AI-HOY AInauts,

Welcome to the last issue of your favorite newsletter. It's the last issue of the old year, of course - and we're really looking forward to getting started with you in 2025. We have lots of plans and ideas. But for now, we wish you and your loved ones a happy new year from the bottom of our hearts. 🎉 🥳 ✨

Here's what we have in store for you today:

• 🏆 These are our top 25 AI tools for 2025

• 🧩 How to activate new features with Claude MCP

• 🔍 How OpenAI uses your data for training …

• 😁 AI-Fun: Local business uses A.I. …

Here we go!

🏆 These are our top 25 AI tools for 2025

Today we are publishing a list that was long overdue. It's the top 25 AI tools that we use all the time. Some of them you will already know. Others will be new.

Above all, we would like to encourage you to take a little time off over the coming days. No stress, no pressure - just you, a few brilliant tools and the pure joy of learning and experimenting. Sounds like the perfect start into the new year, doesn't it?

Why now? New year, new opportunities!

Forget the old routines! The new year is the perfect time to discover new things. And who knows, maybe you'll find a tool that will give your New Year's resolutions that all-important kick. So, put a blocker in your calendar and click through to our ultimate top AI tools list. Feedback is always welcome! 💖

🧩 How to activate new features with Claude MCP

Imagine if Claude could automatically and securely connect all your tools and data and respond to your questions in a much more efficient and context-specific way. That would be the next stage of workplace evolution.

And it's already possible - thanks to the Model Context Protocol (MCP) from Anthropic! MCP not only makes your Claude desktop app smarter, it also makes you more productive. The feature has been out for a few weeks now, but was a bit too technical for our newsletter.

But now we've found an easier way for you to use it! We'll show you how in a moment.

First, a few practical use cases ...

You can think of MCP as a practical universal adapter that can connect your Claude app with everything that is important to you: web access, Slack, AirTable, Google Drive, GitHub - or whatever else you use. For example:

• Managing projects: sifting through Slack threads, searching Google Drive files? Sure! MCP pulls together the relevant information - and even provides a to-do list.

• Creative work: Analyze local files, do web research and develop new ideas, plan and post WordPress blog content directly - you can also do this directly using MCP.

• AI integration: You can even plug in other AI platforms like OpenAI or ElevenLabs and use them for direct interactions.

As you can see, it's pretty flexible - and that's just the beginning. The team behind MCP wants to create an open standard for everyone. This means that anyone can use, improve and integrate MCP into their tools. Developers worldwide are working on improvements and new connections that you can use free of charge. Such a local architecture also brings security benefits.

The quickest way to set up MCP

Ready to go? It's time to set it up:

1. Install the Anthropic Claude app locally (Already installed? Update the app!)

2. Install VS Code or Cursor as development environment (free version)

3. Install the Cline plugin in VS Code or Cursor (enable Auto Update)

4. Find suitable connections (here and here) and copy the details/links

5. Put everything into Cline and let it do the setup for these MCP servers

6. Just start with a simple prompt: "Set up this MCP server for me: ..."

Our take: Super helpful feature for Claude Power users

If you use Claude regularly, then it's worth investing a little time into setting up these connections. For example, you can use Brave Search to get the Claude app to perform web searches - or tap into emails via the GMail connection, etc.

In our opinion, the Cline approach is the easiest way to install such connections without technical know-how. Depending on the tool, you need to provide an API key and a few credits for the AI of your choice.

You can even use Cline to prompt your own connections - we have built a tool manager with which you can activate or deactivate the MCP tools. So, have fun testing it out - and if you run into issues or have any questions, YouTube is a good place to learn more.

P.S. The ChatGPT desktop app offers a similar function, but unfortunately this interface is not open and therefore limited to a few apps (including some coding apps, Notion, Apple Notes, TextEdit, Terminal, etc.). More details from OpenAI can be found here.

🔍 How OpenAI uses your data for training ...

Ilya Sutskever, co-founder of OpenAI and founder of Safe Superintelligence, recently announced that AI models will soon have absorbed almost all public data for training...

It is a controversial practice of OpenAI and other providers to rely heavily on information available on the internet to train their models. This has led to a wave of lawsuits, including from authors and publishers, claiming unlawful use of data.

And OpenAI and co. are also using customer data aka your chats to improve their services. It's a legal and ethical minefield - and reason enough for us to take a closer look at the topic!

How OpenAI (doesn't) use your data

Let's take OpenAI and ChatGPT as examples:

• Private customers (free or paying): You can specify in the settings whether your chats are being used to improve models.

• Temporary chats: The content of temporary chats will be deleted after 30 days and will not be used for model training.

• GPTs: The creators can opt-out in the settings so that their data is not included in the training.

• Business customers (e.g. ChatGPT Enterprise or API users): By default, data is not used for model improvement. However, API customers can agree to share their data to improve new models.

• Partners: How Microsoft's Copilot uses your data is not easy to understand, while Apple tries to disclose as little as possible of your data to others.

• Websites: An opt-out option prevents the GPTbot web crawler from accessing your website - but this can also mean that your website does not appear in the ChatGPT search results...

Our take: What you can do

If you want to have control over your settings, do this now:

• Check your settings: Adjust whether your data should be included in the training or not.

• Avoid sensitive content: Do not share personal or confidential information (or use the temporary chats if necessary).

• Stay informed: OpenAI publishes regular updates on privacy and transparency.

• Good to know: Laws such as the GDPR require OpenAI and others to document the customer data collected and how it is used.

😁 AI-Fun: Local business uses A.I. ...

Recently seen on LinkedIn (sorry, source lost...). A German van, saying: “We use AI”, showing two guys with matching first names for the German abbreviation “KI”.

We made it! But no need to be sad. The AInauts are back in the new year, with new food for you. Happy New Year, from the bottom of our hearts!

Reto & Fabian from the AInauts

P.S.: Follow us on social media - that motivates us to keep going 😁!
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