It didn't start as a plan. It started as a personal problem.
I was already deep into testing AI tools: saving links, making notes, trying to track what each one was actually useful for. What category does it belong in? Is it better for writing, research, design, video, SEO, or workflow automation? Is it free, paid, or freemium? Is it something I'd actually recommend to someone, or just another tool with better marketing than product?
The more I explored, the more the notes piled up. And the more obvious it became that the problem wasn't just mine.
The Actual Problem
The AI tool landscape is moving fast enough that keeping up feels like a part-time job. Every day brings another launch, another trending platform, another post about the tool that promises to save time or replace a workflow. Some of them are genuinely useful. Some are impressive for about five minutes. Many overlap so heavily with each other that figuring out what's actually worth trying becomes harder than just trying everything.
For a business owner, a marketer, or a small team already stretched across a dozen other priorities, that friction is real. Bouncing between tabs, running free trials, watching demos, second-guessing what's worth the money. It adds up. And "best AI tools" roundups don't solve it, because flattening hundreds of tools into a single list doesn't help anyone figure out what fits their specific situation.
That's the gap I decided to do something about.
What I'm Actually Building
The resource hub at resources.taneilcurrie.com is not a giant list for the sake of having one. The point is to make discovery practical. Tools are organized by category (video, content, design, SEO, productivity, website, marketing, and more) and each one is labeled as free, freemium, or paid so you can filter by what actually fits your budget before you invest time in a trial.
That structure matters because different people need different things. A founder looking to save time on content has different requirements than a marketer building a video workflow or a team trying to automate internal processes. When you can browse by what you're trying to solve rather than by what's getting the most press, the decision becomes significantly faster.
The hub also includes prompts and workflows, not just tools, because the tools are only part of the equation. Knowing how to use them well is the other part.
Why It's Worth Having
We're at a point where the volume of AI tools is itself becoming a source of friction. The more that appear, the more useful it becomes to have a filter. Some way to separate what looks exciting from what's actually useful in real work. Some structure that helps people move from curiosity to usefulness without starting from scratch every time.
That's what the directory is for. Not to tell people what to use, but to make it easier to find what fits and to save the time and money that gets lost to tools that were never right in the first place.
Browse the full collection at resources.taneilcurrie.com.