Episodes

Are you overwhelmed by the "New AI Tool of the Week" cycle? Lou Bortone welcomes social media agency founder and short-form video expert Nika Stewart to discuss how to quiet the noise and use AI to amplify your unique human voice. What You’ll Learn: The Overwhelm Antidote: Why focusing on one tool 100% is better than testing four tools at 25%. Meet "Goldie": How Nika trained a Custom GPT on her books and life story to create an effortless writing assistant. ChatGPT vs. Claude: Why Nika disagr...

Ready to move past "playing" with AI and start profiting from it? Lou Bortone sits down with the "Live Stream Queen," Tanya Smith, to discuss the high-level frameworks she uses to automate video production and analyze social data. What You’ll Learn: The "VIDEO" Framework: A specific strategy for creating high-conversion prompts in Sora. The Copywriting Shift: Why Claude is Tanya's go-to for brand-consistent copy over ChatGPT. Agental Automation: How to connect Vista Social to Claude via MCP s...

Is AI a replacement for your creativity, or the ultimate amplifier? Lou Bortone welcomes long-time friend and digital marketing expert Bob Sparkins to cut through the "shiny object" noise and focus on tools that actually save time and generate revenue. What You’ll Learn: The "Invisible" AI: Why SaneBox is the must-have tool for email sanity you didn't know was AI. Juicing the Brain: How to use interviews and ChatGPT as a ghostwriter to create high-converting content. The Realist’s Privacy Tak...

Are you using AI as a toy or a teammate? Rich Brooks, founder of flyte new media and the Agents of Change podcast, joins Lou Bortone to pull back the curtain on the exact AI workflows driving his multi-decade agency. What You’ll Learn: The Workflow Shift: Why Claude is beating ChatGPT for brand-voice writing. The "Invisible" Teammate: How to build an AI assistant for podcast show notes and social promo. The Privacy Play: How (and why) to run LLMs locally on your own laptop. SEO Evolution: Wh...

http://www.LouBortone.com presents…Day 12: Building Websites with AI-Powered Lovable | 12 Days of AI Tools FinaleJoin Lou Bortone for the grand finale of the 12 Days of AI Tools series! On the final day, Lou introduces Lovable, an AI-powered web development platform that transforms written descriptions into fully functional websites and web apps. Learn how Lou used Lovable to create the 12 Days of AI Tools website, complete with countdown timers and door-opening animations. Discover how Lovable ...

Discover Canva's New AI-Powered Features | 12 Days of AI Tools - Day 11Welcome to Day 11 of the 12 Days of AI Tools! In this episode, we dive into Canva's AI integrations that have transformed it from a simple template tool to an advanced AI design platform. Explore features like text-to-image, background removal, Magic Write for copy, Magic Design for layouts, and AI video editing. Perfect for anyone creating social media content, presentations, or marketing materials, these tools make Canva a ...

http://www.LouBortone.com presents…Unveiling Google Gemini Gems: Custom AI Assistants for Every TaskJoin Lou on day 10 of the 12 days of AI tools as he introduces Google's Gemini Gems. Discover how you can create custom AI assistants with specific instructions, personalities, and expertise. Learn about the unique advantages of using Gemini Gems within the Google ecosystem for tasks like writing, coding, brainstorming, and more. Available for $20 a month with Gemini Advance or as part of Google O...

http://www.LouBortone.com presents…Day 9 of 12 Days of AI Tools: Unveiling Google's Nano Banana Image Generator!Hey, it's Lou! Welcome to day 9 of our 12 days of AI tools series. Today, we explore Nano Banana, Google's new experimental image generation tool from Google AI Studio. It's lightning-fast, web-based, and currently free to use. Perfect for creating social media graphics, blog posts, presentations, and more with text prompts. Don't miss this opportunity to try it out while it's free! Su...

Day 8 of AI Tools: Voice Cloning & Text to Speech with 11 LabsJoin Lou on Day 8 of the 12 days of AI Tools as he explores 11 Labs, an advanced AI voice generation platform. Discover how 11 Labs can create ultra-realistic human speech, clone your voice, and even translate content while preserving your unique vocal qualities. Perfect for audiobooks, video narration, podcasts, and more, this tool makes professional voiceovers easy and affordable. Tune in tomorrow for Google's latest in AI image gen...

In Day 7 of the 12 Days of AI Tools, Lou Bortone introduces Gamma, an AI-powered presentation builder that generates professional presentations from a simple prompt or outline. Discover how Gamma handles structure, design, and layout, allowing you to create custom-looking, polished slides in minutes instead of hours. Get insights on the tool's features, pricing plans, and step-by-step instructions on how to use it effectively. Perfect for creating pitch decks, webinars, training materials, and m...

http://www.LouBortone.com presents…Unlock Next-Level Research with Perplexity AI: Day 6 of 12 Days of AI ToolsJoin Lou Bortone as he introduces Perplexity, an AI-powered research and answer engine, on day 6 of his '12 Days of AI Tools' series. Perplexity offers real-time research with actual citations, combining the strengths of search engines and conversational AI. Ideal for anyone in need of accurate, current information quickly, Lou demonstrates its capabilities with a real research example a...

