GenAI-Driven Product Features Worth Exploring
Ft. Strava, HealthifyMe
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Recently (almost a month back, actually) when the Deepseek r1 was released, it created quite an uproar. In Indian tech circles, many questioned what India is doing in the AI race and why no mainstream model is coming from India.
Personally, I don't find these questions particularly pertinent. More than developing models, using them to solve real-life problems is what matters. And hey, Andrew Ng seems to agree, which is always a good sign!
Over the past few months, I've attended several training sessions from different consulting companies, each offering their own GenAI-infused solutions. And to be honest, most of them felt a bit underwhelming. Or rather, all of them felt like fancy, good-looking wrappers without much substance.
The best one, in my opinion, was a code conversion module using the APIs from my current company. You’d paste your code or specify technical requirements in plain language, and the software would give the converted output. It had some checks to eliminate the usual LLM hallucinations. But even that, really, could’ve been achieved with a well-crafted prompt in GPT or Claude (or Gemini - if she is your type)!
So, I want to share some GenAI-driven features I've actually found valuable in products I use daily.
Strava
I've been using Strava for almost 4 years. Initially, I logged just my runs and walks, but after getting a smartwatch, I track everything. They've created a feature for Pro users called "Athlete Intelligence" that uses GenAI for data analysis, and it does a surprisingly good job.
Here is one example:
When my recent run was analyzed, it compared it with my previous runs and noted I maintained my pace—even going slightly faster. It also highlighted my relative effort. I had walked for almost 3km - after the office & before the run - and pushed harder when feeling tired toward the end, which the analysis accurately reflected.
Another example:
After an indoor cycling session at the gym (which I did after nearly a month), Athlete Intelligence highlighted that I mostly do weight training and walking, making this ride somewhat unusual.
I found that impressive. The summaries effectively highlighted both outliers (cycling) and trends (running pace). Nicely done!
HealthifyMe
I’ve been using HealthifyMe since September 2024 to track my food intake. Recently, they added GenAI-enabled summaries to show what I’ve eaten, with updates every time I log a new meal.
For example, after logging my breakfast, the app displayed this:
After dinner, it showed this:
While the summary feature is nice, I feel it lacks the kind of insight that Strava offers. There are some features I think would really take it up a notch:
Analyzing my recent eating patterns—was today typical, or did I eat more than usual?
If today was a "heavy carb day" (I eat dessert once weekly), suggesting adjusted calorie levels for the following day. Currently, I manually try to average it out over a week.
These are some of the genuinely useful GenAI applications I've found in products I use regularly. What are your favourites? Comment and let me know!
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