🎧 Prefer to listen?
Last week someone asked me: “If you knew nothing about AI and had to start over today, what would you learn first?” Not “what are the best tools” — but what would you actually learn, in what order, and why.
That’s a better question. Because the problem isn’t a lack of AI tools. It’s that most people try five tools at once, get mediocre results from all of them, and conclude that AI is overhyped. The issue isn’t the tools — it’s the sequence.
I’ve tested dozens of AI tools over the past year. Most of them are collecting digital dust. The seven that survived are the ones I’d rebuild from scratch — and I’d learn them in this exact order, because each one builds on the last.
1. ChatGPT — learn to talk to AI
Before you learn any other tool, learn how to write a prompt. ChatGPT is where you practice that skill.
The free tier gives you GPT-4o mini, which handles 90% of what a beginner needs: drafting emails, brainstorming ideas, summarizing articles, explaining concepts you don’t understand yet. But the real value isn’t the output — it’s the skill you build. Learning to write clear, specific instructions to an AI is the foundation that makes every other tool on this list useful.
I wrote about the one prompt that changed everything — it’s the single best starting point if you’ve never used AI for real work.
What I’d do first: Pick one real task you do every week — writing emails, planning meals, researching purchases — and use ChatGPT for it five days in a row. You’ll learn more from that experiment than from any course. If you want to understand what’s happening under the hood, check out what an LLM actually is.
2. Perplexity — learn to research with AI
Once you can hold a conversation with AI, the next skill is research. And Perplexity is the best tool for it right now.
Unlike ChatGPT, which sometimes makes things up (I wrote about why your AI output sucks if you’ve noticed this), Perplexity cites its sources. Every claim links to a real webpage. You can click through and verify. That’s not a nice-to-have — it’s essential when you’re using AI for anything that matters.
The free tier is generous: you get several “Pro” searches per day that use the best models, plus unlimited quick searches. I use it for comparing tools, checking current pricing, and researching topics I’m writing about.
What I’d do next: Replace one Google search per day with a Perplexity search. Ask it follow-up questions. Notice how it handles sources differently from a chatbot.
3. Claude — learn to write with AI
ChatGPT is great for brainstorming and quick tasks. But when you need something to sound like a human wrote it — a blog post, a proposal, a newsletter — Claude is better.
Claude’s free tier gives you Claude 3.5 Sonnet, which writes with more nuance and less “AI voice” than most alternatives. The difference is subtle but real: Claude writes like someone who reads books. ChatGPT writes like someone who reads the internet. Both are useful. But for anything that needs to sound professional or personal, Claude wins.
I use both daily. ChatGPT for getting ideas out fast. Claude for making them sound right. If you’re choosing between them, start with ChatGPT (it’s more versatile), then add Claude when you need better writing.
What I’d do next: Take something you wrote with ChatGPT and ask Claude to rewrite it. Compare the outputs side by side. You’ll immediately see the difference.
4. Canva — learn to design with AI
If you run any kind of business or create content, you need visuals. And you don’t need to learn Photoshop.
Canva has AI features built in now — background removal, text-to-image, magic resize, AI-generated templates. The free tier covers most beginners. You can create social media graphics, presentations, simple videos, and branded content without any design skills.
I use Canva for everything visual: blog headers, social posts, simple diagrams. The AI features save hours of manual work. And unlike dedicated AI image generators, Canva is designed for people who aren’t designers. The interface makes sense even if you’ve never opened a design tool.
What I’d do next: Create one social media graphic using Canva’s AI features. Use the magic resize to turn it into three different sizes. Notice how fast the whole process is compared to doing it manually.
5. NotebookLM — learn to organize knowledge with AI
This one surprised me. NotebookLM is Google’s free tool that lets you create a personal AI research assistant from your own documents.
Upload your notes, PDFs, articles, or web pages. Then ask questions about your content. NotebookLM answers using only what you uploaded — no hallucinations, no made-up facts, because it’s grounded in your sources. It even generates audio summaries that sound like a podcast conversation about your material.
I use it for researching blog topics, organizing competitor analysis, and turning scattered notes into structured outlines. The audio summary feature is genuinely useful for absorbing information while doing other things.
What I’d do next: Upload three articles about a topic you’re interested in. Ask NotebookLM to find connections between them. Listen to the audio summary. It’s a different way to learn.
6. Make.com — learn to automate with AI
Once you’re comfortable using AI tools individually, the next level is connecting them. Make.com (formerly Integromat) is the best automation tool for beginners — more visual than Zapier, more powerful than basic integrations, and the free tier is genuinely usable.
The idea is simple: when something happens in one app, do something in another. When a new email arrives, summarize it with AI and save the key points to a spreadsheet. When you post a blog, automatically share it across social media. When a form is submitted, draft a response with ChatGPT.
I wrote about building your first automation in 15 minutes — that’s exactly where I’d start. Make.com’s visual builder lets you see each step of the workflow, which makes it easier to understand than code-based alternatives.
What I’d do next: Build one simple automation — even something basic like “when I get an email from a specific sender, send me a notification.” The goal isn’t to automate your whole business. It’s to understand how tools talk to each other. If you want to go deeper, check out how AI calls other tools.
7. Gamma — learn to present with AI
The last tool on this list is one I didn’t expect to use as much as I do. Gamma creates presentations, documents, and web pages using AI. Give it a topic or a rough outline, and it generates a polished deck with visuals, layouts, and content.
For anyone who runs a business, teaches, or creates content, this saves hours. I’ve used it for client proposals, content strategy decks, and quick explainers. The free tier gives you enough credits to create several presentations per month.
What makes Gamma different from just asking ChatGPT to make slides: Gamma actually designs them. The output looks professional, not like a template someone filled in. And you can export to PowerPoint or share as a live link.
What I’d do next: Take a topic you know well and ask Gamma to create a 10-slide presentation about it. Edit the output. Use it in a real meeting or share it with someone. You’ll be surprised how good the first draft is.
The order matters
I didn’t pick these seven randomly. There’s a logic to the sequence:
- ChatGPT — learn the fundamental skill (talking to AI)
- Perplexity — learn to research with AI (and verify what it tells you)
- Claude — learn to write with AI (better output, different style)
- Canva — learn to design with AI (visual content without skills)
- NotebookLM — learn to organize knowledge with AI (your own sources)
- Make.com — learn to automate with AI (connect tools together)
- Gamma — learn to present with AI (communicate ideas visually)
Each tool builds on the skills you developed with the previous one. ChatGPT teaches you prompts. Perplexity teaches you to verify. Claude teaches you to refine. Canva teaches you to visualize. NotebookLM teaches you to organize. Make.com teaches you to connect. Gamma teaches you to communicate.
Skip the first two and you’ll get bad results from the rest. Try to automate before you can write good prompts and your workflows will break. The sequence is the strategy.
What I wouldn’t do
I wouldn’t start with Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, or any AI image generator. They’re impressive, but they’re not where beginners get value. I wouldn’t start with coding assistants like Cursor or GitHub Copilot unless you already code. And I wouldn’t start with AI orchestrators until you’re comfortable with individual tools.
Start simple. Build skills. Add tools when you feel the limitations of what you have. That’s how you actually learn AI — not by installing everything at once.
I test AI tools so you don’t have to. Want to see what I actually use daily? Check out the tools I use every day or start here if you’re new to all this.