5 AI tools to build apps in record time

Before 2023, if you had a new business idea, you had to work with a team to bring it to life. You had to hire designers, developers, and marketers. You had to wait a long time for it to become a reality. After this year's AI boom, you can come up with an idea and bring it to life the same day. That's the power of artificial intelligence in business. Professional designers, developers, and marketers are still needed, and technology doesn't replace the need for their expertise, but the power is now firmly in the hands of entrepreneurs who have more options.

Dr. Alvaro Cintas-Canto is a Computer Engineer and Assistant Professor at Marymount University, where he teaches and researches artificial intelligence, hardware security, and cryptography. With a PhD and an MSc in Computer Science and Engineering, he uses Twitter (now X) to educate the ever-growing audience of AI enthusiasts about new tools and the latest technological advancements. His expertise in AI, machine learning, and cybersecurity bridges the gap between complex technical concepts and real-world applications in business.

“As a professor specializing in AI and programming, I'm always looking for tools that make coding not only easier but more fun for non-technical entrepreneurs,” says Cintas-Canto. Here, she shares the top five AI tools that are revolutionizing how entrepreneurs approach software development and app building.

5 AI tools to turn your business ideas into reality

Draw in the app

“Draw to App stands out for its ability to transform real-time drawings into functional applications,” explains Cintas-Canto, who created a currency conversion app by sketching it while waiting for a flight. Launch Draw to App, enter your OpenAI key, sketch your concept and hit Build. “Instantly, you'll have a fully functional app on your phone,” says Cintas-Canto. It's like living in the future.

draw

Tldraw is a free, ready-to-use collaborative diagramming tool enhanced by integrating the GPT-4V API. “The marriage of whiteboard functionality with AI has amazing capabilities,” explains Cintas-Canto. “For example, you can turn a sketch of a basic Pong game into a playable version.” On the TLdraw website, you can draw a UI and then actually create it, or sketch an interface and press a button to create a functioning website. Watch as the company builds its tool: Could an AI app builder build the next business empire?

Screenshot to Code

“Screenshot-to-code tools are particularly good at recreating digital interfaces from just a screenshot,” Cintas-Canto explains, noting that they perfectly recreated the X-Feed interface from an uploaded image. They then provide you with the code (HTML or Tailwind CSS) that you can try from there or give to a developer. “These tools are a great starting point for developing simple applications or to generate underlying code that can be improved or expanded with the help of AI,” he adds. If you find a feature you like on another website, use the tool to recreate it on your own website. It's easy to develop a prototype in just a few steps.

Chat GPT

ChatGPT is an AI tool that will definitely accelerate your entrepreneurial journey. Aside from using it to secure coverage, increase productivity, and even create entire e-books, ChatGPT can help turn business ideas into fully functional products. “While ChatGPT doesn't support live code testing, it does provide code snippets for external testing and acts as both a debugger and coding assistant,” says Cintas-Canto. This helps non-technical people make changes with confidence. He recently created a 2D game using GPT-4 for coding and DALL·E 3 for graphics by asking ChatGPT for code using natural language, resulting in significant time savings in developing complex projects.

cursor

If you're involved in the technical side of your business and are looking for a more advanced AI tool to help you develop in new ways, check out Cursor. “Cursor is an AI-powered code editor designed for an AI-first approach to software development,” says Cintas-Canto. “It helps developers write and edit code more efficiently by using AI to provide suggestions, completions, and documentation for different programming languages.” After using the tool to interact with his own code, Cintas-Canto is convinced that AI coding assistants represent the future of programming.

A great AI tool to quickly go from idea to MVP

Cintas-Canto spent 2023 exploring the possibilities of AI tools and sharing his insights with his students and X audiences.

Other notable examples include Klap App, which uses AI to convert long videos into short viral videos, Seona to improve SEO, 10Web, which uses AI to create websites, Krea for real-time image generation, Runway or Pika Labs, which convert images and text into videos.

With AI tools, you can't just sign up and expect miracles. Take the time to understand how it works and provide it with the best inputs. Deep dive into its functionality and see what's possible when you combine your visionary ideas with the powerful capabilities of the AI ​​tool.