When ChatGPT came online a few years ago, it became the default model for most people’s tasks. Need help planning a vacation? Workshopping a proposal? Researching pet insurance? “I’ll ask ChatGPT,” was—and to some extent, still is—the most common response.

But generative AI has come a long way since 2023. In addition to the thousands of purpose-built tools for functions like data analysis and coding, there’s also the question of what general-purpose model to choose for everyday queries. ChatGPT now competes with Claude, Gemini, Copilot and others, each with different strengths, pricing structures and ideal use cases.

For most people, the choice has become genuinely confusing—and that confusion comes with a cost. Teams waste time on tools that aren’t right for the job; meanwhile, leaders are greenlighting subscriptions without a clear sense of the problem they’re solving.

Picking the right AI tool may seem daunting, particularly because the landscape is changing so quickly. But with just a little bit of legwork, it is possible to find the best fit.

Understand Your Needs

In order to think through which model will best suit your needs, it’s important to first understand what your needs actually are. Different models have different strengths—some are faster than others, some excel at deep research, some in visual outputs. It’s unlikely that you’ll use the same tool for creating a........

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