Shadowing Practice: The Only AI Tools You Need (12-Minute Guide) - Learn English Speaking with Video
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I use around 10 AI tools for 90 % of my work, and each one excels in one specific area.
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But figuring out which tool works best for what task usually takes months of trial and error.
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So I'll share the one thing each tool does better than alternatives, so you walk away with a clear mental model for when to use what.
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I've grouped these tools into four categories across a two -part series.
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There's just too much to cover.
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This video covers everyday and specialist AI, while part two covers the remaining two categories.
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Let's get started.
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Kicking things off with everyday AI.
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These are your general purpose chatbots, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude.
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And while they seem interchangeable, their quote -unquote motes, the specific things they do best, have actually become quite distinct.
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Starting with the OG, ChatGPT.
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While Gemini and Claude are arguably just as capable in raw power, ChatGPT still holds the crown in one area.
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It's the most obedient model.
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In plain English, ChatGPT drops fewer balls when you hand it a complex checklist.
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Other models might be just as smart, but give them a lengthy set of instructions and they'll sometimes skip a step or decide they know better.
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If you want proof of this, just ask each model to optimize a rough prompt for itself.
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ChatGPT will generate a noticeably longer and more detailed prompt because it knows it can handle the complexity.
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And if you run that optimized ChatGPT prompt through both ChatGPT and Gemini, for example, you'll notice two things.
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First, ChatGPT thinks longer because it's actually checking every requirement, and it follows each instruction to the letter.
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Gemini, on the other hand, often takes shortcuts.
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Pro tip, I share the exact prompt optimizer in the Essential Power Prompts template linked below,
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but you can test this yourself with something as simple as, optimize this prompt for ChatGPT, insert model number here.
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Here's my rough prompt.
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Diving into a real world example, I gave both ChatGPT and Gemini the same complex prompt, a hiring rubric with a dozen requirements.
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ChatGPT delivered every single one.
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Gemini's output looked right at first glance, but when I checked it against my original list, it had quietly dropped a few rules.
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That's the key difference.
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ChatGPT doesn't decide which instructions matter.
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It just follows them.
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Here's second, simpler example.
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Sometimes when you explicitly tell Gemini to search the web, it just doesn't, which is wild since Gemini and Google search are both Google products, right?
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Whereas with ChatGPT, when you enable web search, it performs the web search every single time.
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I know this is a small example, but it's downstream from ChatGPT's core superpower.
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Obedience means you can trust the behavior you asked for.
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So as a rule of thumb, if a task has a lot of moving parts and getting one wrong breaks the whole thing, start with ChatGPT.
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Next up, Gemini.
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Where ChatGPT wins on obedience, Gemini wins on multi -modality.
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In plain English, Gemini is able to process a massive amount of mixed media, video, audio, images, and text natively.
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Taking a look at this table, we see that only Gemini can handle all four types of media natively.
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It's able to quote -unquote listen to audio and quote -unquote watch videos, while ChatGPT and Claude use roundabout ways to access that information.
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What's more, Gemini's massive 1 million token context window means it can handle large video recordings, hour -long audio recordings, full slide decks,
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all together that would literally choke other models.
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If you watched my latest Gemini video, you'll remember the use case where I screen recorded a messy walkthrough of myself completing a task,
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uploading that video onto Gemini, and asking Gemini to turn it into a ready -to -use SOP with perfect formatting,
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which is an example of Gemini ingesting video and turning it into text.
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Now, let's take that a step further.
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Imagine you just finished a weekly meeting.
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You have a video recording of the call, a 20 -slide deck, and a photo of a messy whiteboard session.
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You can upload all three and ask Gemini to summarize what was discussed, pull out the key decisions, and draft the follow -up email.
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Gemini is the only tool that can synthesize all three in one go.
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All that said, I have to point out that Gemini's raw reasoning capabilities sometimes feels slightly behind ChatGPT.
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But when the task involves video, audio, or massive files, the trade -off is obviously worth it.
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Speaking of matching the right tool to the task, today's sponsor HubSpot put together a free guide called the AI Productivity Stack that covers 50
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Tools Organized by Use Case.
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Here's why I like it.
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While this video focuses on my personal favorites, your workflow probably needs something different.
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Maybe you're in marketing and need SEO -specific tools, or you manage a team and want to build automated workflows with reliable AI.
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This guide breaks down tools across business functions like research, design, and marketing, and for each tool, it shows you the best use case,
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key features, pricing, and a step -by -step workflow.
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What I found most useful is the decision logic at the end of each section.
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So for example, The research category tells you exactly when to use perplexity versus Claude versus Humana based on what you're actually trying to do.
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It's a great way to quickly understand what each tool does well.
