Ep 885: Inside Everyday AI: My 9 most Used AI Tools and Workflows (Replay)

Jordan Wilson (0:01)

One of the most common questions I get is how I use AI every day. So on today's episode, I'm going to tell you everything. And the answer to that question obviously has changed drastically over the years as quickly as the AI offerings themselves have changed, which is all the time. But I feel over the last few months at least, my usage has gotten consistent enough that I feel I can make this episode and not have it be obsolete in like two weeks. Because after using thousands of AI tools and modes over the years, you might be able to save yourself a few hundred hours and just copy some of my workflows and see what sticks. So on today's show, I'm going to give you a little behind the scenes on not only my nine most used AI tools and workflows, but also maybe some hot takes and trends on AI tool use in general along the way. So we're going to go inside Everyday AI and go over my nine most used AI tools and workflows that power my day. All right. Let's get into it on today's show. Here's what you're going to learn. My nine most used AI tools and workflows. You're going to know why I sometimes build my own AI tools, and I think you should too. And I'm going to tell you why I'm obviously Codex-pilled, yet still using Claude, Gemini and other tools. All right. Let's get into it. Welcome to Everyday AI. If you're new here, my name is Jordan, and we do this every day. It's for you. It's your unedited, unscripted, daily, live stream podcast, and free daily newsletter helping business leaders like you and me, not just keep up, but get ahead. I tell you what works, what doesn't. You take that information, all those saved hours, and you grow your company and your career. So if that's what you're trying to do, sweet. Starts here. Make sure if you haven't already, please subscribe to the podcast, and then go to our website at youreverydayai.com. The website is also always in our show notes there. We're going to be recapping the highlights from today's episode and giving you all the AI news and developments you need to know to stay ahead.

All right.

We'll see if this one sticks, right? Watch.

Watch later today. Obviously, it's Thursday. Big releases always come out on Thursday. Watch everything change today. But I feel for it, honestly, for the first time in a very long time, you know, my usage in terms of AI tools has not completely changed, you know, in three months, right? It's been fairly consistent. And some of those reasons is because I think there's, you know, one harness that will not be dethroned anytime soon. And kind of the move, you know, going from, you know, AI that was mainly web-based to AI that lives on your desktop and agents that live on your desktop, I think it made the maybe the models less important. I think it maybe made some of the modes, you know, like your deep research and your, you know, plugins and artifacts, all these things. I think it made those things a little less important. And honestly, between the models and the modes, I think there's actually a bit of parity, right? Whereas maybe two years ago when a new model came out, it was such a big gap. It was like first place and second place. Now, at least recently between OpenAI and Anthropic, it's usually 1A and 1B and then they flip-flop, right? But the harness itself, and this is why I think my usage has been so consistent probably since February, has made all the difference. So before I go into my 9 most used tools and workflows, a little precursor first. Speaking of the harness, I'm obviously codex-pilled. If you've been listening to the show at all since February, I've been saying this, I've called it. I said, Claude Code, it's going to lose its lead, right? Obviously, hats off to Anthropic. They really kicked off the agentic desktop era with Claude Code Desktop in December, followed up by Claude Code Work in January, but they've just been getting smoked and it's not even close in February.

I always will use the best overall tool no matter what, right? Throughout the years, I've had the most expensive plans too. I was on the Perplexity $200 plan using their computer. I've been on the Google Ultra plan, I think when it was like $300 a month or whatever it used to be.

I currently have a Claude 200 Max and an OpenAI 200 Max plan. So I've used them all, right? And I still use all of them to this day. But the majority of my time now is really in Codex. It is in a league of its own. I don't think Cursor will catch them, although I am glad that Cursor added some simple Google connectors this week. I don't think Claude will catch. And also, I want you to first think about your workflow. And the reason why I say those things is because I know our audience. Yes, there's obviously very technical people. There's builders who listen to this show. But for the most part, our audience is non-technical business leaders who are doing non-technical work. So that's where my lens is coming through this. So if you're just, as an example, software developer, maybe Claude Code is best, or maybe Cursor is best. But if you are someone that is not just 100% writing code, Codex, like I said, in the league of its own, and I don't see it being caught anytime soon. Okay, so with that all the way, I do want you to know that this is just based on my own workflows as well. Your usage is obviously going to vary and keep that in mind, right? So take that with a giant grain of salt. This isn't definitive, but I would say for the average non-technical AI user, like I'm saying, steal for my thousands of hours over the years of using all these tools. What I'm saying, do I have a preference? Absolutely. Am I telling you the truth? Yes. All right. So just getting that out of the way. Also, another thing to keep in mind, my usage has really shifted. Right back in January, I was probably only 10% desktop, right? Because the only big desktop player at the time was Cursor and Cloud Code. Right? So I was using Cloud Code about 10% of the time, and everything else was on the web. Obviously, today, that's complete opposite. So today, I'm like 90% using everything on the desktop. So that's mainly Codex, but also using Cloud Code, Cloud Code Work, Cursor, anti-gravity, Gemini on the desktop. Right? For the most part, I am desktop, agentic, harness through and through. Right? Even for non-technical knowledge work, that's what I'm using.