Genius.AI Reviews

i purchased Tier 2, but it seems like it doesn't really do what it says without co-pilot, which is an additional monthly expense.
Have been trying to train it on my product and brand voice, but honestly even after providing a bunch of examples it's not picking up at all on my brand voice. Seems like generic stuff chat GPT would spout out without instructions-even though i have provided the instructions and examples. I have also watched a bunch of the training videos and still no luck..
Maybe down the road it will be better but I'm not going to hold onto it and wait in hopes that it eventually does what it should.

I bought Tier 3 and I'm currently testing Genius AI and I like the direction it's taking. So far apart from some small bumps and confusing UI (I get it, you are adding a lot of features so it's not an easy task) it looks like a keeper.

The main pro in my book: I'll never run out of ideas on what to post. That alone is a significant deal for me. Yes, I could build my own bots or just use some prompts but I feel prompts that are loaded in Genius AI are on the money.

Image generation can be accomplished with many other tools but if it really is unlimited as in the plan description, I'd say - fantastic. Genius AI provides additional tools to enhance your images which is pretty cool. I'm now testing out my AI avatar twin feature. It costs an additional $10 to train one avatar but I find it reasonable if the outcomes will be reasonably good (fingers crossed). I've always dreamed of the time when AI image generation reaches the point where I can insert myself in some creative settings (I'm not much of a selfie person, hate posing haha). Fingers crossed.

Image animation... I didn't bother with it. It takes some additional fees which wouldn't hold me back, but so far I don't think AI is there yet. I've tried some other tools and the outcomes were subpar, animations very subtle so I just think we need to wait a bit until it levels up.

Cons. Currently, one of the major cons that is bugging me a lot is the 'one voice' limitation. I went for Tier 3 with the lure of 'train on unlimited products' but even for me personally, I feel I could benefit from adding a few voice versions (say, one is more fun, jokes, and casual for TikTok, Instagram.... the other is more professional for LinkedIn for example), but I was also considering using it for clients that in its current iteration seems impossible. They'd all be talking in my voice, haha.

Another con is $10/m subscription fee for access to Heartbeat and Copilot. If we could use our API keys instead, I think it would make more sense. While I don't cry over $10/m, I don't have a constant need for these things.

I saw a comment somewhere that both these things are on a roadmap and we'll have them soon. For me personally, that would easily lead to 5 stars. I'll be happy to change.

Yeah, the interface could be improved, the dark color scheme would be good, and there are some minor glitches here and there but IMHO it's all minor stuff, not worth splitting hairs, and I trust Peter Kell who's got a reputation to maintain (some of the best VSLs I've seen) will get his team to sort the bugs out.

Heck, I might even record a glowing video review at some point since I've been avoiding Social Media for so long just because it seemed such a time-eater. Genius AI gives me hope I can jump on this train without content creation taking my life over. I think you are up to a good start, just don't drop the ball, make sure you can sustain your growth financially, and don't forget your early adopters. I'm rooting for you!

Usage Context:

I purchased the TIER 4 level of Genius.AI through AppSumo, only to discover a major deception in the pricing structure.

Major Critical Points:

Deceptive Business Model:

The software is UNUSABLE without paying an additional $120 per year for "Copilot" - the core engine of Genius.AI

This mandatory fee for the essential engine component is not disclosed during the initial purchase

Without paying for "Copilot," you essentially bought a shell of a product that cannot function

Customer support is nonexistent unless you pay this additional subscription

A clear case of bait-and-switch pricing strategy: sell the shell, hide the engine behind a paywall

Personal Context:

After 51 successful purchases and nearly 3 years of positive experiences on AppSumo, this is the first time I've ever requested a refund. This fact alone speaks volumes about how problematic Genius.AI is, even by the most lenient standards.

Time-Consuming Setup:

5 hours wasted in an excessive configuration process

Dozens of redundant questions instead of a simple presentation file

Unnecessarily complex onboarding that drains user resources

Localization Issues:

Interface accepts French input

But videos are generated only in English, creating a major inconsistency

Terrible French voice-over quality when it finally works

Poor Technical Performance:

Excessive generation time for one minute of video

Image quality far inferior to competitors

Disappointing visual results across the board

Conclusion:

Genius.AI represents one of the worst investments possible on AppSumo. The product not only suffers from technical inadequacies but employs deceptive pricing practices by requiring additional payment for basic functionality after purchase. The combination of hidden mandatory fees, poor localization, and subpar performance makes this tool completely unsuitable for any professional use.

