The highly competitive, multi-billion dollar mobile app market has become a hotbed for artificial intelligence adoption, leading to a proliferation of so-called AI apps.

These days, app users crave personalized experiences, intuitive design and instant gratification. Incorporating AI into those apps makes it easier for companies to satiate them, no matter what industry they’re in. Whether a user wants to edit a photo, learn a new language or transcribe a phone call — there’s usually an AI app for that.

Top AI Apps

  • Facetune
  • Lensa
  • Alexa
  • Duolingo
  • Socratic
  • Cleo
  • Google Maps
  • Calm
  • Youper
  • Otter.ai

 

Top AI Apps

Image Editing and Creation

Facetune AI app features.
Facetune allows users to touch up their photos or generate avatars. | Image: Facetune

Facetune

For people wanting to make quick edits on their photos and videos, Facetune is a popular resource. It is commonly used to make skin touch-ups, whiten teeth, add makeup and alter face shape. The app also recently rolled out its own avatar generator, allowing users to level up their selfies with AI-generated costumes, hairstyles, backgrounds and more.

 

Lensa AI App generated avatars
Lensa’s Magic Avatar feature allows users to generate artistic edits and iterations of selfies that users provide. | Image: Lensa

Lensa

When it comes to AI art generation, Lensa is certainly at the forefront. Over the last several months, the app’s Magic Avatar feature has taken social media by storm with its ability to generate artistic edits and iterations of selfies that users provide. Created by Prisma Labs, Lensa uses neural network, computer vision and deep learning techniques to bring mobile photography and video creation “to the next level,” according to the company. The app allows users to make anything from minor edits like background blurring to entirely unique renderings.

 

A landscape generated by the Starry AI app.
StarryAI transforms text prompts into images, avatars and even NFTs. | Image: StarryAI

StarryAI

StarryAI is an AI art generator that can transform a simple text prompt into an image. To accomplish this, the app relies on two AI models. The first uses a specific class of machine learning models called GANs, or generative adversarial networks, to render the artwork creations. The second uses stable diffusion to create artwork and images. StarryAI is one of many text-to-image generators on the market right now, and allows users to make everything from AI avatars to their own non-fungible tokens.

Food for Thought Can AI Make Art More Human?

 

Virtual Assistant

Amazon Alexa voice assistant.
Amazon’s Alexa can perform fluent conversations with its user and can be used to control other smart devices. | Image: George W. Bailey / Shutterstock

Alexa

Since its launch in 2014, Amazon’s Alexa has become a household name. The AI voice assistant allows users to make lists, set alarms, order products online and much more. And its sophisticated natural language processing capabilities allow Alexa to not only understand spoken language, but also generate it through fluent conversations with users. The app can also be paired with accompanying smart devices to control things like smart thermostats, wearables, televisions and even cars straight from the user’s phone.

 

Cortana displayed on a laptop device.
Cortana is available in most Microsoft devices and allows users to perform functions hands-free. | Image: ymgerman / Shutterstock

Cortana

Named after the humanoid AI character from the popular video game franchise Halo, Cortana is a virtual assistant created by Microsoft. It is available in most Microsoft devices, including Windows computers, Windows mixed reality devices and Xbox Ones, as well as as an iOS and Android app. Like other virtual assistants, Cortana offers a hands-free way to set reminders, take notes, answer questions and much more. To accomplish this, Cortana specifically uses the Bing search engine and data from other devices to generate more personalized experiences for users. And its API can work with various other Windows and third-party apps.

 

Google Assistant AI App displayed on a mobile device.
Google Assistant supports both voice and text commands, and can handle everything from internet searches to voice-activated control of other devices. | image: nikkimeel / Shutterstock

Google Assistant

Without a doubt, Google is at the forefront of AI innovation and development, and its virtual assistant is considered to be one of the most advanced of its kind on the market. Using natural language processing, Google Assistant supports both voice and text commands, and can handle everything from internet searches to voice-activated control of other devices. Indeed, the app is compatible with an entire suite of smart devices, including refrigerators, lights and cars — providing a truly connected Internet-of-Things experience for users.

 

Siri displayed on an iPhone.
Siri is available on virtually all apple devices and helps its users do everything from send text messages to identify a song that’s playing. | Image: Wachiwit / Shutterstock

Siri

Launched in 2011, Siri is widely considered to be the OG of virtual assistants. By this point, all Apple devices are equipped with it, including iPhones, iPads, watches and even televisions. The app uses voice queries and a natural language user interface to do everything from send text messages to identify a song that’s playing. It can also adapt to a user’s language, searches and preferences over time.

