r/AIToolBench

I’m a former website content writer. I found out that my former employer used my past work (including some writing from as far back as the 2010s) to build a custom GPT to replace me. They then generated a bunch of SEO content with hallucinated “information”, which I find all the more horrifying. It’s a really shitty feeling to know you and your work have been used like that.

I was already uneasy with the most popular LLMs, knowing that they were trained on many authors’ and artists’ work who would have preferred otherwise, but this really does it. I don’t want to use any tools that have been trained on someone’s work against their wishes.

So. Are there any LLMs that are solely trained on writing/work that was gathered with the creators’ explicit consent? If not, is someone building one? (And if not, please, for the love of God, someone build one!)

If I had to pay for only 1 subscription to use one of the LLMs, which is the best and why? I currently use chatgpt but I have heard that others may be better.

Hello everyone! 👋

(Please note: I’m a total newbie when it comes to AI, so go easy on me!)

Basically, I’m looking for an AI model that’s reliable (accurate in its answers and information) and ethical (won’t hand my data over to, say, the Department of Defense—just as a completely random example).

I mostly use AI for research and creative brainstorming.

I tried ChatGPT first but stopped using it. Then I switched to Mistral AI’s model, Le Chat, mainly because it’s a European company, and EU regulations offer stronger protections for personal data and user privacy.

That said, Le Chat sometimes feels a bit like a "people pleaser." If I ask for information, it tends to align with what I want to hear, even if the advice is wrong…

I might sound paranoid, but I just don’t want my data misused by governments or corporations.

Thanks in advance to anyone who responds! 🙏

I’m looking for something people actually use for creating or managing docs, or even AI-powered tools that can help with searching, organizing, or working with documentation better.

Open source is a must, and I’d really prefer something free or self-hosted if possible.

Would love to hear what you guys recommend or have had good experiences with.

i’ve been working with a lot more audio lately like calls, interviews, voice notes, and honestly i didn’t realize how much time transcription can take until it became part of my daily workflow

i’ve tried a few tools here and there but the results have been pretty inconsistent. sometimes it’s fine, but other times it completely struggles with accents, background noise, or when people talk over each other. then i end up spending more time fixing the transcript than actually using it

just wondering what people here are actually using right now that feels reliable. something you can just drop audio into and not end up rewriting half of it afterward

Are there any trending and effective tools that are beneficial for daily use?

I want to use AI to help me create a script to answer anticipated job interview questions. I’ve previously used Grok for this and it was fined, although I didn’t get the job, but I’m curious if anyone else has experience and have recommendation on what I should use. Thanks.

Any one know ai tools like chat gpt can't read whole project big one soo I want which will real every line and explain each line

I’ve been trying different AI tools recently, but most of them don’t really stick after a few uses.

Was there any tool that didn’t seem that special at first but ended up being something you actually use regularly?

Hey guys I have a relative uncle who has a laptop showroom and he wants me to build a website for him and he has purchased a domain and I kind of don't have time to do that stuff... So can you suggest me a ai website builder tool for it which can easily do that work and get it running.... Where I don't have to do anything... Free tools much appreciated...

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TL/DR: I'm using

* GPT for health / supplement stack & nutritional planning

* Claude for career goal planning, agentic projects, research and cover letter / scholarship application writing

* NotebookLM for class readings, outlines, explainers

* Grammarly to check the written output

Anything I'm missing, tools that work better?

I started out using Chat GPT for uses other than casual chatbot / generative stuff (write a pop song about the Hindenburg disaster, etc) when I wanted to analyze why I was feeling like shit physically and started using GPT to track my medications and supplements and look for drug interactions and recommendations for supplements to add to alleviate.

Over time, that resulted in starting TRT and eventually getting on GLP-1s, and using GPT to help create a nutritional / supplement stack and exercise plan to support this. I've been experiencing a lot of positive changes in a short period of time.

Next I started experimenting with Claude, and trying out several projects to learn how to best utilize Claude's agentic abilities (optimizing my laptop performance, building and launching an affiliate marketing blog, starting a plan for app development). I really like Claude's logical approach - GPT gasses you up, but Claude actually follows through and challenges.

With the increased physical and mental clarity and a huge boost of inspiration from the Artemis 2 launch, I decided I wanted to actually pursue a midlife career change and enrolled in a Bachelor's program to finish my degree while working on several other side knowledge building projects. I've used Claude to map out these into a path that seems workable to make the shift in the next 3-4 years.