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I'll leave a link to this free guide down below.
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Thank you, HubSpot, for sponsoring this video.
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Rounding out the Everyday AI category, Claude.
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Claude's superpower is producing higher quality first drafts than the other models.
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In plain English, that means Claude's first attempt is usually closer to done.
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This superpower shows up in two areas.
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First, coding.
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Here's a fun fact.
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The latest version of Gemini beat the older version of Claude in every single benchmark score except for the coding one, which is crazy.
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So obviously, Anthropic has figured out something related to coding the others haven't.
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And in practice, developers universally agree that Claude writes functional code on the first try more consistently than alternatives.
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Here's a real world example.
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I needed to bulk export conversations from a customer service platform, but their support team said only developers could do it.
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I described the problem and Claude not only gave me step -by -step instructions,
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but also wrote a script in Go that worked on the first try.
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I don't even know what
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Go is, nor can I write code.
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Another example, I asked all three models to turn a static image into an interactive chart, and Claude performed the best on the first try.
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So basically anything that requires generating working code tends to favor Claude.
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Pro tip, when it comes to diagrams, you can ask Claude to generate mermaid code,
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which you can then paste directly into tools like Excalidraw to get clean visuals in minutes.
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Area two, polishing copy.
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Beyond code, Claude produces written drafts that sound human and need fewer revisions.
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When you need to tighten an argument or match a specific voice, Claude just gets it.
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Put simply, it's exceptionally good at style matching.
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Once you share examples of your existing work, it replicates your tone almost perfectly.
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When I was in corporate, I'd share previous documents so Claude could replicate that voice across presentations and performance reviews.
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And now as a creator, I feed it my existing YouTube scripts to help refine new drafts.
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At this point, you might be wondering how I use all three everyday AI tools together.
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In a nutshell, ChatGPT or Gemini usually handles the beginning of my work.
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Ideation, research, drafting the outline of a presentation.
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Clawed that handles the last mile, turning that rough output into something I'm ready to present or publish.
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Quick note on Grok, a lot of people ask why I don't use it.
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It's actually very simple.
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Grok's superpower is its direct access to the Twitter slash X firehose, right?
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So it's the best option for people who need to analyze breaking news events in real time.
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I never needed that.
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And as a rule of thumb, we should never use tools just for the sake of using tools.
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We should only add them to our toolkit when they solve an actual problem we have.
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Here's a quick recap of the three models and when to use them.
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And if you're wondering whether you need all three,
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the short answer is no. Most people should stick with the paid version of ChatGPT and get really good at it.
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But if you can afford multiple subscriptions and your workflow can take advantage of their individual superpowers, mix and match as needed.
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Fun fact, according to this study on open router data, models from different labs like like ChatGPT and Gemini,
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expand the pie of AI use cases precisely because they excel at different things.
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On to the second category, specialist AI.
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Before diving in, let's clear up a very common misconception.
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Tools like Perplexity are not foundational models.
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Here's a simple visual.
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OpenAI, a frontier AI lab, develops the GPT family of models.
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They also created ChatGPT as the user -friendly app layer.
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Perplexity is different.
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It fine -tunes existing foundational models for speed and accuracy, and is optimized for search.
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Their own sonar model, for example, is just a fine -tuned version of Meta's open -weight llama model.
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So on that note, perplexity's superpower is finding accurate information fast.
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In plain English, the general purpose chatpots are built for reasoning.
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You use them to help you think, brainstorm, or write a draft.
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Perplexity is built for fetching.
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You need a specific fact, and you need it now.
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Starting Starting off with a simple real -life example,
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I used Chachibiti to plan a trip to Japan with my brother because that is a creative task.
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It requires weighing trade -offs, building a narrative, and for that kind of task, I'm happy to wait while the model thinks.
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But when I need grab -and -go information, like whether a specific restaurant is foreigner -friendly because we don't speak Japanese,
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I'd want perplexity to give me accurate and update information within seconds.
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Second example, going back to how I use the three everyday AI tools, let's say Gemini or ChatGPT helps me brainstorm and structure my newsletter.
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Claude produces the final draft.
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Perplexity, in this case, is the search scalpel
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that verifies information like whether Gemini's context window is one million or two million tokens.
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In case you're curious, consumers get one million, enterprises get two million.
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Pro tip, you can use Google style search operators like site, colon reddit .com to narrow your results to a specific source.
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I have an entire video on the most useful Google search operators, so I'll link that down below.
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As a rule of thumb, think of perplexity as a replacement for Google AI mode.
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They're both for fetching information and not as a replacement for general purpose chatbots.
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Actually, let me know if you want an entire video breaking down the AI search apps like perplexity, Google search, Google AI overviews,
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Google AI mode, because they're all made for different things.