Day 5 of 12 Days of AI Tools: Unlocking the Power of ChatGPTIn day five of the 12 Days of AI Tools series, Lou Bortone explores the transformative impact of ChatGPT, OpenAI's conversational AI that became mainstream in November 2022. Lou discusses how ChatGPT has evolved beyond a simple chatbot into a comprehensive AI platform featuring GPT-4, custom GPTs, DALL-E integration, web browsing, code interpreter, and voice conversations. He emphasizes its versatility and advanced functionalities, like...

http://www.LouBortone.com presents…Day 4: Transform Your Video Editing with Descript - 12 Days of AI ToolsWelcome to day four of the 12 Days of AI Tools! Join Lou as he introduces Descript, an AI-powered video and audio editing platform that simplifies media editing to the level of text document editing. Learn how Descript transcribes your media content and allows you to edit by deleting words from the transcript. Discover features like removing filler words, background noise, and even adding st...

Day 3: Discover Claude — The Ultimate AI Tool for Writers & Researchers!Join Lou on day three of the '12 Days of AI Tools' series, where he introduces Claude, an advanced conversational AI by Anthropic. Lou highlights why Claude is his go-to tool for daily tasks, describing its robust capabilities like handling complex reasoning, natural writing, and advanced coding. He shares his personal experiences using Claude for various tasks, such as writing emails, editing books, and planning podcasts, e...

Unlock Google's AI Marketing Assistant: Pomelli | Day 2 of 12 Days of AI ToolsJoin Lou on day two of the 12 Days of AI Tools as he explores Pomelli, Google's new experimental AI marketing assistant. Pomelli helps marketers create comprehensive campaigns, including social media posts, email sequences, and landing pages, by analyzing content from your website. Lou demonstrates how to use Pomelli and highlights its features, such as brand values, tone of voice, and custom creatives. Don't miss out ...

AI Tool Review: Unveiling Sora2 for Text-to-Video Magic | Day 1 of 12 Days of AIJoin Lou Bortone as he kicks off a special AI tool series, exploring Sora2, OpenAI's text-to-video generation platform. Lou demonstrates how Sora2 transforms text prompts into high-quality videos, sharing examples and tips for maximizing the tool's potential. Discover how this tool can revolutionize video content creation, offering a cost-effective and time-saving alternative to traditional methods. Tune in for pract...

http://www.LouBortone.com presents…Discover Canva's New AI-Powered Features | 12 Days of AI Tools - Day 11Welcome to Day 11 of the 12 Days of AI Tools! In this episode, we dive into Canva's AI integrations that have transformed it from a simple template tool to an advanced AI design platform. Explore features like text-to-image, background removal, Magic Write for copy, Magic Design for layouts, and AI video editing. Perfect for anyone creating social media content, presentations, or marketing m...

Exploring AI-Powered Apps: Video Scripts, Sweet Spots, and Tool AssessmentsIn this episode, Lou Bortone demonstrates a few of the innovative apps he created using Lovable dev. He showcases the 'Video Sweet Spot Assessment' that helps businesses identify the most impactful types of videos to create, and the 'AI Video Script Generator' that offers customizable video scripts. Additionally, Lou introduces an 'AI Tools Assessment' app designed to help businesses find the best AI tools for their needs...

Exploring AI Apps: Lovable Creations and Tools for Your BusinessIn this episode of AI Today with Lou Bortone, Lou introduces viewers to apps he created using Lovable, a no-code platform for building apps and websites. He showcases a 'Video Sweet Spot Assessment' app for discovering effective video strategies for small businesses, a '31 Flavors of Video Promotion' AI script generator for video ideas tailored to various niches, and an 'AI Tools Assessment' app to help businesses find suitable AI t...

Discover Your Video Sweet Spot with Lovable AppIn this episode of AI Today, Lou Bortone introduces the Lovable app, a tool for creating no-code apps, and demonstrates how to build a 'Video Sweet Spot' assessment. He walks through the assessment process, which helps users determine the best types of videos to make for their business. Lou explains how the tool customizes recommendations based on individual responses, covering aspects like video goals, production comfort levels, and publishing pla...

Welcome to AI Today , your daily 10-minute briefing on the latest AI tools, trends, and tactics—served up in plain English for small business owners, solopreneurs, and creators. Hosted by digital marketing expert Lou Bortone, this no-fluff video podcast helps you cut through the hype and actually use AI to grow your business. Whether you're curious about AI-generated videos, content repurposing, or time-saving tools, you'll get practical tips, real-world examples, and easy-to-implement idea...

AI Today is brought to you by AI Aligned — the digital marketing agency that helps smart, successful women ditch the tech overwhelm and get back to doing what they love. If you're ready to save time, money, and your sanity, visit AIAligned.me and let their team bring your brand into the future — without losing the heart of your business.

Exploring Pictory AI: Effortless Video Creation from Audio and TextIn this episode, the host discusses their experience on a podcast panel at Pod Fest, focusing on their favorite AI video tool, Pictory. They demonstrate how Pictory can transform audio, transcripts, articles, and URLs into videos by automatically adding imagery, B-roll, and captions. The host showcases examples of videos created using Pictory, including a parody meditation video. Key features of Pictory, such as text-to-video, UR...

Welcome to AI Today — the daily podcast where smart business meets artificial intelligence. Hosted by Lou Bortone, this show delivers quick tips, trending tools, and powerful strategies to help small business owners work smarter, save time, and stay ahead. Let’s dive in...