#155 I Tested 50 AI Tools. I Kept 5. Here's Why.

#155 I Tested 50 AI Tools. I Kept 5. Here's Why.

May 8, 2026 · 10 min

About this episode

In this episode, Patricia Reiners shares her experience testing 50 AI tools and reveals the five that made it into her workflow as a UX designer and AI consultant.

AI tool overwhelm is real. Every week there's a new demo, a new hype cycle, a new tab you open twice and never touch again. In this episode I share the five tools that actually stayed in my stack and more importantly, the exact workflows I use with each one. No fluff, no sponsored picks. Just what genuinely changed how I work as a UX designer and AI consultant. In this episode I talk about why going deep on fewer tools beats testing everything — and walk you through my honest AI stack with real workflows for each tool. Tools mentioned: Claude — claude.ai NotebookLM — notebooklm.google.com Granola — granola.so Weavy AI — weavy.ai Claude Code — claude.ai/code AI for Designers Bootcamp: Waitlist opens Monday, limited spots. Includes: Claude Masterclass, live Figma Workshop, AI Leadership training with Penny Blackmore. → ai-for-designers.com AI for Designers : 5-week Bootcamp 💻 opening May 11th → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Sign up for the ⁠waiting list⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 👉 0€ Training: Build your first Claude Skill in 10 min 👈 → ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Build your first Claude skill in 10 min⁠⁠⁠ 💌 Newsletter →…

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