Following our recent AI training session with Anglia Ruskin University’s Anglia Ruskin Enterprise Academy (AREA), I wanted to provide a comprehensive recap of everything we covered. And blimey, we covered a lot of ground!

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from running The AI Guys, it’s that most people are barely scratching the surface of what AI can do for them. Throughout our ARU session, we had brilliant questions about everything from data protection concerns to practical applications for student engagement. This article captures the key tools and techniques we explored together, making it easier to reference and implement these solutions in your work.

So I thought I’d break down some of the most powerful AI tools that we’re using daily at The AI Guys – the same ones that are helping our clients save countless hours and transform their operations.

The AI Landscape: More Options Than You Think

When most people think of AI tools, ChatGPT immediately springs to mind. But there’s a whole ecosystem of specialised AI models out there, each with their own strengths. Here’s my rundown of the heavy hitters:

Perplexity: Your AI Research Assistant

Perplexity is hands down one of my most-used tools, and it was one of the first platforms I demonstrated during our ARU session. Unlike standard AI chatbots, Perplexity is search-focused first, which means it scours the internet to find relevant information and then pulls it all together with proper references.

What makes it particularly brilliant for research is:

• It provides all the links to where it found the information
• The results are comprehensive and well-structured
• You can choose between different AI models (including GPT-4o, Claude 3.7, and their own Sonar model)
• It offers “deep research” functionality for more in-depth analysis

If you’re doing any sort of report or need to quickly get up to speed on a topic, Perplexity should be your first stop.

Claude: The Structured Response Master

Claude (currently on version 3.7) is my absolute favourite for content creation and structured responses, which I emphasised during the ARU training. When the team asked about the differences between AI models, I explained it like this:

• GPT is like a creative, occasionally rebellious genius who sometimes fibs
• Claude is like a highly structured genius who sticks to the script

I consistently get better, more accurate responses from Claude, especially when I need detailed, well-organised content. One of Claude’s standout features is “Projects” – essentially custom trained AI setups for specific recurring tasks.

I’ve set up projects for:

• Image prompt creation
• Writing in my specific tone of voice
• Social media content generation
• Marketing strategy development

GPT: The Creative Powerhouse

While it might not be my personal favourite, there’s no denying GPT’s capabilities. The latest versions (GPT-4o and 4.5) excel at creative tasks and can be incredibly versatile.

GPT allows you to create custom “GPTs” for specific purposes – similar to Claude’s projects. We’ll talk more about these custom models later, but they’re game-changers for consistent outputs.

Grok: The Unfiltered Option

Grok (currently on version 3) is brilliant because it’s less restricted than other AI models. If you’re looking to create content that other AIs might refuse, Grok is your mate. It’s particularly good at image generation and has impressive deep research capabilities.

The free version of Grok is surprisingly generous, so it’s definitely worth adding to your toolkit.

Deep Research: AI-Powered Knowledge Mining

All the major AI models now offer some version of “deep research,” which is a game-changer for comprehensive information gathering. This isn’t just a simple search – it’s an extensive analysis with multiple references and detailed insights.

When should you use deep research?

• When you need a comprehensive report on a topic
• When you’re researching a new industry or market
• When you need detailed competitive analysis
• When standard search doesn’t give you enough depth

A quick tip: I’ve found that GPT’s deep research is phenomenal (though it’s limited to 10 uses per month on the paid plan). For a free alternative, Grok’s deep research is impressively good.

Custom AI Models: Your Personal AI Workforce

One of the most powerful techniques we covered in the training was creating custom AI models for specific, recurring tasks. Different platforms call these different things:

• Claude calls them “Projects”
• GPT calls them “GPTs”
• Perplexity calls them “Spaces”
• Gemini calls them “Gems”

These are essentially AIs that you’ve trained with specific instructions to perform particular tasks consistently. Let me give you a real-world example:

Creating an Email Response Assistant

During our ARU session, a question came up about handling repetitive emails where staff frequently need to direct students to book enterprise support sessions. This is exactly where custom AI models shine. Here’s how to create one:

1. Collect 5-10 examples of emails written in your tone
2. Create a custom GPT/Project
3. Add instructions like “You’re my email assistant. Help me respond to emails in my tone of voice.”
4. Upload your email examples
5. Now you can paste any email into this model, and it will draft a response in your style

This approach works for virtually any repetitive task: social media posts, content creation, customer service responses, sales outreach – you name it.

