Navigating AI Tools

There are now dozens of AI tools available. Here is a practical guide to the main ones and what they are actually good for.

General-purpose chat AI

ChatGPT (OpenAI) — the tool that started the current AI wave. Strong all-rounder for writing, analysis, and explanation. Free tier available; paid tier (Plus) offers more capable models and image generation.

Claude (Anthropic) — often preferred for longer documents, nuanced writing, and tasks requiring careful reasoning. Strong safety focus. Free tier available.

Gemini (Google) — deeply integrated with Google products. Good choice if you use Gmail, Docs, or Drive, where it can access your actual files.

Copilot (Microsoft) — embedded in Windows, Edge, and Microsoft 365. Good choice if you live in Word, Excel, Outlook, or Teams.

Specialist tools

Perplexity — AI search that shows its sources. Good for research where you need to verify where information comes from.

Midjourney / DALL-E / Adobe Firefly — AI image generation. Midjourney produces the highest quality creative images; Firefly is commercially safe to use.

Otter.ai / Fireflies — AI meeting transcription and summarisation. Records meetings and produces summaries and action items.

Choosing what to use

For most everyday tasks, any of the major chat AI tools will do. The differences between them are smaller than the marketing suggests. Pick one, learn it well, and only explore alternatives when you hit a specific limitation.

The best AI tool is the one you will actually use. Start with one and get good at it before adding more.