A.I.

AI investors don't use most AI tools. Here are the ones they do use

Even the people funding AI startups still stick to just a handful of AI tools. These are the ones that make the cut

ByAlex Daniel

Share to XShare to FacebookShare to RedditShare to EmailShare to Link

Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

AI startups promise to automate everything from your inbox to your Christmas shopping.

But talk to the people actually putting money into the sector and their restraint is revealing. Despite the flood of new tools, most investors stick to a small handful they find genuinely useful.

We asked AI investors which products they use day to day. The list was shorter than the hype would suggest.

Escaping ‘meeting hell’

Transcription products were around long before chatbots took off, and it is no wonder they are still a mainstay for investors. By one estimate, about half of office workers spend more than five hours a week in meetings, rising to more than 15 hours for the top 9%.

“One tool I can’t live without is Granola for note-taking,” said Payton Dobbs, a partner at Hoxton Ventures. “It helps keep me straight, summarizing the important points you need and leaving out the things you don’t.”

Founded in 2023, Granola plays in the same space as companies like Otter, which has been around for about a decade and boasts more than 25 million users. It lets users manually........

© Quartz