How Ali Abdaal uses AI to save time

LLMs
productivity
A few tips from Ali Abdaal, including the idea of having a writing project which makes information about you, articles you’ve written before, and preferences, available to the LLM so it can write specifically for you.
Published

March 11, 2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc6pdR8BhFA

Personal takeaways

  • Do initial writing by speaking, then get Claude to ask follow-up questions.
  • Create a project with writing tips/examples of your writing.
  • When traveling, use the voice mode of Claude to ask questions about where you are or for suggestions.

Detailed notes

  • Writing
    • Step one — speak the text (going for a walk).
    • Two — into Claude (fave for writing) or ChatGPT (good memory function)
      • Get it to ask follow up questions.
      • Don’t get the AI to actually write the stuff.
      • The AI should pull your ideas out.
      • Create a project with writing tips.
    • Three — Into final editor for final edits.
  • Data analysis
    • Uploads web stats and gets it to suggest content which will do well.
  • Personal life
    • When traveling, use the voice mode of Claude to ask questions about where you are or for suggestions.
    • ChatGPT requires a couple of clicks each question to do this, which is why he prefers Claude. Also it talks too slowly.