My Top 8 AI Tools of 2025 (What I Actually Use)

Dec 30

2025 has been the year when AI tools stopped feeling like experiments and started feeling essential. These aren’t theoretical picks or hype-driven mentions—these are the tools I’ve genuinely used, tested, and kept coming back to. Some help me work faster, some help me create things I couldn’t before, and a few still make me stop and say, “How is this even possible?”

Here are my Top 8 AI tools of 2025, ranked by real-world usefulness and impact.

1. Google Gemini

Google Gemini has been my daily driver for most of the year. The tight integration with Google Docs alone makes it incredibly useful for real work—notes, drafts, outlines, and quick revisions all feel frictionless.

On top of that, Google Banana has quietly become one of the best image editors available. It’s fast, clean, and shockingly good at realistic edits without feeling gimmicky.

Gemini has its ups and downs with updates, but when it’s good, it’s really good.

Google Gemini – AI assistant from Google
🔗 https://gemini.google.com/ (Gemini)

2. ChatGPT

While I often defaulted to Gemini earlier, I’ve found myself using ChatGPT more and more as the year went on. It simply feels more responsive, and the Pulse feature has serious long-term potential.

Right now, it’s the AI I open when I want momentum—quick answers, iteration, and creative back-and-forth. Gemini and ChatGPT continue to leapfrog each other with updates, but at this moment, ChatGPT has the edge for me.

ChatGPT – Conversational AI by OpenAI
🔗 https://chat.openai.com/ (official ChatGPT access)

3. Suno AI

Suno still feels like magic.

You take your own lyrics, choose a style, and 15 seconds later you have a fully produced song. Version 5 pushed things to a level where it’s genuinely hard to distinguish from radio tracks—especially on casual listening.

The sound quality isn’t perfect yet, but the ability to:

Edit and remix songs
Save styles
Iterate instantly

…makes this a no-brainer for anyone interested in AI music creation.

Suno AI – AI music generation platform
🔗 https://suno.com/ (Suno)

4. Grammarly

I used Grammarly long before it went full AI—and now it’s essential.

I don’t like starting with AI-written drafts. But once I have something on the page, Grammarly is unmatched for:

Cleaning up structure
Improving clarity
Tightening tone

It enhances your writing instead of replacing it, which is exactly what I want.

Grammarly – AI writing and editing assistant
🔗 https://www.grammarly.com/

5. Grok

Grok is the least filtered AI model I’ve used—and that’s both the appeal and the risk.

It’s not built for long-form video like Sora or Veo, but for:

Image edits
Short clips
Wild ideas

…it’s an absolute blast. I’ve used it mostly for fun, experiments, and messing with friends and family. Not an everyday tool—but a memorable one.

Grok (xAI) – AI chatbot developed by xAI
🔗 https://grok.com/ (Wikipedia)

6. Sora AI 2

Sora may technically live inside ChatGPT, but it deserves its own spot.

Right now, it’s hands down the best AI video tool available. Yes, it still has flaws—but it’s creating videos realistic enough to fool millions daily. There’s a very real chance that viral “pet rescue” or “miracle moment” videos you’ve seen were generated with Sora.

Most of my YouTube Shorts this year were made using Sora. We’re officially at the point where you have to actively check whether a video is AI or real.

Sora AI 2 – OpenAI’s text-to-video AI
🔗 https://sora.chatgpt.com/ (Sora video generation hub)

7. NotebookLM

It’s incredible for:

Study notes
Audio summaries
Slide deck creation

I’ve uploaded my own writing and learned from hearing it played back and analyzed by the AI. That feedback loop alone makes it worth using.

NotebookLM (Google) – AI-powered research & note assistant
🔗 https://notebooklm.google/ (Google NotebookLM)

8. Opus Clip

Opus Clip saved me a ton of time.

I used it primarily to break long podcast videos into short clips for reels and shorts. The scoring system wasn’t always perfect, but it consistently surfaced moments worth editing.

For automating 70–80% of the clipping process, it’s a huge win.

Opus Clip – AI video clipping & editing tool
🔗 https://www.opus.pro/ (opus.pro)

Final Thoughts

What stood out in 2025 wasn’t just how powerful AI became—it was how usable it became. These tools aren’t future concepts anymore. They’re part of daily workflows, creative pipelines, and even entertainment.

And the wild part?
Each update could reshuffle this list entirely.

If you’re building, writing, editing, creating, or just curious—this is the stack that I used this year.

Josh Reeves