7 Must‑Try Free AI Tools to Boost Productivity and Creativity

Name: 7 Best AI Tools You NEED to Try (Free & Powerful!) 💡
Uploaded: 2026-01-21T23:06:56.052134+00:00
Channel: Kevin Stratvert
Description: 7 Must‑Try Free AI Tools to Boost Productivity and Creativity Introduction Kevin walks through seven AI-powered tools that you can start using for free.

Kevin Stratvert

Jan 21, 2026

•

3 min read

YouTube video ID: TZe5UqlUg0c

Source: YouTube video by Kevin Stratvert — Watch original video

PDF

Introduction

Kevin walks through seven AI-powered tools that you can start using for free. They help automate repetitive work, speed up data analysis, generate music and voice content, improve search accuracy, and simplify video editing.

1. Zapier – Automate Repetitive Tasks

Connects thousands of apps (Gmail, Notion, Excel, Slack, etc.)
Example workflow: a Google feedback form triggers an automatic, personalized email reply.
Steps:
Sign in to Zapier.
Describe the task you want to automate.
Choose a suggested "Zap" and customize each step.
Free tier available; paid plans add more Zaps and premium apps.

2. Google AI Studio – Real‑Time Screen Guidance

Analyzes your screen and microphone input to give step‑by‑step instructions.
Ideal for learning software features (e.g., creating a pivot table in Excel).
Workflow:
Click Stream real time.
Share screen and mic.
Ask a question; the AI narrates the exact actions you need.
Future vision: AI could perform the steps for you.

3. ChatGPT (Canvas, Reasoning Model, Projects, Sora)

Canvas: interactive space for editing long‑form text or code with version history.
Reasoning model: handles logical, multi‑step problems (e.g., forecasting cookie production).
Projects: upload documents for context‑aware responses.
Multimodal: analyze images and files.
Sora: generate high‑quality videos from text prompts.

4. Udio – AI‑Powered Music Creation

Describe the vibe, structure (verse, chorus, bridge), length, and prompt strength.
Generates two song variations; you can edit lyrics and download the final track.
Great for quick jingles, background music, or creative experimentation.

5. ElevenLabs – Realistic AI Voices

Convert text to speech with lifelike voices.
Options to change voice, model, and fine‑tune settings.
Additional tools: Voice Changer, sound‑effect generator, dubbing & translation.
Useful for ads, narration, podcasts, and multilingual content.

6. Perplexity AI – Research‑Focused Search Engine

Enter a query and choose a source type: Web, Academic, or Social.
Academic mode returns answers with citations from scientific papers.
You can open sources, remove them, and rerun the query for refined results.
Free tier; paid plan adds more features.

7. Descript – Video & Podcast Editing Made Simple

Edit video like a text document; delete pauses, rearrange sentences.
Overdub: train the AI on your voice to generate new speech.
Studio Sound: auto‑enhance audio quality and isolate your voice.
Automatic caption generation in multiple languages.
Ideal for creators who want fast, professional‑looking content.

How to Get Started

Pick the tool that matches your immediate need (automation, data analysis, content creation, etc.).
Follow the quick‑start guides linked in Kevin’s video description.
Experiment with free tiers before deciding on a paid plan.

Why These Tools Matter Now

AI is becoming more accessible, allowing solo entrepreneurs and small teams to compete with larger organizations.
Free versions let you test ROI without upfront costs.
Integration across apps reduces manual effort, freeing up time for creative or strategic work.

These seven AI tools—Zapier, Google AI Studio, ChatGPT, Udio, ElevenLabs, Perplexity AI, and Descript—show how you can automate routine tasks, learn new software instantly, create music and voice content, conduct reliable research, and edit media with ease, all without spending a dime to start.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Kevin Stratvert on YouTube?

Kevin Stratvert is a YouTube channel that publishes videos on a range of topics. Browse more summaries from this channel below.

Does this page include the full transcript of the video?

Yes, the full transcript for this video is available on this page. Click 'Show transcript' in the sidebar to read it.

How to Get Started

1. Pick the tool that matches your immediate need (automation, data analysis, content creation, etc.). 2. Follow the quick‑start guides linked in Kevin’s video description. 3. Experiment with free tiers before deciding on a paid plan.

Why These Tools Matter Now

- AI is becoming more accessible, allowing solo entrepreneurs and small teams to compete with larger organizations. - Free versions let you test ROI without upfront costs. - Integration across apps reduces manual effort, freeing up time for creative or strategic work. These seven AI tools—Zapier, Google AI Studio, ChatGPT, Udio, ElevenLabs, Perplexity AI, and Descript—show how you can automate routine tasks, learn new software instantly, create music and voice content, conduct reliable research, and edit media with ease, all without spending a dime to start.

Helpful resources related to this video

If you want to practice or explore the concepts discussed in the video, these commonly used tools may help.

Artificial Intelligence: A Guide For Thinking Humans Paperback Recommended

Provides a clear, non‑technical overview of AI concepts, helping readers understand the technology behind tools like Zapier and ChatGPT, which is valuable as AI adoption accelerates.

Amazon →

The Prompt Engineering Handbook Book

Teaches effective prompt design for AI models such as ChatGPT and Google AI Studio, enabling users to get more accurate and useful responses right now.

Amazon →

Links may be affiliate links. We only include resources that are genuinely relevant to the topic.

