🧭 THIS WEEK AT AI SECOND ACT
Howdy, so with a bit under 2 wks off work, thought we’d think about AI use outside of the office.
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🧰 AI NEWS + LEARNING
Here are a few things I found recently:
Wispr Flow - I need to write a whole post about voice - If you can get into the habit, it’s WAY quicker than typing. It just takes time to start using it rather than typing. Wispr is awesome and free for a certain usage tier.
OpenAI says it will have AI operating at a researcher level by 2028 - Crazy because at that point, advances can become recursively improving!
Claude Code [which is cool except for it’s quite low limits] - gets a web based tool which makes it easier coding on the go!
🗺️ FEATURED INSIGHT
Every leader I know is overloaded with productivity systems and “AI at work” checklists. But genuine innovation rarely comes from a spreadsheet. It comes from play. It comes from tinkering with something that has no ROI, until suddenly, it does.
Try one or two of these tools:
🔧 Top 10 Non-Chat AI Tools to Try
DALL·E 3 – Generate imaginative visuals or surreal portraits from a single sentence.
Midjourney – Create stunning, stylized artwork with text prompts that feel more like creative briefs.
Soundraw – Compose unique background music tracks by choosing mood, genre, and length.
Udio – Generate full AI songs with vocals in your chosen style — from rock to cinematic.
ElevenLabs – Clone your own voice or create a lifelike narrator for your stories and projects.
Canva Magic Studio – Use AI to design anything: remove backgrounds, generate images, and create presentations fast.
Notion AI – Brainstorm, summarise, and rewrite content directly inside your personal notes or idea boards.
Runway ML – Turn static images into short AI videos, or experiment with motion graphics and visual effects.
Zapier AI – Automate weekend experiments: trigger image or text generation when something happens.
Descript – Edit videos or podcasts automatically by editing text; it’s magic for storytellers.
Pick one and give yourself 30 minutes. These tools are creative, accessible, and surprisingly relaxing.
So give yourself permission to explore. You might even find something that circles back to your job — a visualization trick, a new communication style, a fresh way to explain complex ideas.
A couple others I really like - I think NotebookLM is really cool. Sora 2 looks amazing but i haven’t tried it. I haven’t got into coding/building stuff if that is of interest. I’ll have a whole post on that soon.
Go ahead — step away from the serious side of AI for one (or many) weekend. You’ll return with a lighter mindset and a stronger creative edge.
Weekly AI strategies for operating executives
— Brett
👉 Hit “Reply” and share your experience — I read every one!
Picture by Joey Csunyo on Unsplash.