A year ago, the question was:
“Do you use AI?”
Today, it’s more like:
“Okay, but which one?”
ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot… the list keeps growing, and the differences between them are becoming more important. The good news is: you don’t have to choose just one. Different AI tools are better suited to different tasks, in the same way you wouldn’t normally use Photoshop for a spreadsheet or PowerPoint for accounting. Although, technically, someone has probably tried.
ChatGPT: The All-Rounder
ChatGPT is a strong choice when the task is mixed: writing, brainstorming, analysis, structuring information, editing, research or problem-solving. Its biggest advantage is flexibility. You can move from one type of task to another without changing tools every five minutes.
Best for:
- brainstorming and ideas;
- writing and editing;
- marketing and content planning;
- analysing information;
- working with files;
- research;
- everyday business tasks.
In many situations, ChatGPT is that colleague you can hand everything to and say:
“Here’s the mess. Please organise it.”
Claude: When There’s a Lot to Read
Claude is particularly useful for long documents, detailed analysis and tasks where keeping track of a large amount of context matters. It is a natural fit for work that involves reading, understanding and restructuring complex information.
Best for:
- long documents;
- reports and contracts;
- editing longer pieces of writing;
- complex analysis;
- coding and more advanced workflows.
Claude is often a good option when the task begins with:
“I have 80 pages. Please don’t miss anything.”
Gemini: When Your Work Already Lives in Google
Gemini has an obvious advantage for people and teams already working heavily in the Google ecosystem. If your day starts in Gmail, continues in Docs and ends somewhere in Drive, it makes sense to have an AI tool that fits naturally into that environment.
Best for:
- Google Workspace workflows;
- research;
- analysing different types of media;
- multimodal tasks;
- teams already relying on Google products.
It’s less about switching to a completely different workflow and more about adding AI to the one you already have.
Perplexity: When Your First Question is “What are the Sources?”
Perplexity feels closer to an AI-powered search engine than a traditional chatbot. Its main strength is research: finding current information, comparing sources and helping you understand where an answer comes from.
Best for:
- quick research;
- comparisons;
- competitor research;
- checking current information;
- finding sources;
- preparing background material.
If the task starts with:
“Can you check what’s actually out there?”
Perplexity is often a very natural place to start.
Microsoft Copilot: When Your Office is Microsoft 365
Copilot makes the most sense for organisations already working in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and the wider Microsoft ecosystem. Its value comes from being close to the tools and data people already use every day.
Best for:
- Word documents;
- Excel analysis;
- presentations;
- corporate workflows;
- Microsoft 365 teams;
- working with internal company information.
Copilot is slightly less:
“Let’s brainstorm something interesting.”
And slightly more:
“Open the spreadsheet and tell me what’s going on.”
So, Which One is the Best?
There isn’t one universal answer. A more useful way to think about it is:
- For general-purpose work: ChatGPT
- For long-form analysis and documents: Claude
- For Google-based workflows: Gemini
- For research and source discovery: Perplexity
- For Microsoft 365 workflows: Copilot
That doesn’t mean one is objectively better than the others, they simply have different strengths. In practice, the best workflow may involve more than one tool.
For example:
Perplexity for research → ChatGPT or Claude for analysis → Gemini or Copilot for work inside your office ecosystem.
Don’t Choose AI by Popularity. Choose it by Task
One of the most common mistakes is looking for a single AI platform that should somehow do everything perfectly. A better approach is the opposite:
Start with the task. Then choose the tool.
AI platforms are gradually becoming more than different versions of the same chatbot. They are turning into different working environments for writing, research, analysis, coding, automation and everyday business tasks. The clearer you are about what needs to be done, the easier it becomes to decide what to use. And that is ultimately a much more useful question than:
“Which AI is the best?”
