AI Tools for Productivity

AI productivity tools take over small, repeated tasks so you can spend time on work that needs your thinking.

Where AI Saves Time at Work

Many of these features are in apps you already use. Look for an AI or "sparkle" button in Office, Google apps and your phone.

Spreadsheet Formulas

This is one of the most useful everyday uses. Describe your columns and what you want:

In Excel, column A has the date, column B has the city, and column C
has the sale amount in rupees, from row 2 to row 200. Give me a
formula for the total sales in Karachi only.

=SUMIFS(C2:C200, B2:B200, "Karachi")

SUMIFS adds the values in C2:C200 only where the matching cell
in B2:B200 is "Karachi".

You can then ask follow-ups, such as "now only for October 2026":

=SUMIFS(C2:C200, B2:B200, "Karachi", A2:A200, ">="&DATE(2026,10,1), A2:A200, "<="&DATE(2026,10,31))

Summarising Long Text

Paste a long report, email thread or meeting transcript and ask for a short summary in a fixed format:

Summarise this meeting transcript in this format:
1. Decisions made (bullet points)
2. Action items: who, what, by when
3. Open questions
Keep it under 150 words. Do not add anything that was not said.

A fixed format makes summaries easy to read and easy to compare week after week.

Planning Your Work

AI is a good planning partner when a task feels too big:

I have 2 weeks to finish my final year project: a website for a
local school. I can work 3 hours a day. Break the project into daily
tasks, starting with planning and ending with testing and a final
check. Keep 2 days free as buffer.

The tool gives you a step-by-step plan. Adjust it to your real life: exams, family and work do not appear in the AI's plan unless you mention them.

AI Note-Takers in Meetings

AI note-takers join online meetings, record them and send notes. They are helpful, but:

• Always tell everyone in the meeting that it is being recorded, and get their agreement
• Do not record private or sensitive meetings (salary, health, legal issues) without permission
• Read the summary. Note-takers can miss who said what, or turn a "maybe" into a decision

A Simple Daily AI Routine

1. Morning: ask for a summary of long unread emails
2. During work: use AI for formulas, first drafts and quick explanations
3. After meetings: turn notes into action items
4. End of day: paste your task list and ask what to do first tomorrow

Know When Not to Use AI

AI does not save time when:

• The task takes less time to do than to explain
• You will need to check every word anyway, such as a legal document
• The work needs personal judgement, like a sensitive message to a colleague

Exercise