If your day is eaten by tiny, repetitive tasks — copying rows into a CRM, filling the same form again and again, transcribing interviews, or spending hours hunting down ums and silences in a podcast — you’re not alone. And AI tools that handle your most annoying tasks can help. That slow leak of minutes becomes lost hours, and worse, drains creative energy from the work that actually moves the needle. The good news: a small set of modern AI tools can silently take those chores off your plate — from automating click sequences and filling templates to transcribing calls, cleaning audio, and drafting press copy — so you can focus on decisions, not drudgery.
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Why this list and who it’s for
This is a practical listicle with short use-cases and an implementation checklist. If you run meetings, produce audio, write PR, or manage workflows, you’ll find step-by-step ideas to try today — plus tips to avoid common pitfalls (privacy, integration blind spots, and over-automation).
1) Bardeen — automate repetitive clicks and web workflows (what it solves + how to use it)
What it does: Bardeen runs browser-based automations: scrape data, paste into CRMs, click through dashboards, or trigger multi-step flows across web apps. It’s built around a browser extension and customizable agents you can train for repeat tasks.
Best for: Growth/GT M teams, sales ops, freelancers who juggle spreadsheets and web apps, researchers pulling data from sites.
How to use it now (mini checklist):
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Install the Bardeen browser extension.
Create a playbook: record an action (example: extract names from LinkedIn search → append to Google Sheet → create a contact in CRM).
Schedule or trigger from a shortcut (or an API/webhook for team flows).
Add conditions so it skips bad/duplicate rows.
Real-world example: I set Bardeen to pull new webinar signups into a shared sheet, auto-assign tags, and ping Slack — saving a repetitive 15–20 minute manual sync after every event. For teams, these minutes scale into hours a week.
Caveat: Browser agents depend on UI stability — if the site changes, you’ll need to tweak selectors. Use Bardeen for deterministic tasks, not fragile experiments.
2) TextCortex — AI that fills out forms and templates for you
What it does: TextCortex acts like a knowledge-aware writing assistant for templated writing. It can populate form fields, expand short prompts into full emails, or generate standardized content tied to internal knowledge. The goal is fewer copy-and-paste errors and faster throughput.
Best for: Content teams, ops people handling lots of templated replies, sales enablement writing outreach sequences.
How to use it now (mini checklist):
Connect your company knowledge (docs, templates).
Create templates for recurring outputs (onboarding emails, RFP responses).
Use shortcut prompts to fill out a template with variables (name, feature, timeline).
Real-world example: A small customer success team used TextCortex to standardize onboarding emails — reps now personalize one line instead of composing from scratch, improving consistency and cut response time. (Tip: keep templates short and human to avoid the “robotic memo” voice.)
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3) Otter.ai — real-time transcription for interviews and meetings
What it does: Otter provides live transcription, meeting summaries, automated highlights and action-item extraction — plus integrations with Zoom, Google Meet and calendar tools so it can join and transcribe automatically. It also offers searchable meeting history, speakers labels, and summary features that make triage easier.
Best for: Journalists, podcasters doing interviews, product teams, educators, and anyone who wants reliable searchable meeting notes.
How to use it now (mini checklist):
Link Otter to your calendar or conferencing app to auto-join relevant meetings.
Use live transcripts to capture quotes (handy for journalists) and request the speaker label feature.
Export summary and action items to your task tracker.
Real-world example: A product manager replaced manual meeting minutes with Otter transcripts and a 3-line summary posted to the team channel. The result: better traceability and fewer “who said what” disputes.
Caveat: No ASR is perfect — noisy rooms and overlapping speakers reduce accuracy. Otter’s value is speed and searchability, not verbatim legal transcript accuracy.
4) Cleanvoice AI — automatically remove ums, ahs, long silences, and mouth sounds
What it does: Cleanvoice targets audio cleanup: removing filler words, silence, breath/mouth noises, and background hiss — plus multi-track noise removal and a “studio sound” enhancer. It’s designed to shrink editing time from hours to minutes for podcasters and creators.
Best for: Podcasters, interview show producers, UX researchers cleaning recorded sessions.
How to use it now (mini checklist):
Upload your raw audio or integrate via your workflow.
Run filler-word removal and silence trimming as a first pass.
Use studio-sound/enhancer to even out levels, then export stems for final mixing.