Related Reading Hey Siri, Do AI Voice Assistants Reinforce Gender Bias?

 

Education

A person using the Duolingo AI App.
Duolingo uses machine learning to make course improvements, taking into consideration the nuances of various languages. | Image: Duolingo

Duolingo

For folks wanting to learn French, Spanish, Mandarin or any other foreign language on the go, Duolingo can be a helpful resource. The app provides listening, reading and speaking exercises in dozens of global languages, all the while providing aspects of gamification to keep users coming back. By applying AI, Duolingo’s lessons are paced and leveled specifically for each student according to their performance. The app also uses data and machine learning to make course improvements, taking into consideration the nuances of various languages.

 

ELSA AI App Screenshots.
ELSA Speak uses AI to identify areas in a user's speech to improve their pronunciation. | Image: ELSA

ELSA Speak

ELSA Speak uses AI to help users perfect their English speaking skills. With speech data and voice recognition technology, the app is able to listen to a user’s accent and applies a color-coded system of red, yellow and green to identify how close the user pronounced certain words, as well as provide tips for how the user can improve. The app also includes language proficiency assessments, personalized curriculum, progress tracking and personalized lessons.

 

Socractic AI App logo.
Socratic helps students with their homework by creating visual explanations based on images students provide. | Image: IgorGolovniov / Shutterstock

Socratic

Socratic provides homework help to students in middle and high school. All they have to do is take a picture of what they are working on with their phone, and the AI offers visual explanations to help them complete it. Acquired by Google in 2018, the app uses advanced text and speech recognition, and provides assistance in a variety of subjects, including literature, physics, biology, trigonometry and more.

Want More Examples? 15 AI in Education Examples to Know

 

Personal Finance

Ally AI app logo.
Ally Financial’s mobile app uses a machine learning-based chatbot to help users answer financial questions. | Image: Diego Thomazini / Shutterstock

Ally Financial

Ally Financial’s mobile banking app has a machine learning-based chatbot to answer questions, handle any money transfers and payments, as well as provide transaction summaries. The bot is both text and voice-enabled, meaning users can either speak or text their messages Ally and the bot will automatically handle what they need. Ally also uses AI to streamline its loan approval process, extracting data from loan documents and comparing them with multiple databases to confirm applicants’ identity, employment, income and other pertinent information.

 

Cleo AI app displayed on a mobile device.
Cleo uses AI and natural language generation to provide general financial advice. | Image: Cleo

Cleo

Cleo is a chatbot that is specifically designed to provide budgeting assistance by linking directly to a user’s bank account. Using artificial intelligence and natural language generation, the app provides general financial advice as well as unique messages according to what the user wants. If a user feels they need some tough love, all they have to do is tell Cleo to “roast” them, and the bot will take inventory of all the wasteful spending they’ve done recently. If they need to be “hyped” up, it will remind the user of all their good recent financial behavior. Cleo also helps users set specific budgets and goals, track their spending and more.

 

Fyle AI app gathering data from an email invoice.
Fyle uses AI to simplify employee expense management. It can handle expense reporting, real-time data extraction, travel requests and advances, analytics and more. | Image: Fyle

Fyle

Available on both desktop and as a mobile app, Fyle uses AI to simplify employee expense management. Specifically, it can handle expense reporting, real-time data extraction, travel requests and advances, analytics and much more. By directly integrating with any Visa business credit card, Fyle provides employees with automatic notifications about transactions, and allows them to submit their receipts directly through other apps like Gmail, Outlook and Slack.

Additional Reading 15 AI in Banking Examples You Should Know

 

Health and Wellness

Calm AI app displayed on a mobile and desktop device.
Calm uses AI to deliver more personalized experiences and recommendations to users based on data. | Image: Calm

Calm

With more than 50 million downloads on the Google Play Store, Calm is one of the most popular mobile meditation apps on the market today. It offers guided meditation, sleep and stretching services, as well as music and scenes to help users sleep, relax or focus. The app also uses Amazon Personalize, a machine learning-powered tool developed by AWS, to deliver more individualized experiences and recommendations to users based on their data.

