3 Free tools for beginners to experience the magic of generative AI

Back in the day, just like what our grandparents and parents always say, life wasn’t the same as it is today. Not many people had the foresight to predict that just a few decades later, artificial intelligence (AI) would have taken over a huge part of our lives, such as asking Siri or Alexa the most random questions you have on the road, or using animal and glamorous makeup filters on TikTok.

These are just some examples of AI tools that have unknowingly assimilated into our lives, and there’s plenty more that are just as fun, or better still, helpful for our academic, professional, and personal lives! Let’s look at generative AI, which are capable of generating text, images, or other media using generative models.

Here are 5 free tools we recommend for you and your child to experience its magic!

1. Midjourney

Midjourney generates images from natural language descriptions, which are known as ‘prompts’. You can use the platform to create images for any purpose under the sky, from blogging to passion projects to graphic design - the possibilities are endless. For instance, if you can’t seem to find an image you’re looking for on your usual copyright-free image sites, try prompting Midjourney with specific descriptions such as ‘a cute and fluffy brown toy poodle playing in the park, with beautiful butterflies around it’.

Here are 4 options that Midjourney will generate based on your prompt, and you can work on refining parts of the image that you are not entirely satisfied with. You’re free to try again and again until you get your perfect image!

Note that Midjourney is currently only accessible via Discord.

2. ChatGPT

ChatGPT is a large language model-based chatbot that enables people to create human-like conversational dialogues. The AI tool can respond to questions and compose various written content ranging from social media captions to essays and emails. Get them to explain complex terms to you without the jargon, ask them what life is all about, or even ask them to plan your next holiday itinerary for you. It’s capable of producing responses up to 25,000 words each. If you’ve got any questions on your mind, just throw it to ChatGPT!

However, do keep in mind that ChatGPT lacks knowledge for data and events that happened after September 2021.

3. Notion

Notion is a versatile productivity and collaboration tool that allows you to think, write, and plan, all in one place. You can capture your thoughts, manage your projects, or even run your very own company on the platform!

In addition to these wonderful features, Notion is highly customisable! You can adapt it to your specific needs, whether you're a student, a professional, a creative, or anyone looking to streamline their digital workspace and improve productivity.

Here are 4 interesting things you can do on Notion.

a. Note-taking

Notion allows you to create and organise notes, documents, and ideas in a digital workspace. You can format text, add images, links, and even create to-do lists within your notes.

b. Task and project management

Notion provides templates for task and project management. You can create task lists, set due dates, assign tasks to team members, and track progress, making it a powerful tool for personal and team project management!

c. Knowledge management

You can use this tool as a knowledge base to store and organise information. Create a central hub for your research, articles, and reference materials. Notion's database feature lets you create custom databases to organise and categorise your knowledge.

4. Collaboration

Notion is excellent for collaborative work as you can share documents and databases with team members, enabling real-time collaboration. You can also use comments, mentions, and notifications to keep everyone on the same page.

In a nutshell

These free tools can provide anyone with a fantastic opportunity to experience the magic of generative AI. Each tool provides its unique set of features and benefits; however, they all have one thing in common - they make the world of AI more accessible to the general public. Give them a try today for your personal or academic projects!