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Rounding out specialist AI, Notebook LM's superpower is that it only answers from the sources you give it, meaning it won't make things up.
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Think of it like a walled garden.
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You upload your sources and Notebook LM answers questions using only those documents.
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It can't really hallucinate because it has no outside knowledge to draw from.
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Going back to the visual around how perplexity is optimized for search, Notebook LM uses a fine -tuned Google Gemini model that minimizes hallucinations.
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For instance, when I was at Google, before publishing marketing materials, I would upload the final draft alongside the source documents and ask
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Notebook LM if the draft made any claims that contradicted the sources, and it would catch these tiny discrepancies other AI might have missed.
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I use a similar workflow today for my videos.
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Before I start filming, I upload my script
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and all my research into Notebook LM and ask it to flag anything not directly supported by the source material.
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The obvious caveat here is that the output is only as good as the sources we give it.
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So if the sources are incorrect, Notebook LM is going to be confidently incorrect.
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So as a rule of thumb, if the accuracy matters more than creativity and you have source materials to check against, use Notebook LM.
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There are a few more specialist AI tools I use, but didn't make this list because I don't use them every day.
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But to quickly go through them, Gamma for presentations, 11labs for voice cloning, Zapier and NAN for automation, and Excalitral and Napkin AI for quick visuals.
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As a reminder, I'll cover the remaining two categories in part two, so keep an eye out for that.
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See you on the next video.
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In the meantime, have a great one.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “The Only AI Tools You Need”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Chatgpt, Gemini, tool, model, Claude. This video has 155 sentences and 2173 words to shadow. The speech runs for 11:54. The speaker talks fast, about 183 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. Only 76% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| prompt verb | /pɹɑmpt/ | To lead (someone) toward what they should say or do. |
| everyday adjective | /ˈɛvɹiˌdeɪ/ | Appropriate for ordinary use, rather than for special occasions. |
| upload verb | /ˈʌpˌloʊd/ | To transfer data to a computer on a network, especially to a server on the Internet. |
| audio adjective | /ˈɔ.di.oʊ/ | Focused on audible sound, as opposed to sight. |
| plain noun | /pleɪn/ | An expanse of land with relatively low relief and few trees, especially a grassy expanse. |
| specialist noun | /ˈspɛʃəlɪst/ | Someone who is an expert in, or devoted to, some specific branch of study or research. |
| instruction noun | /ɪnˈstɹʌkʃən/ | The act of instructing, teaching, or providing with information or knowledge. |
| thumb noun | /ˈθʌm/ | The shortest and thickest digit of the hand that for humans has the most mobility and can be made to oppose (moved to touch) all of the other fingers. |
| output noun | /ˈaʊtpʊt/ | Production; quantity produced, created, or completed. |
| script noun | /skɹɪpt/ | A writing; a written document. |
| presentation noun | /ˌpɹɛzn̩ˈteɪʃn̩/ | The act of presenting, or something presented. |
| tune noun | /tjuːn/ | A melody. |
| generate verb | /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ə.ɹeɪt/ | To bring into being; give rise to. |
| replacement noun | /ɹɪˈpleɪsmənt/ | A person or thing that takes the place of another; a substitute. |
| lab noun | /læːb/ | A Labrador retriever. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| break down verb | To stop functioning. | |
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. | |
| go back to verb | To stem from; to originate in. | |
| clear up verb | /klɪəˈɹʌp/ | To clarify, to correct a misconception. |
| follow up verb | To take further actions remaining after an event; to continue, revisit, or persist; especially, to maintain communication or verify. | |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. | |
| point out verb | To identify among a group of similar subjects, or in a scene where the subject might not be readily seen or noticed, with a gesture of the body. | |
| pull out verb | To withdraw; especially of military forces; to retreat. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was discussed · is optimized · are built |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've grouped · have actually become · has figured |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | one, which is · people who need |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 28 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'll, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: thumb /ˈθʌm/, synthesize /ˈsɪnθəsaɪz/, walkthrough /ˈwɔːk.θɹuː/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: specialist /ˈspɛʃəlɪst/, instruction /ɪnˈstɹʌkʃən/, presentation /ˌpɹɛzn̩ˈteɪʃn̩/, publish /ˈpʌblɪʃ/, polish /ˈpɑ.lɪʃ/
- Long words — get the stress right: operator /ˈɑpəˌɹeɪtɚ/, accuracy /ˈæk.jɚ.ə.si/, developer /dɪˈvɛləpɚ/, consistently /kənˈsɪstəntli/, capability /ˌkeɪ.pəˈbɪl.ɪ.ti/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like prompt, everyday, upload.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.