Real-world example: An indie podcast trimmed 30–45 minutes of editing per episode by running a single pass through Cleanvoice before manual mixdown. The host kept natural pacing while removing obvious stumbles and long pauses.
Caveat: Aggressive filler removal can change natural speech rhythm — always listen afterward and apply a light hand for narrative or storytelling episodes.
5) Briefly — AI PR tool that writes press releases and meeting briefs
What it does: Briefly and similar briefing platforms help teams write press releases, meeting briefs, creative briefs, and summarized exec notes faster with structured AI prompts. It can generate first drafts you then tighten with human judgment.
Best for: PR teams, startups announcing product updates, agencies producing multiple pitches.
How to use it now (mini checklist):
Create a brief template with the essential fields (headline, angle, sources, quotes).
Feed the tool facts and quotes — ask the AI for 3 headline variants and 2 short boilerplates.
Pass drafts through a human editor before distribution.
Real-world example: A small startup used Briefly to generate an initial press release and three targeted pitch paragraphs for different reporter segments — then the PR lead adjusted tone and quotes for each outreach list. It reduced draft time from hours to 20–30 minutes.
Caveat: AI drafts can sound formulaic — the human editor’s job is to make the voice original and ensure factual accuracy.
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Combine AI Tools That Handle Your Most Annoying Tasks — don’t replace
Most coverage treats these tools as separate point solutions. Here’s a practical idea you won’t see in every review: compose a short automation chain across these apps to replace a complete manual routine. Example chain for a media team:
Bardeen watches a Google Form (incoming press request) → extracts fields.
TextCortex populates a standardized response template with the reporter’s beat and pitch details.
If an interview is booked, Otter.ai records and transcribes the audio in real-time.
Cleanvoice processes that interview audio to remove ums and background noise.
Briefly pulls the cleaned transcript and generates a short quote pack and follow-up pitch for other outlets.
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That cross-tool chain turns a multi-hour, multi-person process into an automated pipeline that still keeps humans in the editorial loop for quality and fact-checking. It’s the orchestration — not a single “magic” app — that produces disproportionate time savings.
Privacy, integration and governance
Check data policies: For recordings and transcripts, confirm retention and sharing rules. Use paid plans for enterprise SLAs where required.
Limit PII leaks: If automations touch customer data, gate them behind team approvals and logs.
Fail-safe human checkpoint: Any content destined for public distribution (press release, customer-facing email, or published audio) must pass a human review step.
Version control: Keep raw assets (original audio, original transcript) archived before auto-editing runs.
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Key Takeaways
Use the right tool for the right chore: Bardeen for browser automation, TextCortex for template-based writing, Otter for meeting transcripts, Cleanvoice for audio cleanup, and Briefly for PR-first drafts.
Orchestrate for exponential gains: Chain tools together to replace entire manual workflows, not only single steps.
Keep humans in the loop: AI speeds drafting and clean-up — editorial judgment prevents errors and preserves voice.
Mind privacy and SLAs: Especially for transcriptions and team automations, confirm storage and retention rules.
Start small and measure time saved: Pilot a single workflow, quantify minutes saved, then expand.
FAQs (People Also Ask)
Q: Will these tools replace my editor or producer?
A: No — they accelerate drafting and cleanup. Human editors retain final judgment for accuracy, nuance, and brand voice.
Q: Which tool is best for transcribing multi-language interviews?
A: Otter now supports multiple languages for transcription and is the best starting point; always verify language coverage on the plan you choose.
Q: Are audio cleanups by Cleanvoice permanent or reversible?
A: Cleanvoice outputs edited files; keep originals archived. Treat auto-edits as a draft that you can re-edit if needed.
Q: Can I automate PR outreach end-to-end?
A: You can automate drafting and segmentation, but outreach personalization and press relationships still need human attention for best results.
Conclusion
If you’re still doing the tiny, repeatable tasks that sap energy — stop. A combo of Bardeen, TextCortex, Otter.ai, Cleanvoice, and Briefly can automate clicks, fill forms, transcribe meetings, clean audio, and speed PR drafts. The trick isn’t replacing people; it’s removing friction so humans can do higher-value work. Try one small chain this week (for example: calendar → Otter → Cleanvoice → Briefly) and measure the time recovered — you’ll likely get hooked.
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