It’s hard to know what to make of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Will it cure cancer, find solutions for climate change, take our jobs or bring about the end of humanity? Such rapid advancements in technology are difficult to wrap our heads around. We have seen the light and dark sides of the internet and social media, so we are wise to proceed with caution. With changes this rapid, profound and unprecedented, it is impossible to predict what lies ahead. We must hope that the great minds at the technology companies, academic institutions and government agencies are thinking deeply about the long-term implications and consequences of AI.
What we can be certain of is that AI is offering us incredible tools to improve the quality of our lives right now. It is exciting to almost instantaneously summarize a book I am interested in, plan a vacation down to nuanced details, or create a meal plan and shopping list for the whole week. I have stopped saying “I don’t know” and now say, “Great question, let me look it up.” I realize this is just the tip of the iceberg, and I hope to find time this summer to take a deeper dive.
If you are new to AI, begin by addressing your privacy concerns. Take precautions: check data usage policies, limit private data, use pseudonyms or generalities, disable chat history, delete conversations, create a separate email address for AI, or run offline AI models. When you are ready, use your browser to access ChatGPT, Anthropic (Claude.ai), Grok, Google Gemini or Perplexity AI. All have a free version. The AI landscape is changing quickly; today’s worst AI platform/app may be tomorrow’s best. In general, you can visit just about any major AI platform, ask almost anything you can think of, and prepare to be amazed.
Here’s a list of ideas to get you started or on the next step of your personal AI journey to make the most of your summer.
1. AI for Outings
ChatGPT can create a personalized itinerary, recommend activities, suggest restaurants and even help with day-to-day plans. Microsoft 365 Copilot integrates with your email and calendar to help plan social events, meetings and travel, organizing everything from the smallest detail to larger projects. AI-enhanced platforms like Wander let you preview museums, spas and even hiking trails in Virtual Reality before visiting. AI-powered apps like Eventbrite, Fever and TimeOut suggest concerts, rooftop events, gallery openings and pop-ups happening in real time. Apps like Yelp, ReciMe or TheFork use AI to learn your tastes and suggest new, trending restaurants or exclusive chef’s tastings.
2. AI for Meal Prep
Yummly offers personalized recipe recommendations based on your dietary preferences, allergies and available ingredients. Mealtime provides easy meal plans with grocery lists, so you can cook with ease and efficiency.
3. AI and Gardening
PictureThis or PlantSnap uses AI to instantly identify plants, weeds and pests via photo. Smart gardening assistants like Gardenia and Planta use AI to create personalized watering, fertilizing and light schedules based on your garden setup and local weather. iScape helps you visualize landscaping ideas, suggesting plant combinations and layouts based on sun exposure and soil conditions. And particularly useful in our dry climate are irrigation systems like Rachio that use AI to optimize water usage depending on plant needs and forecasted rainfall.
4. AI and Hiking
AllTrails and Komoot use AI to suggest routes based on difficulty, scenery, user reviews and your fitness level. Maps AI-enhanced provides optimized paths, elevation changes. Smartwatches with AI (like Apple Watch or Garmin) track your heart rate, oxygen levels and pace while learning your habits to suggest ideal hiking times or rest intervals.
5. AI-Based Fitness Coaches
Fitness apps like Freeletics use AI to personalize workout plans based on your fitness level, preferences and goals. It adapts your training as you progress, ensuring you’re always challenged without being overwhelmed. Aaptiv offers audio-based workouts guided by certified trainers, covering a variety of fitness styles from yoga to HIIT.
6. AI-Assisted Learning
Duolingo adapts language lessons to your learning pace, making language acquisition fun and interactive. Khan Academy uses AI to recommend personalized lessons in a variety of subjects from mathematics to history.
7. AI for Art
DALL·E generates images from text prompts, turning your ideas into unique visual creations. Midjourney is popular for stylized, artistic and imaginative images and is great for fantasy, fashion and moody aesthetics. Adobe Firefly—integrated into Adobe tools—generates images, styles and templates from prompts with a user-friendly interface. AutoDraw helps convert rough sketches into clean icons or shapes. Krea.ai turns sketches into full artworks using prompts and is popular with concept designers.
