How I actually use AI every day.

Claude is my main hub. I use it for my businesses, school, writing, thinking things through, everything. There are two ways to use it, and the difference matters.

Switching from the chat to Claude Code was the biggest jump for me. Some real things I've had it do:

• Log into my school's Moodle (our version of Google Classroom), download every file from every class, and upload them into a separate Gemini Notebook for each class. I didn't touch anything.
• Clean out my Gmail inbox, organize my Google Drive into folders, and clear junk off my Mac to free up storage.
• Build and update websites for my clients.
• Edit videos, including reels for Machon Lev and a recap video of our mishmar.
• Proofread a sefer (more on that below).

Claude Code isn't on the free plan. I'm on Pro at $20 a month, and that covers both.

I had a free year of Google AI Pro. When it ran out I was going to drop to the cheaper plan, and Google offered me the full $19.99 plan for $4.99 a month for another year. So I took the deal. Gemini is really good at three things for me:

• Long recordings. The chavrusa breakdown above. You can throw an hour of audio at it.
• Deep research. It's connected to Google, so it's strong at digging into a topic and pulling sources together.
• Argon, the newest model, which is really, really good. Pick it from the menu next to the chat box.

This used to be called NotebookLM, and it lives at notebook.google.com. I think it's the single most useful thing on this page for students.

It's like ChatGPT with no internet. It only knows what you give it.

Upload your syllabus, slides, readings and notes for a class, and when you ask a question it searches only your files. So it's not pulling random answers off the web. It's answering from what your professor actually taught. Every student should have one notebook per class. Here's what it can do:

• Answer anything about the material, with citations pointing to the exact slide or page.
• Make a podcast. Two AI hosts talk through whatever you choose: a five-minute digest before class, a recap after, a deep dive before a test. I listen on the way to class.
• Let you interrupt the podcast. Tap "interrupt" and say, "Wait, that didn't make sense, can you give another example?" The host goes, "Good question from our listener," and re-explains it. This is insane.
• Make flashcards and quizzes, including interactive ones, and practice assignments to get you ready for a test.
• Make quick bullet points for when you're walking into class in two minutes.

I have a notebook for each of my classes this semester: math, Excel, management, marketing, accounting and micro.

Muse is my scheduling assistant, covered above in the day breakdown. It's different from Claude because it doesn't wait for you to message it. It reaches out to you: it reminds you, checks things like the weather, and pushes you to stay on track.

I like keeping it separate from Claude. I can spam it with calendar stuff all day and keep Claude for everything else.

This kind of AI is called an agent: it acts on your behalf instead of just answering when you ask. Regular chat AI only talks when you talk to it. Agents are where things are going next. Anthropic has its own agent, Claude Duet, coming in a few months, and I might switch to that when it's out.

I installed Granola and I basically don't type anymore. I voice-type everything, especially to Claude. I'm literally recording this whole article with it.

Granola is built for meeting notes, and it's great at that too. My dad uses it to record shiurim and lectures, and it gives him a full breakdown afterward. I haven't started using it for meetings yet, but I probably will.

Base44 lets you build apps just by describing them. You type what you want in the big box at the top, and it builds it. I've been building websites and apps for six years, and I use Base44 for client work. But you don't have to be a designer to use it. You can build small apps just for yourself:

• You feel like AI is making your writing worse, so you build an app that gives you a prompt every day and makes you write 100 words yourself.
• You want an alarm clock with your own music and don't want to pay for one, so you build your own.
• You want a tracker for your daf yomi, your workouts or your tzedakah that works exactly how you think.

Think about something in your life that isn't working, or a website you wish existed. You can make it. A lot of this you could also do in Claude Code, but Base44 is really good for hosting and getting things live.