AI Tools 2026: The Complete Guide to AI Tools That Transform Your Work

The AI landscape is exploding — how do you choose?

In 2024, you had ChatGPT and a handful of alternatives. In 2026, there will be hundreds of AI tools competing for your attention. ChatGPT has 800 million weekly users, Microsoft Copilot is integrated into every Office application, Claude is gaining ground among enterprises, and every week, a new startup launches a tool that promises to revolutionize your work.

The question is no longer “should I use AI?” but “which tools suit my work, and how do I get the most out of them?”

In this hands-on keynote, I'll take you through the complete AI tool landscape of 2026 — from the big language models to specialized tools for presentations, coding, transcription, and more. With live demos, practical comparisons, and a framework to choose what's right for you.

Part 1: The major language models

ChatGPT (OpenAI)

What it is: The language model that started the AI revolution. Now in version GPT-4o and beyond.

Strengths:

• Most versatile general-purpose model
• Largest ecosystem with GPT Store (3+ million custom GPTs)
• Strong multimodal capabilities (text, image, audio, video)
• Operator: browsing agent that performs tasks on the web
• Canvas: Collaborative Writing and Coding Environment

Best for: Creative writing, brainstorming, first drafts, general questions, coding assistance

New in 2026:

• Sora (video generation)
• Operator (autonomous browsing agent)
• Projects (organized workspaces)
• Improved reasoning with o3 models
• ChatGptads for ads

Prices: Free tier available | Go 8/month | Plus €20/month | Pro €200/month | Enterprise on demand

Claude (Anthropic)

What it is: The “safe” alternative, built with a focus on helpfulness, harmlessness and honesty.

Strengths:

• Extremely long context: 200K tokens (≈ 150,000 words or 500 pages)
• Strongest model for complex reasoning and analysis
• Honest about uncertainties (hallucinates less)
• Claude Code: agentic coding that builds entire projects
• Computer Use: can control your computer
• MCP (Model Context Protocol): connects to external tools

Best for: Analyzing long documents, complex issues, coding, compliance-sensitive work, enterprise

New in 2026:

• Claude 4 Opus (frontier reasoning)
• Claude Code (agency software development)
• Computer Use (desktop automation)
• MCP integrations with 1000+ tools

Prices: Free tier available | Pro €20/month | Enterprise on demand

Microsoft Copilot & the Microsoft 365 Suite

What it is: AI integrated into the entire Microsoft ecosystem — from Word to Teams, Excel to PowerPoint.

The Copilot family:

Copilot (standalone)

• Free chatbot at copilot.microsoft.com
• Based on GPT-5
• Search integration with Bing
• Generate images with DALL-E

Copilot Pro (€20/month)

• Priority access to GPT-4 Turbo
• Copilot in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote
• 100 images per day with Designer

Copilot for Microsoft 365 (€30/user/month)

• Full enterprise integration
• Access to business data via Microsoft Graph
• Copilot in Teams meetings
• Enterprise-grade security and compliance

Copilot per application:

Word Write, rewrite, summarize, adjust tone of documents Excel Generate formulas, analyze data, create graphs, discover insights PowerPoint Generate presentations from documents, design slides, speaker notes Outlook Write emails, summarize, prioritize, prepare for meetingsTeamsSummarize meetings, extract action items, catch up after missed calls OneNote Structure notes, extract to-do's, summarize Walk Collaborative content creation, brainstorming Whiteboard Organizing, categorizing, visualizing ideas

Copilot Studio:

• Build custom Copilots for your organization
• Integrate with internal systems and data
• No code required (low-code platform)
• Share within your organization

Microsoft Copilot strengths:

• Seamless integration into tools you already use
• Access to your company data (SharePoint, OneDrive, Outlook)
• Enterprise security and compliance out of the box
• One license, all applications

Best for: Organizations that are already fully Microsoft, enterprise environments, structured office work

Google Gemini

What it is: Google's answer to ChatGPT, deeply integrated with the Google ecosystem.

Strengths:

• Integrated with Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Gmail, Drive)
• Google Search integration for up to date information
• Strong in multimodal tasks (text + image)
• Free for Google users
• NotebookLM: AI-powered research assistant

Best for: Google Workspace users, research, multimodal tasks

New in 2026:

• Gemini 2.0 (improved reasoning)
• Deep Research (autonomous research agent)
• AI Mode in Google Search
• Project Astra (multimodal assistant)

Prices: Free tier | Gemini Advanced €22/month (including 2TB Google One)

Grok (xAI)

What it is: Elon Musk's AI with real-time access to X/Twitter data.