8. Photo Editing and Style Transfer
Runway ML is an AI-powered video and image editing model, including background removal and style transfer. Prisma turns photos into paintings using famous art styles (like Van Gogh or Picasso). DeepArt also uses style transfer to apply well-known art styles to your photos.
9. AI Animation and Video
Kaiber generates music videos or visual storytelling animations from static images or text. Pika Labs AI video generator is known for surreal, creative short clips.
10. AI for Generative Design and Fashion
Artbreeder lets you blend and evolve images, faces, landscapes or anime-style art. Designify is an image editing tool that transforms ordinary photos into professional-quality visuals.
11. AI Stylist
ShopLook or Smart Closet helps you plan outfits for events and find similar designer items in local boutiques. Stylebook helps you organize your wardrobe, plan outfits and track what you wear. Smart Closet uses AI to auto-categorize clothing, suggest outfits and help you pack for trips. ACloset is a free app with AI-powered outfit suggestions based on weather, occasion and personal style. Zyler enables you to try on clothes virtually using a photo and get personalized fashion suggestions. AI Stylist by Fashable offers AI-driven outfit generation based on user-uploaded items and style preferences. Amazon StyleSnap lets you upload a photo, and AI will find similar products across Amazon Fashion. With Google Lens Fashion Search, you can take a picture of an outfit and AI will find similar items online. The Yes (by Pinterest) uses AI to learn your preferences and curate daily style recommendations. Lyst uses AI to track fashion trends and suggest deals across thousands of brands.
12. Personalized Music Playlists
Music has long been recognized as a powerful tool for improving mood and reducing stress. Imagine having a personal DJ who knows exactly what tunes will help you relax, energize or elevate your mood based on your current emotional state. Endel uses real-time data (such as heart rate, weather and location) to create personalized soundscapes designed to boost focus, relaxation or energy. AiMi dynamically adjusts its playlist based on your listening history, providing a seamless and evolving soundtrack tailored just for you.
13. AI-Powered Journaling
Journaling helps us process emotions and make sense of our thoughts. AI-driven apps like Replika offer an AI companion that engages in conversations and helps you reflect on your emotions. It adapts to your needs and can help with everything from stress management to personal growth. Daylio is a micro-journal that allows you to track your mood and activities. Over time, the app identifies patterns, helping you recognize emotional triggers.
14. AI-Enhanced Meditation and Mindfulness
Calm uses AI to recommend tailored breathing exercises, sleep stories and meditations based on your emotional state, helping you relax and unwind. Headspace provides customized meditation techniques to improve focus, reduce stress and manage anxiety. Ebb, its AI companion, offers emotional support by guiding you through mindfulness practices.
15. AI-Powered Sleep Assistants
Sleep Cycle tracks your sleep patterns and wakes you during your lightest sleep phase, leaving you feeling refreshed. Pillow provides detailed insights into your sleep quality and even helps you create a better sleep environment by offering suggestions for temperature adjustments and soundscapes.
16. Virtual Reality Therapy
Virtual Reality (VR) has evolved beyond gaming into a powerful therapeutic tool. Apps like Realize Music: Sing offer users a fully immersive VR experience for stress relief and emotional wellness. DIY music therapy through VR reduces stress hormones and stimulates your brain’s reward systems.
17. AI for Psychotherapy
Woebot uses AI to offer cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) techniques, guiding users through mood tracking and offering coping mechanisms for anxiety, depression and stress. Wysa provides mental health support through chat-based therapy, offering strategies based on evidence-based techniques such as CBT and dialectical behavior therapy. Please note that these apps should serve as an augmentation for your psychotherapy and not as a replacement for evaluation and treatment with a trained professional.
I hope something on this laundry list caught your attention and that you feel inspired to lean into the positive aspects of AI. I have no doubt that our lives will look quite different in the upcoming years due to this powerful technology. We can’t lose sight of the negative potential, and you can even ask AI how you can prepare for what lies ahead. Their prediction is likely to be as good as ours, as we are entering uncharted territory! So, as the great minds around the globe ponder how to harness the unprecedented power of AI, I hope we can all benefit from its myriad of potential applications to live our best lives now.
