AI Fundamentals, No Fluff — Day 2/10
Back in 2022, I started with ChatGPT because it was the only option. When competitors started showing up, I tried them all: Bard (which became Gemini), Bing Chat (which became Copilot), Claude, Meta AI. I stuck with ChatGPT for a long time, then started running Claude in parallel once it was available. The others didn't grab me enough to keep using them, so I didn't give them much focus.
Through all of that, I spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to figure out which one was "the best." I read comparison articles. I watched YouTube reviews. I looked at benchmarks. Everyone had a different answer, but none of them felt definitive.
What I eventually figured out is that for what most people are doing, it probably doesn't matter that much... Also, I was asking the wrong question. There is no real answer to which model is "the best" for everything. They all have things that they are better at than others.
The big names
There are a handful of AI chatbots that most people will encounter:
ChatGPT (by OpenAI, launched November 2022) is the one that started the whole conversation. It has the widest ecosystem of plugins and tools, can generate images, and is probably the most recognizable name in AI right now. It is the Swiss army knife.
Claude (by Anthropic, public access July 2023) is the one I use the most. It is particularly good at long, nuanced conversations and following complex instructions. If you are pasting in a 50-page document and asking questions about it, Claude handles that well. It also has a strong reputation for coding assistance.
Gemini (by Google, launched as Bard in March 2023) lives inside the Google ecosystem. If you already use Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Search heavily, Gemini integrates directly into those tools. That convenience is its biggest differentiator. It also has the largest context window of any major model, meaning it can hold the most information in a single conversation.
Copilot (by Microsoft, launched as Bing Chat in February 2023) is similar to Gemini but for the Microsoft world. It runs on the same technology as ChatGPT under the hood, but it is baked into Windows, Edge, and Office. If you live in Microsoft's ecosystem, it is the path of least resistance.
Meta AI (launched April 2024) is completely free with no paid tier. It is built into WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook, so you might already be using it without realizing it. It is not as capable as the paid options for complex tasks, but for quick questions inside apps you are already in, the zero-friction access is its real strength.
There are others worth knowing about. Perplexity is built specifically for research and gives you cited sources with every answer. Grok is integrated into X (formerly Twitter). New ones keep appearing.
When the choice doesn't really matter
If you are asking an AI to help you write an email, summarize a document, brainstorm ideas, or explain a concept, any of the major options will do a decent job. The differences at that level are like the differences between Google and Bing for basic searches. They exist, but they rarely change the outcome.
For casual use, the best AI is whichever one you have the easiest access to. If you already have ChatGPT open, just use that. Deep in the Google ecosystem? Gemini is right there. Don't overthink it.
One thing worth knowing first
Each of these companies does not just offer one AI. They offer a range of models designed for different tasks. OpenAI has GPT-4o for general use and their "o" series for complex reasoning. Anthropic has Sonnet for everyday tasks and Opus for deeper, more nuanced work. Google has Flash for speed and Pro for capability. You do not need to memorize these, but knowing that "ChatGPT" or "Claude" is actually a family of models, not a single thing, helps make sense of the options you will see when you sign up.
On the free tier, you typically get access to the mid-range model. Paying $20 a month usually unlocks the more capable ones.
When it does matter
There are situations where the choice makes a real difference:
Long documents. If you are working with large amounts of text (contracts, research papers, codebases), context window size matters. This is the model's ability to hold information in a single conversation, measured in tokens (from Day 1). Gemini currently leads here with the largest context window, but Claude is also strong in this area. These numbers change regularly as models are updated.
Coding. Some models are measurably better at writing and debugging code. Claude has been a consistent leader in practical coding benchmarks for well over a year, though OpenAI's models have been competitive and the lead keeps alternating with new releases. If coding is your primary use case, Claude and ChatGPT are the two to compare seriously.
Integration with your tools. If you want AI embedded in your daily workflow, the ecosystem matters more than the raw capability. Gemini inside Google Docs might be more useful to you than a technically superior model that lives in a separate browser tab.
Specific reasoning tasks. For complex analysis, math, or multi-step logic, the differences between models become more noticeable. If you ask a straightforward question, most models will give you a good answer. But if you ask something that requires connecting multiple pieces of information, holding constraints in mind, or working through a problem step by step, some models handle that significantly better than others.
OpenAI and Anthropic both offer models specifically designed for deeper reasoning (OpenAI's "o" series and Claude's Opus tier). These are noticeably stronger on complex tasks than the standard models. If you find yourself regularly asking multi-step questions, this is where trying the same prompt across two or three models can be genuinely revealing.
Free vs. paid
All of the major services offer a free tier. Depending on your need, your tier might be more important than your choice of model. On the free tier, you get access to the AI with usage limits (remember the tokens discussion from Day 1?). When you hit the limit, you wait for it to reset or you upgrade.
Paid tiers are almost universally $20 per month. What you get: higher usage limits, access to the most capable model versions, and priority access during peak times. If you are using AI daily for work, $20 a month is an easy decision. If you are using it casually a few times a week, the free tier is probably fine.
The real advice
Pick one and learn it well. Get good at writing prompts for it. Understand its quirks. Build a feel for what it handles well and where it struggles. That investment in one tool will serve you better than surface-level experience across five of them.
Things change constantly in this space. The "best" model today might be second-best in three months. But your skill at communicating with AI transfers across all of them. That is the durable investment.
Next time: what actually makes a good prompt "good"? (This is where it gets practical.)
If there is anything I left out or could have explained better, tell me in the comments.
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