Mustard | AI Already In Your Apps
Can I tell you something that might make you feel a little bit better about the whole AI thing?
You're probably already using it. Not because you went looking for it, not because you signed up for a course or watched a YouTube tutorial, but because it showed up one day and made itself at home.
That's mustard. AI that came to you rather than the other way around. It's sitting in your WhatsApp, your Facebook, your Instagram, your Spotify playlist, your LinkedIn feed. It was added quietly, often without a big announcement, and most people scrolled straight past the notification.
The thing about mustard is that it doesn't ask permission. It just turns up on the table.
Whether you use it is entirely up to you, but it’s worth knowing it’s there.
What's been added to your table.
Meta AI
Made by Meta
Lives in:
Meta AI is the little circle that appeared in your WhatsApp one day without much fanfare. It's also in your Facebook feed, your Instagram search, and your Messenger.
You might have ignored it completely which is fair enough. But it's there, it's free, and it's actually pretty handy once you know what to ask it.
Already at the table.
Most people have Meta AI and don't realise it. Next time you're in WhatsApp tap the circle in the top right corner and just say hello. Ask it something simple. See what comes back. You might be pleasantly surprised by what's been sitting there this whole time.
It came with the apps. Might as well see what it can do.
Grok
Made by xAI
Lives in:
If you're still on X then Grok is already in there with you.
It's xAI's thinking AI and it has a bit more personality than most, which makes sense given who built it.
It can answer questions, help you write posts, and has access to real time information from X which is actually quite useful for current events.
🔗 x.com
Worth a look if you’re already there.
If you use X regularly Grok is worth trying at least once. Ask it something topical and see how it handles real time information.
Just maybe apply a little extra critical thinking to what comes back.
Real time information is its party trick. Use it accordingly.
Made by Spotify.
Lives in the Spotify App.
Spotify
Spotify has been quietly using AI for years to do the thing it does better than almost anyone: figure out what you want to listen to before you know yourself.
The Discover Weekly playlist, the Daily Mixes, the eerily accurate recommendations. That's all AI working in the background learning your taste.
It already knows your taste.
You don't need to do anything differently. Just know that when Spotify suggests something you didn't know you needed, that's the mustard working.
If you want to lean into it, try the AI DJ feature which curates and commentates your listening in real time.
It's been paying attention. Possibly more than your actual mates.
Made by Microsoft.
Lives inside LinkedIn.
LinkedIn has rolled AI into almost everything now.
Writing assistance when you're drafting a post, job application help, profile suggestions, and a full AI assistant for Premium members.
If you use LinkedIn for work, and most of us do whether we love it or not, the AI is already in there trying to be helpful.
Let it help with the bits you find awkward.
If staring at a blank box trying to write a LinkedIn post is your personal nightmare, let the AI give you a starting point.
Just make sure you edit it so it actually sounds like you and not like every other LinkedIn post that starts with "I'm humbled to announce."
Useful tool. Just keep your own voice in the mix.
Made by Google.
Lives inside YouTube.
YouTube
YouTube has been using AI recommendation algorithms forever but more recently it has added AI summaries, chapter breakdowns, and a conversational search feature that lets you ask questions about videos while you watch them.
It's genuinely useful if you're trying to learn something specific without sitting through a forty five minute video to find the two minutes you actually needed.
Use it to find the good bit faster.
Next time you're watching a longer video, look for the AI generated chapters and summary. It'll save you a lot of fast forwarding. And if you're researching something, the conversational search feature is worth trying.
Forty five minute video. Two minutes of actual relevance. AI will find it for you.
Snapchat My AI
Made by Snap.
Lives inside Snapchat.
If you've got teenagers at home there's a reasonable chance they've already had a conversation with My AI on Snapchat without mentioning it to you.
It was added to the app in 2023 and pinned to the top of every user's chat list, which caused quite a bit of conversation at the time.
It can answer questions, give recommendations, and chat just like a contact would. Worth knowing about whether you use Snapchat yourself or not.
Good to know about even if it’s not yours.
If you have kids on Snapchat it's worth having a look at what My AI actually does and talking to them about it. The Snapchat help centre has a good explainer on the settings available to parents.
Know what's in the kitchen even if you're not the one cooking.
Before you go…
… a quick mention of two familiar faces who also belong in the mustard drawer. Gemini lives all through Google's tools and Copilot is baked into Microsoft's whole world. We've given them a proper run down over on the Tomato Sauce page because they absolutely deserve it, but don't let that stop you from recognising them for what they also are. Uninvited guests who turned out to be pretty useful once you got used to having them around.
And honestly, that's the story of this whole page isn't it. Nobody at any of these companies rang you up and said "hey, just letting you know we're popping some AI into your WhatsApp, hope that's alright." It just appeared one Tuesday like a new sauce on the table at your local. You didn't ask for it. You weren't consulted. It was just suddenly there next to the salt and pepper, looking like it had always belonged.
Some of it you'll love. Some of it you'll ignore completely and that is absolutely fine. But now that you know it's there you can actually make that call for yourself rather than just scrolling past it forever wondering what that little circle in the corner of WhatsApp actually does.
That's the whole point of knowing your sauces. You get to decide what goes on your plate.