The AI tools I actually kept using after the novelty wore off

I tried around thirty AI tools this year for a running series. Two are still open in my browser every day. The other twenty-eight I forgot existed within a week of writing about them.

The two that survived both do one narrow thing extremely well instead of promising to do everything. One drafts email replies in my actual tone after seeing a dozen examples. The other turns messy meeting notes into a clean summary in under ten seconds.

Neither one is trying to replace my job. That's probably exactly why I still use them.

Part of the deeper dive: The Practical Guide to Using AI Tools Without Getting Burned.