ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini or Grok? — choose your first experiment

You do not need a single best tool

You have a task to do today and five possible AI assistants in front of you — but you do not know where to start your first conversation. For a beginner, the most important difference is not the technical model or the price, but what you want help with and which account you are using. Choose one and try it at your own pace.

Choose based on today’s task

1. 1

   You want general help with writing, brainstorming or explanations

   Start with ChatGPT. Try one short message or an everyday plan first.

2. 2

   You want to take your time organising or editing a longer text

   Try Claude. Paste a short piece of your own writing and ask it to organise or summarise it. When you return to the same subject later, Claude projects keep the material and instructions together in a separate space from other conversations.

3. 3

   You already use Google services a lot

   Try Gemini with one everyday question first, without connected apps.

4. 4

   You use Windows or Microsoft 365

   Try personal Copilot for an everyday task, such as wording a message.

5. 5

   You want to know what is happening right now

   Try Grok. Ask for a short overview of a current topic and request the original source so you can check it yourself.

Try the same task in your chosen service

Explain to me what “compound interest” means, first in one short paragraph for an adult beginner and then in one short paragraph for a 10-year-old child. Use one concrete everyday example in each version. Keep each version to no more than four sentences.

Give me a brief overview of what has happened in AI assistant news over the past month. List no more than three items, and give the original source for each so I can check the information myself.

Rewrite the version for the child. Use only words a primary-school child understands, and change the example to something a child experiences themselves, such as saving pocket money.

Check the account and permissions before going further

Service features depend on the account, settings, region and sometimes the organisation’s licence. Search, files, projects and connected apps are useful only once you understand what information you are using and what you are giving permission for.