Recommendation:

AVOID AT ALL COSTS. This is potentially the worst purchase you can make on AppSumo, with many better alternatives available here on AppSumo that don't employ such deceptive practices.

It is a gem; if it modifies the UI, then it will be unparalleled.

I really wasn't looking to pick up a new tool, and when I first saw Genius.AI, it was initially a pass for me. I had recently picked up Mavic, and this tool seemed to be pretty comparable, so I held my ground and passed. Until I learned about the founder Peter Kell. He is good at what he does and while there may be a learning curve going from VSL creation to building a sustainable software, I get the feeling that Peter isn't going to let this tool fail. Initially, there were some negative interactions with the AS community because some of the features were not included in the deal and gated. Since then, it appears that the Genius.AI team has opened up some features, making it more palatable. A responsive team is always a good sign.
I want to turn to the tool itself. I've been playing with it for a few years, and immediately there are things I like, and things I don't like. Let's start with the dislikes: the dashboard is all over the place, really detracting from the user experience. The sidebar is filled with menu options that it's unclear where to start. There's an Assistant tab, which opens a sub-menu. Underneath that, Trends & Ideas, under that Media Creation. If I log in and want to create content, which of those am I choosing and why? The saving grace is that also on your dashboard are content ideas that you can click on and let Genius.ai start creating content. This is the "Social/Organic" dashboard. If I want to create a VSL, you have to click a link which takes you to a second sidebar? I feel like the tool is trying to packed with features, but the UX really needs work. (I had a similar criticism in my review of Mavic. When you log in, there are all these buttons which all take you to the same place - maybe.)
Another UX frustration is that you can't create content from the calendar. You have to create your content elsewhere, and then remember when/where you want to save it. It'd be great to work in the other direction - I can see my calendar, click on a date, have an option to create content, and then drill down to what I want to create.
I can go one with criticisms, but right now, it's mostly about the UX.
On to some of the good stuff. I love that it has ideas waiting for you as soon as you log in. Bam - 6 content ideas, pick one or more and run with them. When you select an idea, it creates a post that you can edit and modify for different platforms, choose to record yourself with a teleprompter, or create an AI short reel.
One of the main reasons I wanted to give Genius.ai a shot is because of the VSL script writing - which I haven't gotten around to just yet. I have to watch the tutorials to understand how to use the VSL part. It appears that the VSL scripts are based off of Peter's VSL Bible.
One aspect of this tool that I didn't see get much attention (and I'm not sure why) is the ability to auto-respond to message on social. You're probably familiar with the play - comment "WORD" below and I'll send you the goodie. This is awesome that it's included in here, and then you can carry those conversations within the platform. It looks like it's only for FB and IG at the moment, would be incredible if that tool expanded to LinkedIn, X, and/or TikTok.
This tool reminds me of Mavic in many ways. It really is a dashboard built on top of custom prompts (which is fine). Mavic let's you have multiple brands, add competitors (though not sure it does anything with competitor info), and let's you create multiple ICPs (which is the one feature I love most about Mavic). Genius.ai, on the other hand, is limited to one business (when you take the questionnaire, you can choose personal brand or business. Even assuming you can do one of each, it doesn't look like you can add more, though you can add multiple products, which I assume inherits the voice from the questionnaire). In addition to creating social media posts, you can create those AI shorts (fyi, pictures that pan and scroll stitched together with captions - it's not a video with actual character motion). Finally, the commenting on feeds is a really great inclusion. If Genius.ai and Mavic married each other, it could be the perfect content creation tool for all creators. Unfortunately, this isn't the case. I'm still going to play around with Genius, because my real hope was that it would help speed up my video creation process. I would definitely recommend picking it up and giving it a test spin because, while it has it's bugs, there's something about this tool that feels really powerful under the hood, and once the team is able to improve the packaging, I think this could be a powerhouse.