We need to talk about AI. Have you noticed it often just isntwell, very intelligent?Already, weve lived through years of AI hype. Weve watched companies pitch AI as a great tool for writing boring corporate emails. Weve seen it shoehorned into all kinds of places it doesnt belong. And its often just been bad. Were all exhausted.So lets cut through the fluff: The AI were about to go over is actually impressive. Ive never felt that AI truly delivereduntil now. Im genuinely impressedand I didnt expect to be.If youre intrigued, great! If youre thinking, Well see about that, thats also OKdont take my word for it. You truly need to try it yourself.For once, this isnt some overhyped AI tool with a required subscription and questionable usefulness. Its back to basics: a web page with a text box. Just you and the response from the AI model. And its 100% freeno account, no friction. You can try it in seconds.Let me show you how.Be the first to find all sorts of little-known tech treasures with my free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. One useful new discovery in your inbox every Wednesday!DeepSeek R1hosted by NvidiaIt seems like everyones raving about DeepSeek these days. But it is actually as good as people say? I doubted itbut then I tried it myself.To be clear, Im not recommending you use the official DeepSeek app, which will send your inputs to a server in Chinawhere theres no telling how the data might be used. DeepSeek is open source, and other companies can host it. And now, Nvidia has DeepSeek running on its own super-fast servers. Its technically intended for developer-level testing, but anyone with the link can access it.A quick note: Nvidia is a sponsor of The Intelligence, but my recommendation has nothing to do with that relationship. I could point you at another DeepSeek instance hosted by a company youve never heard of, but Nvidia is a recognizable name with speedy servers.And since this tool is intended for developers, theres no nonsense involved. You dont have to pay moneyin fact, theres no upsell at all. Its just a text box on a web page that lets you access the model on Nvidias fast servers.To start, just open the Deepseek-R1 page on Nvidias developer website. All you need is the chat boxyou can ignore the developer stuff.Heres my suggestion: Dont use boring questions. Ask something complex, something that requires knowledge and creativity. I asked DeepSeek for some examples you might want to use, and heres what it came up with:Generate five absurd tech support FAQs for a dystopian smart fridge that judges your life choicesInvent a fake Apple product so pretentious even Jony Ive would blush (and include a press release)Turn the five stages of grief into a guide for switching from iPhone to AndroidTry one of the above promptsjust copy-paste it right into the text box on Nvidias websiteor make up your own.After you do, youll see DeepSeeks reasoning process in action, followed by the response. It should only take a few seconds to work. (You may have to wait a few extra seconds if the server is a little busy, but it should still be fast!)You can ask the Nvidia-hosted version of DeepSeek virtually anything and get an answer back in seconds.The answers frequently demonstrate impressive amounts of knowledge, logic, andseeminglycreativity. But DeepSeek can have serious conversations, too. Ask whatever you like and see what happens. (As a general rule, you probably shouldnt provide private or sensitive information to any AI service, unless you really trust it.)DeepSeeks answers are surprisingly thoughtful and complex compared to other AI engines.Its there and waiting. And all you have to do is give it a try.Nvidias DeepSeek-R1 site is completely web-basedno downloads or installations, and no accounts to create.The service is free. Bear in mind that its for trial purposes and intended for developers, so you may run into a limit if you use it a lot, and Nvidia could pull the plug on it at any moment.Nvidia says it doesnt store any prompts you send to its server. The website says it logs your use of the serverinformation like your IP addressbut doesnt keep any records beyond that. (Again, I recommend you dont send anything private or sensitive, even soand that same suggestion goes for any web-connected AI tool.)Want even more productivity-boosting goodness? Check out my free Cool Tools newsletter for an instant introduction to an incredible audio appand another off-the-beaten-path gem every Wednesday!