Hugh Man's Very First AI Tools


Hugh Man's Very First AI Tools

[An AI-assisted guide written by a human who had to ask AI how to write about AI.]



Greetings fellow humans, Hugh Man here. Getting into AI, or even using it for the first time is an intimidating task. Trust me, I know - I'm the person who spent three hours trying to figure out if I needed to download AI before I realized it was all web-based. But after a few days of dickering about, I think I've discovered which ones are easy to use and hold the most potential for beginners like us.

The Essential Tools

Microsoft Copilot: Your Free AI Swiss Army Knife

It's already part of Bing so if you ever start up that search engine, click that icon that looks a little like a blue cube on the top right corner of the browser! No signups and your in. It's a solid starting AI plus, it can help you; 

  • Current information that other AIs might not have
  • To fact-check claims you find online
  • To get recent examples or case studies
  • To browse the internet more efficiently

  • It can also do pretty much all the other stuff that every other AI does but it's a little clunky. 

While writing this blog post, I wanted to check if any new free AI tools had been released. Instead of manually searching through news sites, I simply asked Copilot: "What are the newest free AI tools released this month?" It gave me current information and even provided links to verify the details. Seriously, these are replacing google. 

Co-pilot is easy but you really should sign up for the best ones, 

To be honest, in my first week in this experiment, ChatGPT and Claude have become my digital writing partners and workhorses, each with their own strengths. I've found ChatGPT works best for getting ideas flowing and just asking pretty much any question. Yesterday, when starting this blog post, I simply asked it: "What would a complete beginner need to know about AI tools?"

Whereas, for polishing content, Claude is my go-to. When I took ChatGPT's outline and asked Claude to refine it, the result was noticeably better structured and more engaging. Both ChatGPT and Claude require you to sign up but you can do that with your gmail account. 

Pro-tip; If you can, get two or three Gmail accounts because if you want to do everything for free, you're going to hit the free limits pretty fast. 


What I'm using for AI Art

For images, I've settled on two tools that don't get enough credit: Leonardo.ai and GetImg.ai. Again, you'll need a Gmail account (or two) but you can just sign in through Gmail and you get daily or monthly credits which may not be a lot but if you are clever, they're enough. 

In Leonardo.ai, I started with this prompt: "A human and robot sitting at a desk looking at a computer screen, digital art style, warm lighting." The settings I used were:
- Model: Leonardo Creative
- Negative prompt: "distorted faces, extra limbs"
- Aspect ratio: 16:9
- Steps: 30
I tried the same prompt in GetImg.ai but added "professional office setting" to the description. GetImg.ai has a simpler interface, but I've found its "Style" dropdown menu incredibly useful - I chose "Digital Art" for this one.
The Leonardo.ai version won out for our header image, though both were impressive. What I love about these tools is they don't restrict or censor your creativity like some of the more popular options. 

 



Managing Your Free Credits: A Practical Approach

Here's my typical workflow:
I start my day with ChatGPT, using it for quick ideas and rough drafts. When I need to refine something important, I switch to Claude. For images, I usually start with Leonardo.ai, keeping GetImg.ai as my backup if  I need a different perspective on the same prompt.


Getting Started: Your First Week With AI

If  you're reading this then you're just starting out, here's a couple of exercises to help you out in case you're still unsure about this whole AI business. 


Hugh Man's Homework: 
If this is really is your first foray into the exciting world of AI, take a few minutes over the next few days to play around. 

Day 1: Sign up for ChatGPT. Start with this simple prompt: "Explain what tasks you can help me with." The response will give you a clear picture of possibilities.

Day 2: Add Claude to your toolkit. Try taking something you wrote (even an email) and asking Claude to improve it. The difference will surprise you.
Day 3: Create your first AI image on Leonardo.ai. Start with something simple like "sunset over mountains, digital art style." Play with the settings I mentioned above.

What's Coming Next

In our next posts, we'll explore how to use these tools to start making money online. I'll share my successes, failures, and everything I learn along the way.


#AItools #AIguide #FreeAI #AIforBeginners #AItutorial #AItools2024
---
*Part of The Hugh Man Challenge: Make 2k the Hugh Man Way

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
The Complete Guide to Becoming an AI-Powered Social Media Manager in 2025 Greetings fellow Humans, I'm Hugh Man. Tonight, I'm pleased to be reporting on our very first career path in our AI-driven world: Social Media Management, or as I like to call it, "using robots to be professionally social." What Exactly Is a Social Media Manager? Imagine you own a bakery, but you're too busy baking delicious cakes to tell people about them online. That's where a social media manager comes in - they're like a friendly neighbor who tells everyone how good your cakes are, shows pretty pictures of them, and chats with people who have questions about your treats. Instead of payment in cake (though some might accept that), social media managers typically get paid a monthly fee to handle all this online talking and picture-sharing. They might manage one shop's Facebook and Instagram for $500 a month, and if they're good at it, they can help several businesses at on...
Read more

Hugh Man's $2000 AI Challenge - Day 1: A Study in Optimistic Failure

Image
  Hugh Man's $2000 AI Challenge - Day 1: A Study in Optimistic Failure "Day 1: Making $2000 with Free AI Tools | Hugh Man's AI Challenge" Good evening I'm reporting on what can only be described as an interesting first day in our journey to make $2000 using nothing but free AI tools. Let me be perfectly clear; I'm more or less just following the AI's instructions and plans here.  You know, there's something humbling about sitting down with a clear one-hour plan and watching it unravel spectacularly over four hours. Let me walk you through it. The day started simply enough. Google Analytics - a tool that, according to everyone, is "absolutely essential" for any online venture. After several polite but increasingly desperate conversations with Claude that went something like: "Where exactly is the tracking code supposed to go?"  "In the header."  "Yes, but... where in the header?"  "At the top."  "I ...
Read more