The Hidden AI Checklist
AI features already built into tools you’re paying for – what each does, which plan unlocks it, and one task to try this week.
You’re probably already subscribed to tools with AI baked in – and paying for features you’ve never opened. This checklist covers nine of the most common ones.
01 Notion AI
Notion AI sits inside every page and database. It can summarise long docs, turn bullet points into full paragraphs, translate content, extract action items from meeting notes, and auto-fill database properties using AI.
Notion AI add-on – $10/month per member (billed on top of any Notion plan). Team plans can enable it workspace-wide.
Open any long document. Click the sparkle icon or type ‘/AI Summary’. Paste in last week’s meeting notes and ask: ‘Extract all action items and who owns each one.’ Takes 10 seconds.
02 HubSpot AI (Breeze)
HubSpot’s Breeze AI assists across CRM, marketing, and sales. It drafts emails and sequences, summarises contact timelines, scores leads, generates social posts, and can suggest follow-up actions based on deal history.
Core Breeze features are included in free and Starter plans. Breeze Copilot and Breeze Agents require Professional or Enterprise tiers.
Go to any contact record. Click ‘Summarise’ in the Copilot sidebar. It will pull the full relationship history and give you a briefing paragraph before your next call – without you reading a single note.
03 Gmail Gemini
Gemini in Gmail can summarise long email threads, draft replies in your tone, suggest next steps from a conversation, and help you write from scratch with a short prompt.
Requires Google Workspace Business Starter ($6/user/month) or higher. Also included in Google One AI Premium ($19.99/month) for personal accounts.
Open a long email thread. Click the Gemini star icon in the top-right corner. Choose ‘Summarise this email’. Then hit ‘Reply’ and click ‘Help me write’ to draft a response.
04 Outlook Copilot
Microsoft Copilot in Outlook drafts emails from bullet points, summarises long threads, prepares meeting briefings, and suggests replies. It also integrates with Teams and Word docs referenced in your inbox.
Requires Microsoft 365 Copilot licence – $30/user/month, added on top of a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan (Business Standard or above).
Find a long thread you haven’t read. Click the Copilot icon. Select ‘Thread summary’. Then open a new email, click ‘Draft with Copilot’, and type: ‘Follow up on [project name], politely asking for an update.’
05 Excel Copilot
Copilot in Excel can analyse data and surface trends in plain English, write and explain formulas, highlight anomalies, create pivot tables from a prompt, and generate charts – all without you knowing a single formula.
Requires Microsoft 365 Copilot licence – $30/user/month on top of a qualifying Microsoft 365 Business plan.
Open any spreadsheet with rows of data. Click the Copilot button in the Home ribbon. Type: ‘What are the top 3 trends in this data?’ Then ask it to ‘Create a chart showing [column A] vs [column B]’. No formula required.
06 Canva AI (Magic Studio)
Canva’s Magic Studio includes: Magic Write (copy generation), Magic Design (auto-layouts from a text prompt), Magic Resize (repurpose designs across formats), Magic Eraser and Expand (edit photos with AI), and Background Remover.
Background Remover and some Magic tools require Canva Pro ($15/month). Magic Write has a free tier (25 uses/month). Magic Design is free.
Open a new Canva design. Click ‘Magic Design’ and type: ‘A LinkedIn post graphic for a professional services firm announcing a new AI training course.’ Watch it generate 6 ready-to-edit layouts in under 10 seconds.
07 Slack AI
Slack AI can summarise channels and threads you’ve missed, answer questions about your workspace (searching your Slack history), recap highlights from a busy day, and generate daily digests.
Slack AI is available on Pro ($8.75/user/month), Business+, and Enterprise plans as an add-on. Starting at ~$10/user/month additional.
Go to any busy channel you haven’t checked today. Click ‘Summarise channel’ at the top. Then try AI search: type a question like ‘What did the team decide about the Q2 budget?’ It searches your entire workspace history.
08 Zoom AI Companion
Zoom AI Companion generates meeting summaries and action items automatically after calls, can answer questions mid-meeting, drafts follow-up emails, and summarises chat threads. It does not store audio – it processes in real time.
Included at no extra cost for paid Zoom accounts (Pro $15.99/month and above). Just needs to be enabled by the account admin.
Before your next Zoom call: go to Settings > AI Companion and enable ‘Meeting Summary’. After the call ends, check your Zoom app – the summary and action items are waiting. Forward the auto-drafted follow-up email directly to attendees. Zero extra effort.
09 QuickBooks AI (Intuit Assist)
Intuit Assist in QuickBooks answers questions about your business in plain English, flags cash flow risks, suggests invoicing improvements, auto-categorises transactions, and can summarise your financial health without you building a report.
Available in QuickBooks Online Simple Start ($30/month) and above. Intuit Assist is being rolled out progressively – check the sparkle icon in your dashboard.
Open QuickBooks Online. Look for the Intuit Assist button (sparkle icon, usually bottom-right). Type: ‘Show me my top 5 expense categories this month and how they compare to last month.’