Image Generation: Beyond Basic Stock Photos

AI image generation has come a long way, and there are several fantastic tools worth exploring:

Ideogram: Text on Image Master

A question came up during the training about creating images for the alumni magazine. For this type of work, I suggested Ideogram. It’s brilliant for creating images with text, making it perfect for social media graphics or magazine content. The free version gives you a decent number of generations, which is great for university teams working with limited budgets.

Recraft: Palette-Perfect Images

Recraft stands out because you can adjust colours after generation. You can create individual images, select specific palettes, and even create sets of images that all share a consistent style – perfect for blog posts or campaigns.

Flux: Hyper-Realistic People

For realistic human images, Flux is unbeatable. You can even train it on your own face (which I’ve done) to create AI-generated images of yourself for various scenarios.

Video and Voice: The Next Frontier

AI-generated video and voice are rapidly evolving:

Runway: Image to Video Conversion

Runway can take a static image and turn it into a dynamic video. You can even combine this with AI-generated voices for quick video content creation.

11 Labs: Voice Cloning

11 Labs allows you to clone voices with uncanny accuracy. I’ve trained it on my voice, and the results are indistinguishable from the real thing. This is incredibly powerful for creating voiceovers, podcasts, or video content.

Pitch Decktapus: AI Presentation Creation

Another great question during our session was about tools for creating pitch decks, which is highly relevant for the entrepreneurial students at ARU. Pitch Decktapus can generate entire slide decks based on your brief. Just provide your brand guidelines and content requirements, and it’ll do the heavy lifting – a massive time-saver for both students and staff.

Website Building with AI

Bolt is revolutionising website creation. You can essentially describe a website in natural language, and Bolt will build it for you. It’s not just a template – it’s a fully functional site with:

• Custom designs based on your description
• Easy editing by clicking on any element
• The ability to connect to a domain through Netlify
• Database functionality for collecting information

The days of spending weeks building a website are over. With Bolt, you can have a professional site up and running in minutes.

Automation: Connecting Everything Together

A key question during our ARU session was about automating email responses while maintaining data protection compliance. All these tools are powerful on their own, but the real magic happens when you connect them. For Microsoft users like ARU, Power Automate offers a secure way to create workflows that integrate with your existing Microsoft systems without compromising on GDPR compliance.

For more flexibility, we use Make (formerly Integromat) to build complex automations. For example, we’ve created systems that:

• Take a voice note and turn it into optimised social media posts for multiple platforms
• Automatically respond to inquiries with AI-generated responses
• Create content briefs from customer questions
• Generate images for blog posts based on content

Getting Started: Where to Begin

As was mentioned during our training, this is a lot to take in! If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed, here’s my advice:

1. Start with perplexity.ai for research and general information
2. Use Claude for well-structured content creation
3. Try Bolt for quick website prototypes
4. Experiment with Ideogram for simple image creation

Remember, the goal isn’t to use ALL these tools – it’s to find the ones that solve your specific problems. And if you’re not sure where to start, just ask the AI! A simple prompt like “How can I use AI to improve my email marketing?” will give you plenty of ideas.

Final Thoughts

One of the most exciting aspects of our ARU training session was seeing the team’s realisation of how these tools could help both their internal operations, student and graduate entrepreneurs they support. We’re at a point where small businesses, solopreneurs, and even student startups can leverage the same AI capabilities as major corporations. What would have taken weeks or cost thousands of pounds can now be done in minutes for a fraction of the cost.

The key is to start experimenting. Don’t worry about mastering everything at once. Pick one task you’d like to automate or improve, find the right AI tool, and give it a go. Before you know it, you’ll have built an AI-powered workflow that saves you hours every week.

And if you need any help navigating this brave new world, well, that’s what The AI Guys are here for!

Happy automating!

Mat

Want to learn more about using AI in your business? Check out our resources at TheAIGuys.co.uk or join our WhatsApp AI assistant to experience AI automation firsthand. And a massive thanks to the ARU AREA team for the brilliant questions and engagement during our training session – you’ve helped shape this content for everyone to benefit from!