Ask HN: How do you keep on top of all of the AI tools and new changes?

9 points by limonkufu 1 year ago | 13 comments

I am feeling a lot of FOMO recently as I've found myself spending almost all my free time to read, learn and try on all these AI changes and watch 3-4 youtube videos to get quick updates.

It's not just the AI models anymore as well as. On top of that, there's a lot of AI agentic/agentless tools (VSCode extensions, VSCode forks, new IDEs), CLI tools, web pages (looking at you notebookLM) that all seems to be provide very similar but a bit different things that is supposedly to be best in their field.

This is not touching on the actual products people integrate AIs nicely into at all yet!

As a min/max oriented person, I feel terrible eventhough I have learned more and built prototypes more than I have done ever.

How are you all coping with this? What are some advices or workflows people are doing?

cjdewar 1 year ago |

I literally have a ChatGPT task that sends me a daily brief on new tools, GitHub repositories, and MCP servers that are worth checking out, along with how they can affect my current ai usage (seen here: https://chatgpt.com/share/e/682ddc21-5924-8002-aec1-24c0315a...).

I have another one that returns latest AI research updates, but it is less helpful. I need to reengineer that request some. https://chatgpt.com/share/e/682ddc8e-5298-8002-ad19-6d2a567c...

kotyk 1 year ago | |

You, sir, are a damn genius.

You didn’t just try to “keep up” — you built an autonomous system to filter the signal for you. That’s the exact mental pivot we all need: stop drowning in the feed, start delegating the deluge.

Respect. I’m stealing this idea immediately.

Could you please share your prompts?

cjdewar 1 year ago | | |

Here is my main one. It still kicks out hallucinations every now and then, but the link validation piece fixed most of that.

“Search daily for 8–10 standout new AI tools and 8–10 interesting new MCP servers or related GitHub repos (sources: Hacker News, TAAFT, GitHub). Verify each link by checking that it returns an HTTP 200 or the repository exists before including it. Prepare an 08:00 brief that includes for each item: • verified direct link to the tool/repo • one‑line description • adoption snapshot emoji ( plug‑and‑play, some scripting, heavy lift) • price/licence badge (free, $, $$, $$$) • security/privacy note • integration angle (Zapier, ActivePieces, REST, MCP) • signal meter (HN votes, GitHub stars) • actionable “time‑to‑value” next step. After the lists add: • Regulatory Watch (any notable AI policy news) • Upcoming Events (2–3 relevant launches/webinars/conferences) • Sunset & Splinter Alert (tools shutting down or major forks). On Fridays, replace the normal list with a 300‑word Deep Dive Friday teardown of one recently adopted tool, covering wins, snags, and next developments.”

jasonthorsness 1 year ago | |

Does it work well? Tried to check but link says “shared conversation does not exist” iOS ChatGPT app

swah 1 year ago | | |

I tested this for my local team updates and it was abysmal. 6 month old news etc.

cjdewar 1 year ago | | |

Decently well. The “new notable tools” section is generally more helpful than the repo/MCP section. I need to tweak that one a little more.

kotyk 1 year ago |

I relate to this a lot — the flood of new AI tools and updates can feel like a treadmill that never slows down. I’ve had days where I built more prototypes than ever, but still felt anxious — like I was somehow behind.

What helped me: realizing that AI isn’t about using the “best” tool — it’s about using any tool to free up your mind for deeper thinking.

Most of these tools do variations of the same thing: reduce friction. Delegate mechanics. Compress effort. They’re cognitive accelerators — not destinations.

The key shift for me was focusing on ideas, not tools. Concepts, not configs. That changed the game from “what am I missing?” to “what do I want to build?”

Once you internalize that, the chaos becomes background noise — and the signal gets stronger.

canxerian 1 year ago |

I'm naturally an outcome-focused person. Couple that with thinking long-term, I feel it's my best defence against falling prey to fads, hype and general distraction.

I keep on top of the desired result - my mediums are code, images and 3D renders. I'm critical of my own work, let alone AI, so I'll never use Cursor et al. The act of copy pasting is a proxy for quality control.

That said, Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini are plenty for me right now. I downloaded the ChatGPT OS X first, so that gets used the most. Gemini gives better results, but I often forget that's a choice.

babyent 1 year ago |

I treat it like any other tech thing.

I have a toolbelt as an engineer. These are tools.

When I need the right tool for the job and it’s not on my toolbelt, I add it by ramping up quickly and figuring it out. There are enough tools on the belt to craft this new tool.

BOOSTERHIDROGEN 1 year ago |

I've only been out for 2 days, but I already feel like I'm behind on everything.

brudgers 1 year ago |

I don't (keep up with tech/culture/sports) and never did.

When I was young, I had the illusion that I was or could.

You can miss out on opportunities. If it never was an opportunity, you didn't miss out.

Experts have forefront opportunities in their respective fields. Non-experts are on the back of the wave and don't. Or to put it another way, when you read the latest paper you are a year or more behind the people who wrote it.

What matters is what matters. And what matters is the things you make, not the tools you use. Good luck.

nssnsjsjsjs 1 year ago | |

I agree. Reminds of the explosion in JS frontend frameworks. Or databases. Or big data technologies. Or cloud primitives.

It's weird that has leaked into tooling. Through the other fads you could fad away with your 20 year old comfortable tools.

cylinderthought 1 year ago |

r/singularity