Strengths:

• Real-time social media data
• Fewer content restrictions than competitors
• Humour and personality
• Aurora: High Quality Image Generation

Best for: Social media analysis, trend monitoring, fewer filtered responses

Prices: Part of X Premium+ (€16/month)

Mistral (France)

What it is: European alternative with a focus on open source and privacy.

Strengths:

• Open source models available
• European hosting (data sovereignty)
• Privacy-friendly
• Le Chat: free chat interface
• Strong multilingual capabilities

Best for: European organizations with privacy requirements, on-premise deployment, open source projects

New in 2026:

• Mistral Large 2
• Le Chat Enterprise
• Codestral (coding specific model)

Prices: Le Chat for free | Enterprise on demand

Perplexity

What it is: AI-powered search engine that provides answers instead of links.

Strengths:

• Combines search with AI synthesis
• Citation of the source for each response
• Up-to-date information (not limited to training cutoff)
• Pro Search for in-depth research

Weaknesses:

• Less suitable for creative tasks
• Limited context for follow-up questions

Best for: Research, fact-checking, current information, academic work

Prices: Free tier | Pro €20/month

Part 2: Specialized AI Tools

Presentations & Design

gamma

What it is: AI-powered presentation and document builder.

What it does:

• Generate complete presentations from a prompt or document
• Professional templates and layouts
• Automatic image selection and placement
• Interactive presentations (no static slides)
• Export to PowerPoint possible

Why it's special: Where PowerPoint + Copilot creates slides, Gamma thinks in terms of storylines. You describe what you want to say, and Gamma builds a coherent presentation with visuals, structure and flow.

Best for: Quick presentations, pitches, internal updates, sales decks

Prices: Free tier (with Gamma branding) | Plus €10/month | Pro €20/month

Vibecoding & App Building

Lovable

What it is: Build software with natural language. From description to working application.

What it does:

• Build complete web applications from text descriptions
• Real-time preview as you iterate
• Supabase backend/database integration
• GitHub integration for code export
• Responsive design out of the box

Workflow example:

1. “Build a dashboard for our sales team with monthly revenue charts, top 10 customers, and a table of recent deals”
2. Lovable generates complete React application
3. You iterate: “Add a filter for region”
4. Export to GitHub or deploy directly

Best for: Internal tools, dashboards, prototypes, MVPs

Prices: Free tier | Starter €20/month | Pro €50/month

Base 44

What it is: Dutch no-code AI app builder.

What it does:

• Build internal tools and workflows without code
• Integrations with existing systems
• AI-driven automation
• Focus on business users, not developers

Best for: Business users who want to build their own tools, internal automation

v0 (Vercel)

What it is: AI-powered UI generator by Vercel.

What it does:

• Does React/Next.js generate components from descriptions
• SHADCN/UI components out of the box
• Copy-paste ready code
• Iterative refining via chat

Best for: Frontend developers, UI/UX designers, component libraries

Prices: Free tier | Premium €20/month

Replicit

What it is: Browser-based IDE with AI assistant.

What it does:

• Write, run, and deploy code in the browser
• Ghostwriter AI for code completion
• Multiplayer coding (real-time collaboration)
• Supports 50+ programming languages

Best for: Learn to program, prototype quickly, collaborate

Prices: Free tier | Replit Core €20/month | Teams €40/user/month

Transcription & Audio

Whisper (OpenAI)

What it is: OpenAI's speech-to-text model, available as an API and open source.

What it does:

• Speech to text in 99 languages
• Translation into English
• Timestamps per word/segment
• Outstanding accuracy, even with accents

How to use:

• Through OpenAI API
• Run locally (open source)
• Through tools that integrate Whisper

Best for: Meeting transcripts, podcast transcription, subtitles

Whisper Flow

What it is: Whisper with workflow integrations.

What it does:

• Transcript with automatic summary
• Action items extraction
• Integrations with productivity tools
• Speaker diarization (who says what)

Best for: Automate meeting notes, action item tracking

Otter.ai

What it is: AI meeting assistant.

What it does:

• Real-time transcription during meetings
• Automatic summaries
• Action items and key points extraction
• Integration with Zoom, Teams, Google Meet
• Searchable meeting library

Best for: Teams that meet frequently, sales calls, interviews

Prices: Free tier (300 min/month) | Pro €10/month | Business €20/user/month

Fireflies.ai

What it is: AI notebook for meetings.