Summarize another video

Full Transcript YouTube

Hey everyone, Kevin here. Today, we're going to 
look at seven of the best AI tools and you could  
try them all for free. You can automate repetitive 
tasks, find information more effectively,  
cut down on the time it takes you to respond to 
email and so many more. Let's dive in. First up,  
I partnered with Zapier to show you how you can 
eliminate all of those annoying and repetitive  
tasks by automating them. That way, you could 
focus on what really matters like, I don't know,  
baking cookies. Zapier is free to start using. 
I have a Google feedback form that customers at  
the Kevin Cookie Company can fill out. Once a 
customer submits their feedback, it'd be nice  
if they would receive a personalized response, 
preferably without involving me. Sign into Zapier,  
then type in what you would like to automate and 
all the different apps that you use. I'll type in  
my workflow. Zapier suggests a Zap, that's their 
word for workflow automation. Then you can click  
in and customize the details for each step in 
the process. Now, whenever new feedback comes in,  
Zapier automatically sends a personalized response 
to the customer. This is just one example. You can  
connect thousands of different apps like Gmail, 
Notion, Excel, Slack, and the list goes on and  
on. If you want a step-by-step guide that shows 
you how to get started with and how to use Zapier,  
check out the video link in the description. 
At number two, we have Google AI Studio. This  
AI can analyze your screen in real time and 
provide step-by-step guidance on various tasks.  
For example, let's say you're not sure how to do 
something in Microsoft Excel. AI Studio can help  
you with that. On the left, click on stream real 
time. Then at the bottom, share your microphone  
and your screen. Now, you could start asking 
questions. Yeah, I'd like to see the units sold  
by location. How do I do that? You can use a pivot 
table to see the units sold by location. First,  
select all of your data, including headers. Then 
go to the insert tab on the ribbon and click on  
pivot table. In the window that appears, click 
okay to create a pivot table on a new sheet. Then  
in the pivot table build- Hold on a second. Okay, 
so I have my new sheet, I have my pivot table.  
What do I do here? Okay, now in the pivot table 
fields pane, you should drag location to the rows  
area and units sold to the values area. This will 
show you the total units sold for each location  
in your pivot table. Nice, that is incredible. 
This shows the true power of AI and how it can  
help us all learn. To take it to the next level, 
it'd be nice if it could actually just do the  
steps on your screen with you in charge. I don't 
know, maybe next month? Next, we have ChatGPT,  
one of the most advanced and popular AI assistants 
available. Chances are you've used it before,  
but you may not know about all of the advanced 
functionality. Let's take a look. First, click  
this icon to open something called the Canvas. 
This is an interactive space where you can create,  
edit, and iterate on long form text or code. You 
can highlight one paragraph to request changes  
to just that paragraph. You can even view version 
history, so you know what ChatGPT has changed. You  
can click on this icon to activate a reasoning 
model. This is ideal for logical thinking,  
complex problem solving and multi-step analysis. 
For example, how many cookies should I bake in  
December given this sales data from past years? 
You can also set up what's called a project. You  
can upload documents and provide context, and 
it'll use all of that when responding to your  
prompts. There's also multi-modal support or image 
and file analysis. As an example, I can upload  
this image of the Kevin Cookie Company retail 
locations around the world. And when I ask it  
to give me a list of all the locations, it's able 
to do that. Lastly, there's a new offering called  
Sora, which can generate high quality videos from 
text descriptions. It does a lot more than just  
chat. Maybe it should be called everything 
GPT. Fourth, we have a tool called Udio,  
which is an AI powered music creation tool. 
With it, you can pull together songs like these. 
You simply describe the song that you would 
like to create. Of course, the more descriptive,  
the better. It then generates two songs. You can 
also write the lyrics yourself and call out the  
structure of the song, like the verse, the chorus, 
the bridge or the hook. You can also customize  
the length and also the prompt strength. Once 
you're happy with your song, you can download it  
and share it with the world. At number five, we 
have ElevenLabs. ElevenLabs produces incredibly  
realistic AI voices that sound just like real 
people. Chances are you've heard many of their  
voices before, whether on a YouTube video or 
maybe even on a commercial. Once you sign in,  
on the left-hand side, click on Text to Speech. 
Let's paste in some text. On the right, you can  
change the voice, set the model as well as adjust 
various settings. Then click on Generate. Hello,  
you should buy cookies at the Kevin Cookie 
Company. Not bad. They also offer a number of  
other tools like Voice Changer. You can use AI to 
make sound effects, and they even have an option  
to dub or translate audio into other languages. 
Next, we have Perplexity AI. If you feel like  
Google's search quality has gone downhill, 
Perplexity may be the search engine that you've  
been looking for. In the center of the screen, you 
have a text box where you can enter in your prompt  
or your query. One of the big differentiators 
from Google, you can set where you want Perplexity  
to source its answer from, the web, academia, or 
social, which basically means Reddit. I'll turn on  
Academic. Perplexity provides the answer as well 
as the sources. You'll notice citations throughout  
the answer, all from published scientific papers. 
You can click on any source to browse the original  
paper. You can also remove a source and then rerun 
your search. It's really perfect for research,  
fact checking, and AI powered insights, all 
while minimizing possible hallucinations.  
It's free to use and there's also a paid plan 
that gives you even more functionality. Last,  
if you're a content creator like me, Descript is 
a game changer for editing videos and podcasts.  
You could edit your video just like you would 
a Word document. For example, these dots let me  
know that there's a long pause. I can simply click 
on them and then delete the pause and that cuts  
them out of the video. You can also add new text 
or voice using something called overdub. You'll  
need to train the AI to use your voice. Then it'll 
generate the new speech using your voice. There  
are also lots of other AI features that'll make 
your video even more professional. For example,  
Studio Sound will improve the sound quality 
and make it more consistent. You can separate  
yourself from the background just by clicking on 
a button. You can automatically generate captions  
for your video in English and even in other 
languages. This is one of the best AI tools  
for streamlining content production and making 
video editing as easy as editing a document. Let  
me know which one's your favorite. Please consider 
subscribing and I’ll see you in the next video.