapes, perfect for film, gaming, and immersive content.

Dynamic & Adaptive Audio AI-powered engines are now creating adaptive soundtracks that respond in real time to user actions—ideal for gaming, virtual spaces, and interactive storytelling.

Creative tools I explore: ● Suno AI ● AIVA ● Brev.ai ● Stability.ai ● Optimizer.ai

However, I am perfectly happy with available music and SFX libraries, at least for my personal podcasting initiatives.

Multimodal AI:
Generate Video, Images & Visual Stories

AI is redefining visual storytelling across formats—empowering creators to generate stock footage, product visuals, branded assets, and virtual environments with a prompt.

Key Use Cases

🎬 B-Roll & Stock Footage AI-generated clips enrich documentaries, news features, and corporate content with dynamic background visuals.
🛍️ Product Visualization Brands prototype campaigns and product renders without costly photoshoots—speeding up design, marketing, and iteration cycles.
🎨 Creative & Advertising Generate on-brand assets for social media, campaigns, and visual identities—fully customized, refreshable, and cost-efficient.
🌍 Virtual Environments Gaming, simulations, and immersive content benefit from AI-generated scenes, props, and dynamic visual effects.

Generative Video Tools ● RunwayLM ● Loom screen rec ● Luma Dream ● Haiper.ai ● Adobe Firefly ● Hedra Studio ● Kling.ai ● Krea.ai ● Sora (OpenAI) ● Video from photo: Pika.art ● Synthesia ● Captions ● Open Source: Genmo ● Enterprise: Stability.ai ● Repurposing: from long to short formats Reap Video ● Opus Clip ● Avatar “talking heads” videos: Heygen

Generative Images

As of early 2025, ChatGPT leads the field with its highly versatile and imaginative image generation—especially admired for Ghibli-style artwork, strong text integration, and variation handling.

Others: MidJourney, DALL·E 3, Stability Business-friendly: Adobe Firefly (trained on licensed assets) ● Creative-forward: Ideogram, Reve

The key challenge is avoiding the rush to chase every new visual trend. While the risk of “everything you see is fake” looms near, there’s also an opportunity to thoughtfully use AI to push past traditional limitations in illustration. The path forward requires careful balance—advance deliberately, but cautiously.