What it does:

• Automatically join and transcribe meetings
• Summary with action items
• CRM integration (Salesforce, HubSpot)
• Conversation intelligence (sentiment, topics)
• AskFred: chat with your meeting data

Best for: Sales teams, customer success, research interviews

Prices: Free tier | Pro €18/month | Business €29/month

Descriptor

What it is: All-in-One Audio/Video Editor with AI

What it does:

• Edit audio/video by editing text
• Transcript
• Overdub: clone your voice for corrections
• Filler word removal
• Eye contact correction
• Green screen without green screen

Best for: Podcasters, video creators, content teams

Prices: Free tier | Creator €12/month | Pro €24/month

Writing & Content

Jasper

What it is: Enterprise AI content platform.

What it does:

• Generate marketing content (blogs, ads, social)
• Brand voice consistency
• Campaign workflows
• Team collaboration
• Marketing stack integrations

Best for: Marketing teams, agencies, enterprise content ops

Prices: Creator €49/month | Pro €69/month | Business on demand

Copy.ai

What it is: AI copywriting tool.

What it does:

• Sales copy, email copy, social posts
• Templates for specific use cases
• Content production workflows
• Brand voice training

Best for: Copywriters, marketers, sales teams

Prices: Free tier | Pro €49/month

Writer

What it is: Enterprise AI writing platform with governance.

What it does:

• Generate content with brand consistency
• Enforce style guides
• Terminology management
• Compliance checking
• Enterprise security

Best for: Large organizations with strict brand/compliance requirements

Grammarly

What it is: AI writing assistant for correction and improvement.

What it does:

• Grammar and spelling
• Tone and style suggestions
• Clarity and brevity
• Plagiarism detection
• GrammarlyGo: generative features

Best for: Anyone who writes in English, non-native speakers

Prices: Free tier | Premium €12/month | Business €15/user/month

Notion AI

What it is: AI integrated into Notion workspace.

What it does:

• Generate, summarize, improve text
• Action items from meeting notes
• Analyzing databases
• Q&A about your Notion content
• Translate

Best for: Notion users who want to supercharge their workspace

Prices: €10/user/month (add-on to Notion)

Research & Knowledge

Notebook KLM (Google)

What it is: AI-powered research and knowledge assistant.

What it does:

• Upload documents, NotebookKLM becomes an expert
• Ask questions about your sources
• Generate summaries, FAQs, study guides
• Audio Overview: Generate podcast-like discussion about your content
• Citations to specific passages

Best for: Researchers, students, analysts, due diligence

Prices: Free (with Google Account)

Elicit

What it is: AI research assistant for academic work.

What it does:

• Find relevant papers
• Extract key findings
• Compare studies
• Summarizing and synthesizing

Best for: Academics, researchers, evidence-based practitioners

Consensus

What it is: AI-powered academic search engine.

What it does:

• Searches 200M+ scientific papers
• Synthesizes consensus from multiple studies
• Provides evidence-based answers
• Cites sources

Best for: Answering factual questions with scientific evidence

Images & Video

Midjourney

What it is: Leading AI image generator.

What it does:

• High-quality images from text prompts
• Various styles (photorealistic, artistic, etc.)
• Upscaling and variations
• Via Discord interface

Best for: Creative visuals, concepts, marketing imagery

Prices: Basic €10/month | Standard €30/month | Pro €60/month

DALL-E 3 (OpenAI)

What it is: OpenAI's image generator, integrated into ChatGPT.

What it does:

• Generate images from text
• Better at text-in-picture than competitors
• Seamless ChatGPT integration
• Editing and variations

Best for: Fast visuals during ChatGPT sessions, text-heavy images

Prices: Part of ChatGPT Plus/Pro

Runway

What it is: AI video generation and editing platform.

What it does:

• Text to Video (Gen-2, Gen-3)
• Image to video
• Video editing with AI
• Green screen, motion tracking, etc.

Best for: Video creators, filmmakers, content producers

Prices: Free tier | Standard €12/month | Pro €28/month

Sora (OpenAI)

What it is: OpenAI's text-to-video model.

What it does:

• Generate realistic videos from text prompts
• Up to 60 seconds of video
• Consistent characters and scenes

Status: Limited release, available to ChatGPT Pro users

Hey Gen

What it is: AI video generation with avatars.