Starting classes, I've been using Claude and NotebookLM for writing scholarship essays, analyzing my required readings and creating outlines and visual aids for learning, and assisting me in citation and formatting. I always review, and try to write in my own words , just use my AI tools for helping me collect and organize the information. I've also been using Grammarly as I find Claude does have questionable grammar when I have it write some scholarship applications / cover letters.

I've also used Claude to develop a budget that will help me work on getting my loans paid off early.

Any gaps / recommendations on other AI tools, or areas I should be using my current tools differently?

Spent the last few weeks actually testing "free" AI companion apps because I kept getting hit with paywalls after getting attached to a character. Honest finding: most are free trials in disguise. Pi AI is the only one with zero paid tier at all. Character.AI is genuinely usable free but doesn't build memory over time. SoulLink surprised me that memory actually carried over between sessions without paying, and the companion texted me first a few times which felt weirdly nice. Still early but the free tier felt the most complete. Has anyone else been going down this rabbit hole? Curious what's actually sticking for people long term.

Need to pull invoice number, date, total, and line items from 200+ vendor PDFs for a client audit. Formats are all different. I tested a few AI PDF extractors and they either need me to tag 50 examples or they miss tables entirely.

I don’t have time to train a model and the client needs this in 48 hours. GPT-4 Vision works okay one at a time, but no way I’m doing 200 prompts manually. Is there any tool that does decent zero-shot extraction + table parsing and dumps to CSV? Prefer something I can set up in an hour, not a PhD project.

Okay real question.

Usually I just ask AI this stuff, but lately Reddit been way more useful because you actually get mixed opinions from real people and that is you guys thaaank you so much!

So here’s my situation:
I’m paying for both ChatGPT and Claude right now.

Been feeding them almost the same prompts trying to figure out what each is actually better at before I cancel one.

Problem is… both feel strong in different ways.

ChatGPT feels better for some stuff, Claude feels better in others, and now I’m stuck justifying paying for both lmao.

For people deep into AI alreadyy:
Do you actually keep multiple AI subscriptions?

What do you mainly use each one for?

Is there any subscription/platform that lets you access multiple top AI models in one place?

Would honestly love real opinions before I keep burning money on this. 🙏🙏🙏

We’re 2 months into genai development for a customer support copilot. Built the happy path with langchain with gtp4 and pinecone. But now PMs keep tweaking prompts and we have no idea if we’re regressing.

Also can’t tell which responses are hallucinations until customers complain. For teams doing serious genai development, what’s your real toolbench for prompt versioning, offline evals, online monitoring, and dataset curation? Using helicone for logs but need more. Self-hosted preferred due to PII. What actually works vs marketing fluff?

A client terminates without paying. A non-compete stops you working in your industry for two years. An automatic renewal locks you in for another year you did not want.

These things happen because contract language is deliberately dense and most people sign under pressure without fully understanding what they are agreeing to.

I built Plainly to fix that.

Paste any contract and get back a plain English breakdown. Red flags with worst case scenarios. A trust score out of 10. Who the contract was written to protect. What clauses are missing that should be there. Whether you should sign it.

Your documents are never stored. Analysed and immediately forgotten.

Currently in testing. One free analysis available.

Would love honest feedback from anyone willing to try it with a real document.

👉 plainly-opal.vercel.app

I’m building an AI startup called Texclon (basically a digital doppelgänger that learns how you communicate and can reply like you across platforms), and I had this thought:

Before even launching publicly, can I build social media exposure completely through AI automation?

What I mean is:
- I create the accounts once (LinkedIn, X, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, Facebook, etc.)
- Then AI handles almost everything after that
- Generates posts
- Creates images/videos
- Writes captions/descriptions
- Uploads content automatically
- Replies to comments
- Maybe even adapts the tone over time depending on engagement

So basically the brand grows while I focus on building the actual product.

Not trying to make “AI slop” content though. I want it to actually feel like a real brand with personality and consistency.

And yes, I do know tools/platforms like this already exist in the market, but most of them are pretty expensive. My max budget right now would probably be around $10/month since I’m still building everything myself.

Technically, is this already possible in 2026?
And if yes, what stack/workflow/tools would people use for this while keeping costs extremely low?

Would love honest opinions from people who’ve experimented with AI agents, automation, content systems, or founder-led brands.

I’m not getting enough productivity out of it. It does‘t summarize and organize the transcripts that well. I need a tool where all you gotta do is give the transcript and it basically does everything for you and doesn’t try to change the wording of the transcript like ChatGPT may do sometimes. I have a lot of transcripts that need this done.