Which AI Tool Should I Use?

A Friendly Guide to Getting Started Without Losing Your Mind.

Let’s be honest – choosing an AI tool can feel like standing in the shampoo aisle staring at 47 types of “hydrating curls”. Overwhelming, right?

So if you’re wondering which AI tool to start with, you’re not alone. With new tools launching every other Tuesday and every model claiming to be “the smartest one yet”, it’s hard to know what’s actually worth your time (and money).

But don’t worry – we’ve broken it down so you don’t have to learn four acronyms before breakfast. Here's how to think about your AI toolkit, and why we recommend starting with ChatGPT if you're new to the world of artificial intelligence.

First Things First: What Do These AI Tools Actually Do?

You don’t need to know every detail under the sun, but here’s the gist of what a good AI tool should offer:

• Reasoning: Can it think things through or just parrot back answers?
  
• Research: Can it browse the internet to get up-to-date info?
  
• Multimodal magic: Can it handle images, video, code, and data – or just plain text?
  
• Live conversation: Can it chat back in real time, like a friendly voice assistant?
  
• File handling: Will it read your documents and make sense of them?
  
• Privacy & control: Can you trust it with sensitive info?

Some tools are brilliant at one or two of these. A few can do nearly all of them, but mainly what do you need it to do and start there.

The Big Players: Who’s Who in AI Tools

Here are the main contenders if you’re thinking about jumping into AI right now:

1. ChatGPT (OpenAI) – The All-Rounder

If AI tools were smartphones, ChatGPT would be your iPhone. It’s got the apps, the features, and the polish.

• Live Mode: Talk to it like you would a mate – it can hear you, see images, respond naturally.
  
• Multimodal: Text? Yes. Images? Yup. Code? Absolutely. Data? Bring it on.
  
• Smart Thinking: OpenAI’s reasoning models (like GPT-4o and o1) are top of the class.
  
• Custom GPTs: Build a tailored assistant to suit your workflow.

Best For: Creators, marketers, small business owners, and anyone who wants one powerful tool that does it all. 

🟢 If you only pick one AI tool, start here. It’s versatile, powerful, and surprisingly friendly once you get the hang of it.

2. Gemini (Google) – The Research Pro - If you live in Google Workspace, Gemini feels like home.

• Deep Research: Excellent at summarising wide-ranging info from across the web.
  
• Video & Image Gen: Gemini’s Imagen 3 is leading the pack on visuals.
  
• Live Mode: Now live you can chat to it versus type the prompts in.

Best For: Researchers, strategists, visual content creators.
 
3. Claude (Anthropic) – The Intuitive One
Claude is a thoughtful model that feels like chatting with a wise friend.

Reads between the lines: Often gives nuanced, insightful responses.
Great with long documents: Think PDF reports and knowledge bases.
Fewer bells & whistles: But brilliant at human-like conversation.
Best For: Writers, thinkers, and those who love clarity and calm.
 
Honourable Mentions
DeepSeek: A free, open-source gem with fantastic reasoning – ideal for advanced users on a budget for deep research.
Copilot (Microsoft): Baked into Windows and Office. Good for casual users, though it's not always clear which AI it’s using.
Grok (X.ai): Available to X (Twitter) subscribers. Best if you're already living in that ecosystem.

Still Feeling a Bit "Too Much"?

Here’s the golden rule: Don’t try to learn them all at once. Pick one that feels right for your needs, and start exploring.

If you're not sure where to start, we highly recommend ChatGPT. Here’s why:

You can use it to write emails, generate content, summarise documents, analyse data, create images, troubleshoot code, brainstorm ideas, and talk to it like it’s a helpful co-worker.

It’s got the most developed Live Mode for voice and vision interaction.
It adapts to how you work and gets smarter the more you use it.
Basically, it's like hiring a whole team of assistants for the price of a monthly Spotify subscription.

Final Word: The Best AI Tool Is the One You Actually Use

There’s no perfect choice, and honestly, the tech is evolving so fast that today’s “best” tool might get outshone next week. But don’t let that stop you. Start small. Play around. Get curious.

Start with one tool – and let that be ChatGPT. It’s the Swiss Army knife of AI and it’ll help you build confidence without the overwhelm.

Got questions about how to use it for your content, workflows or customer experience? Pop us a message. We’re always up for a geeky chat over a (virtual) cuppa.