What it does:

• Create videos with AI avatars
• Clone yourself as an avatar
• Translate videos into other languages with lip-sync
• Personalization at scale

Best for: Training videos, personalized outreach, multilingual content

Prices: Free tier | Creator €29/month | Business on demand

Eleven Labs

What it is: AI voice generation and cloning.

What it does:

• Text to natural speech
• Voice cloning (clone any voice)
• Dubbing: translate content with an original voice
• Sound effects generation

Best for: Podcasts, audiobooks, video voice-overs, accessibility

Prices: Free tier | Starter €5/month | Creator €22/month | Pro €99/month

Automation & Workflows

Zapier (with AI)

What it is: No-code automation platform with AI integrations.

AI features:

• AI by Zapier: Use AI in every workflow
• Building chatbots
• Data parsing and extraction
• Natural language workflow building

Best for: Non-technical people who want to automate workflows

Prices: Free tier | Starter €20/month | Professional €49/month

Make (formerly Integromat)

What it is: Visual automation platform.

What it does:

• Building complex workflows with a visual interface
• 1000+ app integrations
• AI modules for OpenAI, Claude, etc.
• More technical control than Zapier

Best for: Power users who build complex automations

Prices: Free tier | Core €9/month | Pro €16/month

n8n

What it is: Open source workflow automation.

What it does:

• Self-hosting (data sovereignty)
• AI agent capabilities
• Code-based customization possible
• Community-driven integrations

Best for: Technical teams that want control, privacy-aware organizations

Prices: Self-hosted free | Cloud from €20/month

Part 3: Choosing your toolkit

Multi-model strategy: the new norm

Enterprise customers are increasingly adopting a multi-model strategy. Instead of opting for one AI provider, they combine:

Use CaseRecommended ToolCreative Writing, BrainstormingChatGptLong Documents, ComplianceClaudeGoogle Workspace UsersGeminiMicrosoft 365 UsersCopilotResearch with ResourcesPerplexityPresentsRapidBuilding Internal ToolsLovable of Base44CodingCursor or Claude CodeMeetingsOtter.ai or Fireflies

This prevents vendor lock-in and lets you use the strengths of each model.

Model Context Protocol (MCP): the glue between tools

One of the most important developments is the Model Context Protocol (MCP) by Anthropic — a standard that allows AI systems to communicate with external tools.

Compare it to USB-C: one standard connector for everything. MCP makes it possible to connect AI to:

• Databases and data warehouses
• CRM systems (Salesforce, HubSpot)
• Productivity tools (Slack, Notion)
• Internal business systems
• External APIs

Why this matters: AI without context is limited. With MCP, your AI can retrieve real-time information and perform actions in your existing systems.

Part 4: What you'll learn in this keynote

Live demos

• Prompt comparison: Same question to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Copilot
• Copilot in action: Excel analysis, PowerPoint generation, email summary
• Vibe coding: From idea to working app with Lovable in 10 minutes
• Presentation shootout: Gamma vs. Copilot vs. Beautiful.ai
• Transcription workflow: Meeting → transcript → summary → action items

What you bring

• Elective framework: Which tool for which task
• Prompt templates: Optimized for every tool
• Workflow examples: How to combine tools
• Cost comparison: What does your toolkit cost per month?
• Roadmap: How to include your organization

Who is this keynote for?

• Knowledge workers who want to be more productive
• Teams who want to know which tools to adopt
• IT decision makers that need to standardize tooling
• Managers who want to enable their team
• everyone that has lost the overview in the AI tool jungle

FAQs

What's the Best AI Tool in 2026?
There is no “best” — it depends on your use case and ecosystem. ChatGPT is the most versatile, Claude best for long documents, Copilot best for Microsoft users, Gemini for Google users.

Do I have to pay for AI tools?
The free tiers are surprisingly powerful for trying to work. For professional work, the investment of €10-40/month quickly pays off in time savings.

How do I prevent tool overload?
Start with one tool for your most important use case. Don't add a second until you've mastered the first one. Quality over quantity.

Is my data safe?
Always check the privacy policy and data handling. Enterprise versions usually offer better guarantees. For sensitive data, consider local models or European alternatives.

How do I stay up to date with new tools?
Follow ai.nl for weekly updates, or book a periodic session where we discuss the latest developments.

The AI tool landscape changes weekly. Don't be paralyzed by the stress of choice — start somewhere and iterate. Contact us for a free quote.