 

Fitness AI app displayed on mobile devices.
FitnessAI uses artificial intelligence to generate personalized workouts according to a given user’s experience and goals. | Image: Fitness AI

FitnessAI

Available exclusively as an iOS app, FitnessAI uses artificial intelligence to generate personalized workouts according to a given user’s experience and goals. With nearly 6 million preset workouts, the AI optimizes sets, reps and weight for each exercise every time a user works out. Users can also track their progress over time on the app.

 

Woebot Ai app chatbot breakdown.
Woebot's chatbot can converse with a given user about whatever they want. It can remember what it has been told, and continues to learn the more it is engaged with. | Image: Woebot

Woebot Health

Woebot Health’s proprietary technology combines decades of research in psychology with advanced artificial intelligence to assess and respond to users’ symptoms of mental health conditions like anxiety and depression, according to the company. Using natural language processing and generation, the app’s chatbot can converse with a given user about whatever they want. It can also remember what it has been told, and continues to learn the more it is engaged with. Woebot is also very intentional about reminding users that it is a chatbot, not a real person, which establishes trust among users, according to Jade Daniels, the company’s director of content. “They can talk openly about the problems that they’re having and where they’re at,” she told Built In in a 2020 interview. “Whereas if there’s a human on the other side of it, there’s always kind of their feeling of, ‘Am I being judged?’”

 

Youper AI app screeshot.
Youper offers a mood tracker, personality assessments, a selection of mindfulness exercises and more. | Screenshot: Youper

Youper

The Youper app features a mental health-focused AI chatbot, which converses with users about their emotional struggles, and offers personalized advice and techniques for how to cope. The app also offers a mood tracker, personality assessments, a selection of mindfulness exercises and more. Like Woebot, Youper claims its technology is based on decades of psychological and evidence-based therapies, including cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and problem-solving therapy.

Dive Deeper Should AI Be Used to Interpret Human Emotions?

 

Maps and Navigation

Google maps displayed on a mobile device.
Google Maps uses AI to predict traffic conditions in the near future. | Image: AngieYeoh / Shutterstock

Google Maps

Google Maps aggregates location data from smartphones, as well as user-reported data on things like construction and car accidents to monitor the ebb and flow of traffic, determine an ETA and provide users with the fastest route to their desired destination. The app also uses advanced machine learning techniques to predict traffic conditions in the near future. It does this by first analyzing historical traffic patterns, then combining it with live traffic conditions to generate predictions based on both sets of data.

 

Waze AI app logo.
Waze uses AI and machine learning to provide its users with the fastest available routes to their destinations. | Image: DANIEL CONSTANTE / Shutterstock

Waze

Although it was acquired by Google in 2013, the Waze app remains a separate entity from Google Maps, and a top competitor to both its parent company’s GPS and others. In addition to relying on real-time traffic data shared by its 140 million active monthly users, Waze uses AI and machine learning to provide its users with the fastest available routes to their destinations.

Searching for More? Here Are 19 GPS Apps to Help You Navigate the World

 

Transcription

A screenshot of Google recorder taking audio and transcribing it.
Recorder is available for free on the Google Pixel. | Screenshot: Google

Google Recorder

Unlike many other AI transcription services, Google’s Recorder is free — so long as the user has a Pixel smartphone. All they have to do is open the app and press the large red button to record their call, which is automatically transcribed at the same time. Once the transcription is complete, users can search through it (classic Google), edit it and share either in-full or as snippets with others. Users can also easily edit the audio, meaning if they delete or move a section of the transcript, the corresponding audio will move right along with it.

 

Otter.ai AI app dashboard.
Otter.ai uses artificial intelligence to automatically transcribe recordings, breaking them down by speaker. | Image: Otter.ai

Otter.ai

Available both online and as a mobile app, Otter.ai offers a wide range of services, including the ability to record Zoom and Google video conferences, as well as phone calls. It uses artificial intelligence to automatically transcribe those recordings, breaking them down by speaker. The transcription also includes an automatically generated outline with corresponding time stamps, which highlights the key conversation points in the recording and allows users to jump to them quickly.

 

A person using Trint on a desktop computer.
Trint can automatically transcribe in over 30 different languages, and translate completed transcriptions into more than 50 languages. | Image: Trint

Trint

Trint’s AI transcription services have been used by major organizations including Airbnb, the Washington Post and Nike. Its AI-enabled mobile app allows users to easily record, transcribe and publish content instantly, as well as leave notes and make edits to the transcription itself. According to Trint, it can also automatically transcribe in over 30 different languages, and translate completed transcriptions into more than 50 languages.

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