A robotic hand holds a mug printed with the words "I Love My Job." Artificial intelligence was supposed to make work easier, but for many, figuring out how to use it effectively has become a challenge in itself. In recent years, AI models have continuously evolved, leading to a surge of tools designed for specific tasks like note-taking, programming, and writing. Last year, many professionals experimented with various AI tools to personally determine which ones were genuinely practical. At the same time, as employers increasingly prioritize integrating AI into business operations, they are also beginning to require employees to master AI skills. "I think 2025 is just the beginning, a year where people are figuring out the ways to use AI to enhance work efficiency," said Wade Foster, CEO of the workflow automation platform Zapier. A recent Gallup poll indicates that the number of people using AI at work is steadily growing. In the third quarter of last year, 45% of U.S. employees reported using AI for work tasks at least a few times a year, an increase of 5 percentage points from the previous quarter. The survey results show that the three primary uses of AI are information synthesis, idea generation, and learning new skills. Several professionals were interviewed, and their experiences for using AI effectively were summarized. Here are five practical tips. Important note: AI is not suitable for all professionals; always adhere to your company's specific policies. First, Automate Your Inbox Management. Managing an email inbox can be a headache. Foster points out that while email services offer some helper tools, AI can achieve much more powerful functions. You can create an AI agent or use an AI application to categorize, organize, and prioritize your inbox with simple instructions. This is akin to setting up a sophisticated set of automation rules for your email, automatically deciding which folder a message belongs in, what label to apply, and whether to mark it as urgent. Instead of relying on rigid keyword lists or contact lists, you can use natural language to specify the topics or matters that require your focus. AI can also automatically draft replies for specific types of emails. Foster gave an example: whenever someone inquires about job openings, AI can generate a response directing them to the careers website. "You can absolutely achieve a highly automated management of your inbox," he said. To implement these functions, you can use tools like Zapier—which offers a free basic plan and paid premium tiers—or opt for services like SaneBox and Superhuman, both of which operate on tiered pricing models. Second, Create a Personal AI Assistant. Many professionals stated that AI is particularly useful for quickly getting up to speed, determining task priorities, and tracking project progress. Helen Lee Kupp, co-founder and CEO of the virtual community and non-profit "Women Defining AI," said that at the start of the year she created an "AI Office Manager" specifically to help her prioritize her work. Every morning, she gives instructions via the voice mode in Claude, after which the AI plans her daily schedule. The process of creating this assistant was simple: she instructed a chatbot to generate an AI assistant, provided a set of parameters, and uploaded work documents; she then fine-tuned the instructions and pasted the content into a Claude project, generating a reusable, customized bot. "Every morning, I can just dump all the tasks on my mind, and it helps me do a first pass at prioritizing the order of tasks. It feels fantastic," she said. Foster recommended another approach: building a daily briefing agent. It can integrate information from your email and calendar to generate a to-do list and important updates, sending them to you via email. To set this up, you need to create a custom Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT)—which requires a ChatGPT Plus subscription costing $20 per month. The steps are to click "Explore GPTs" in the sidebar, then select "Create." To automate the briefing delivery, you need to connect ChatGPT to your email and calendar, but be cautious of security and privacy risks during this process. You can instruct the AI to send you a briefing email every morning containing the specific information you need. You could also develop a daily to-do list application, which might require additional tools or hosting services, but ChatGPT can provide detailed instructions. If you prefer not to grant ChatGPT access to your personal accounts, you can manually upload your calendar, task lists, or portions of communication records, and then have the AI prioritize tasks based on that information. Third, Customize Tools and Applications On-Demand. Several professionals mentioned that to solve specific work problems, they use chatbots and simple instructions to generate code, creating customized applications and tools—a method known as "coding on demand." Michael Frank, co-founder and CEO of the AI risk platform Radiant Intel, said he used Claude Code and application builders like Google's Antigravity to develop an app that aggregates local news for him. He also noted that people can develop apps to aid in learning new skills or to provide feedback on their own work for improvement. He suggested starting by identifying frequent mistakes or time-consuming tasks and then developing tools to address them. "These tools might not completely change someone's life, but they can undoubtedly help improve your work efficiency by 5%, 10%, or even 15%," he said. Lee Kupp stated that she used the AI platform Gumloop to develop an agent that monitors website feedback in a specific Slack channel and logs identified issues into a tracking system. The platform offers a free basic plan, and creating an AI agent does not require programming knowledge. Alexander K. Moore, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Illinois Chicago, used Replit and Claude Code to quickly build custom webpages for conducting surveys more efficiently. Jalaka Rawat, COO of the manufacturing AI startup Soff, said you can also build custom data dashboards on platforms like Claude to track sales, customer satisfaction, product or feature performance, and other key metrics. You can ask the AI to generate an action list for improvements based on the data. She added that using such a dashboard effectively can also help you make a case for your next promotion. "It's a fantastic way to showcase your work results," she said, "and it only takes writing one prompt and about 10 minutes to set up." Fourth, Make Initial Contact Less Awkward. Rawat recommends using AI to find common ground with new clients, colleagues, or other professional contacts before reaching out, providing a natural topic for breaking the ice. She uses Comet, an AI browser developed by Perplexity AI, to find shared interests based on the other person's LinkedIn profile and publicly available information found via Google. On one occasion, when she wanted to connect with a target company's CEO, Comet helped her discover that the CEO was a pizza enthusiast and had even run a pizza company—a detail hidden in a podcast episode. This interesting tidbit made her initial communication smooth and natural. This method is also useful for those looking to change careers or expand their professional network. Fifth, Optimize Meeting Notes. Many professionals reported that the built-in meeting summary and transcription features in video conferencing platforms often go unused, but if they actively organize the notes themselves, they are far more likely to refer back to them. Therefore, they choose to use AI-powered notebooks like Granola to enhance their meeting notes. This tool can enrich meeting summaries without requiring an AI bot to join the meeting as a participant (though users can choose to inform others they are using the tool). It transcribes the conversation, organizes it into your preferred note-taking format, adds details, and extracts action items. You can even write preliminary notes before the meeting or ask it questions afterward to identify trends discussed. Foster mentioned that he used the tool to extract topics from his own conversations suitable for social media posts. He also noted that Granola can even act as a workplace coach. "People tend to naturally trust its conclusions," he said, "because the AI's assessments are often neutral and objective." Bonus Tip: Make Your AI Chatbot Less Sycophantic. Moore suggests this leads to more direct feedback. In ChatGPT, click on your username in the bottom-left corner to access the customization menu; in the "Custom Instructions" and "About You" sections, emphasize prioritizing accuracy, clear reasoning, and detailed explanations over flattery, praise, or simply agreeing with you. You can explicitly ask it to be willing to contradict you and speak bluntly. Moore also provided a sample prompt template for reference. Professionals say the hardest part of learning to use AI effectively for work is taking the first step. But once you start, it gets easier. "Don't overcomplicate it," Lee Kupp said. "Pick a large language model and just start using it."