Top 9 Generative AI Applications and Tools – eWeek

Generative AI applications and tools are solutions for generating original content based on training from massive AI models. The largest technology companies in the world and nascent AI startups alike are releasing new generative AI solutions. These new generative AI releases debut on what feels like a minute-by-minute basis, making it difficult to keep up with this emerging technology.

To provide a comprehensive look at the generative AI tooling landscape, weve compiled this product guide of the top generative AI applications and tools.

These generative AI tools were selected based on their current popularity and accessibility, their relevance and/or uniqueness to the market, and their potential for growth and AI innovation in the near future.

Read next: Generative AI Companies: Top 12 Leaders

Generative AI tools use AI models or the tools that are built upon these foundations to generate unique, original content in various forms, including text, audio, images, videos, and 3D models.

Generative AI tools are trained by natural language processing, neural networks, and/or deep learning AI algorithms to ingest, understand, and generate responses based on input data. Successful generative AI models are only possible with massive amounts of relevant, clean, ethical, and unbiased training data.

Learn more: What is Generative AI?

The best generative AI tools cover a wide range of functions and business use cases, though many of the most prominent tools today are large language models (LLMs) and/or content generation tools.

Take a closer look at the top generative AI tools in this category in our comparison chart below:

GPT-4 is OpenAIs latest iteration of its Large Language Model (LLM), developed following the success and widespread adoption of GPT-3 and GPT-3.5. Compared to previous iterations, GPT-4 is advertised as being more creative and accurate while also being safer and stabler.

Interested users can join the API waitlist for GPT-4, but even before they gain access to the API, they can reap the technologys benefits with public access to ChatGPT Plus. Many of the other top generative AI vendors on this list have built their products on a GPT-3 or GPT-4 foundation.

Also see: ChatGPT: Understanding the ChatGPT ChatBot

ChatGPT is OpenAIs most popular tool to date, giving the everyday user free access to basic AI content generation. For users who require more processing power, early access to new features (including GPT-4), and other benefits, ChatGPT launched its pilot paid plan, ChatGPT Plus, in March 2023.

Most recently, OpenAI has announced experimental support for ChatGPT AI plugins. These plugins are designed to expand the tools computation and coding capabilities while also giving the tool access to post-2021 information.

AlphaCode by DeepMind is one of the foremost problem-solving and coding solutions in the generative AI space. With 41.4 billion parameters, the transformer-based language model is larger than many other language models, including OpenAI Codex. AlphaCode has been trained in various programming languages, including C#, Ruby, Scala, Java, JavaScript, PHP, Go, and Rust, but its strongest capabilities are in Python and C++.

Through pre-training on GitHub code repositories, CodeContests fine-tuning, sample generation, and filtering and clustering, AlphaCode is able to solve complex problems similarly to a human programmer.

GitHub Copilot is the first of the Microsoft Copilot technologies to hit the market and has seen great success. The tool is designed to transform natural language prompts into code recommendations for all languages in public repositories. For languages like JavaScript that are widely used, GitHub Copilot is able to generate a wide range and quantity of coding suggestions.

Copilot can be used on an individual or a team basis and is priced accordingly. The tool is available as an extension for Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code, Neovim, and JetBrains IDEs.

Bard, considered Googles response to ChatGPT, is a chatbot and content generation tool that runs on LaMDA, a transformer-based model that Google launched a couple of years ago. The tool is currently considered a Google Experiment and is only available to a limited number of users in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Though some of its features are relatively limited compared to ChatGPT, the tool is quickly growing its capabilities. For example, in late April 2023, Bard was updated to support programming and development requirements like code debugging, generation, and explanation.

Also see:ChatGPT vs. Google Bard: Generative AI Comparison

Cohere Generate is a text generation solution from Cohere, a fast-growing AI startup with leadership members that previously wrote and worked on Googles now-famous Transformer paper. Many of the use cases advertised on Coheres site focus on product management and sales, digital marketing, and similar goals, but the tool can be used for software development tasks and other business requirements as well.

Though Cohere is perhaps lesser-known than OpenAI and the bigger tech companies on this list, it has grown quickly into a company thats estimated at around $6 billion in enterprise value. Cohere counts Spotify, HyperWrite, BambooHR, and Glean among its customers.

Claude is one of the latest AI chatbot assistants and content generators thats offered by Anthropic, an AI startup now worth approximately $5 billion. The tool is similar to ChatGPT, but it was specifically designed to be more focused on safety and a customizable, conversational tone. Many early users have praised Claudes abilities when it comes to comedy, creative content generation, and generally absorbing feedback about communication style.

Claudes early partners and testers include Quora, DuckDuckGo, Robin AI, and Juni Learning. Claude is also part of the foundation for Notion AI, the generative AI assistant that was recently added to the Notion project management platform.

For moreinformation, also see:Top AI Startups

Synthesia is an AI video creation platform that allows users to create videos based on their own scripted prompts. From there, the tool is able to use its library of AI avatars, voices, and video templates to create a realistic-looking and sounding video. As a bonus, users dont have to have any of their own video equipment or video editing skills in order to use this tool.

Synthesia is most commonly used to create product marketing, training, and how-to videos for both internal and external users. For customers who need additional resources to get started, Synthesia offers a library of example videos, a help center, and Synthesia Academy tutorials.

DALL-E 2 is OpenAIs latest iteration of its image and art generation AI tool. With DALL-E 2, users have the option to put in a prompt to generate a new image or add an existing image and prompt to edit the image in a certain way.

Compared to DALL-E, DALL-E 2 is said to be generating more photorealistic imagery that better matches user requests. An additional plus, DALL-E 2 appears to have received more training than its predecessor on how to decline inappropriate inputs and avoid creating inappropriate outputs.

On a related topic:Top Natural Language Processing Companies

Generative AI is such a new field, generating questions among both tech experts and laymen. These are some of the questions that most commonly get asked about generative AI tools today:

Though generative AI has most commonly been used for text generation and chatbot functionality, it has many other real-world applications and use cases. Other applications of generative AI technology include image generation, music and audio generation, synthetic data creation, code building, career coaching, drug discovery and predictive studies, and customer service. Learn about the top generative AI startups and the different ways theyre using this technology.

Many industries can benefit from generative AI tools. The more generic content generation and chatbot solutions support a wide variety of business use cases, while other, more specific solutions are being developed to serve healthcare, pharmaceutical, retail, sales, and other specific industries and sectors.

Learn more: Generative AI Examples for Key Industries

Whether your company should use generative AI tools is a question only your leadership, your tech team, and the rest of your employees can answer. If theres a specific use case or way in which a generative AI tool can improve your internal processes, its a great idea to invest in one of these tools while theyre still free or relatively low-cost.

However, keep in mind that it is important for your company to establish usage rules ahead of time, especially as it relates to data security and uploading proprietary information into any of these tools.

Generative AI applications and tools can fulfill a variety of project requirements and tasks for both professional and personal use cases. And with so many tools currently available with free trials and limited versions, now is the time to test out these applications and determine if they can optimize your business operations.

Regardless of the generative AI tool(s) you decide to invest in, the most important first step you can take is to communicate with your employees about the investment and what it means to the company. Generative AI currently cant and shouldnt be adopted to take over employee jobs; instead, its a great supplement for research, coaching, and creative content generation.

Teach your staff how to use this technology responsibly and effectively, and youll be surprised by how much generative AI is able to improve existing processes and work.

For more information, also see: Top AI Software

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Top 9 Generative AI Applications and Tools - eWeek