Want to position yourself to thrive as a creative in 2025? Take the 10-Minute AI Challenge. Commit to spending 10-minutes a day for a week exploring and playing with new AI tools. Almost all of them let you play around for free.
I bet your confidence will soar in just seven days.
By the way, if you decide to buy one of these tools, go with the monthly subscription so you can switch to new, better tools as they come along.
Here are some favorites to get you started:
🎯IDEOGRAM
Go onto ideogram.com and generate an image. Ideogram is better than other image generation tools if you want to put text on your image.
When you write your prompt, explain the character, the setting, and the artistic style. The more details you provide, the better!
An anime-style shot of a girl with dark hair, wearing a pink sweater and a white shirt, blowing a bubblegum bubble. The bubble has the text “Don’t Pop!” written on it.
Ideogram will generate four images from your prompt. Click the one you like best and download it.
🎯NAPKIN
Need a quick illustration or chart for a proposal?
You just type your proposal into a “Napkin”. A little blue lightning bolt will appear as you type. Click the lightning bolt and you’ll get a whole series of charts (on the left) the tool has generated to illustrate your concept.
🎯CLAUDE.AI
If you haven’t tried Claude yet, it is next level for written content. It is a LLM (large language model) that generates text from a prompt. My parents are both in their 80s. I spent some time last weekend blowing their minds with Claude.
“Mom, what do you want to write a story about?”
“An elephant named Luna.”
“Dad, where does Luna live?”
“Luna lives in Africa.”
The screen above shows our prompt on the left. Beneath that, on the left, is Claude’s summary of the story. On the right is the compelling tale called “Little Luna’s Big Heart.”
The most surprising thing: The story is full of empathy for what a child who lost her mother might be going through.
🎉 PLAYING IN THE SANDBOX
One key Rule of the Road for Creatives is to start playing in an area that is outside your skill set. If you are a children’s picture book writer, don’t start by prompting Claude to write a picture book.
YOU MIGHT CRY.
Instead, play around with graphics or video. Our goal is to HAVE FUN and learn about AI and minimize resistance at the same time.
What AI tool is your favorite? Which are you going to try next? Let me know in the comments!
Shana Burg is the Principal at SB Digital, a digital marketing agency. She is also the author of Poof! The Disappearance of a Writer in the Age of AI and the forthcoming “Voilà! Thrive as a Creative in our AI World.”