Business & Real Estate: Magic answers, flattering help from Claude, Grok, GPT or Gemini

BY BRENT MCCONNELL

My son calls me a “learn-aholic” because I dive into classes and random learning adventures, determined to learn everything I can before moving on to the next subject. I know way too much about too many obscure topics. It’s come in handy learning foreign languages, rebuilding a neglected 1978 turntable and making great Barolo, but it also takes time to separate what’s important from what’s just interesting. The pursuit of knowledge can be overwhelming.

What if you could have most of the world’s information available in a way that actually applies to you personally?

That’s essentially what today’s AI chatbots, powered by large language models (LLMs), offer. Instead of spending hours sifting through forums and conflicting blog posts, I can ask a direct question and get a refined answer in seconds. For an information sponge, that’s dangerously appealing and opens up a new world of possibilities.

If you find that kind of thing helpful or interesting, where can you start? 

There are several major players worth knowing. ChatGPT is the household name and is a strong all-around performer for everyday tasks and creative writing. Claude excels at deep reasoning and well-organized writing. Gemini integrates tightly with Google Search, Gmail, Docs and the rest of Google’s ecosystem. Grok emphasizes real-time information and draws heavily from content on X. Meta AI appears inside Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, making it convenient if you already spend time on those platforms and want quick answers without leaving the app.

With all of those to choose from, which is best for you? The capability gap between the leading models has narrowed dramatically. For most common questions – finding a recipe substitution, drafting a letter or understanding a medical term – they’ll all work fine and do a good job.

Most offer free versions and you probably won’t need anything more than that. If you want faster responses, longer conversations or access to their newest and most capable models (deeper research, better AI images, etc.), the standard paid plans generally cost about twenty dollars a month. There are more expensive tiers for people doing specialized or heavy-duty work, but for most people, the free version or the basic paid subscription is plenty.

Before you dive into all of this and start to rely on a chatbot, know where they can’t be completely trusted. They can sound completely confident and authoritative while being completely wrong. It’s called a “hallucination” and something every AI user should understand before trusting AI with medications, legal advice or financial decisions. Treat the answer as a well-informed first draft, not the final word. Always verify anything consequential with a reliable source or a qualified professional. 

There’s a second caution worth taking seriously, and it has nothing to do with accuracy: privacy. Whatever you type into these chatbots may be stored, reviewed in some circumstances and in some cases used to improve future AI models. Treat them the same way you would any online interaction. If you wouldn’t give it to a stranger, don’t give it to a chatbot. Don’t enter your Social Security number, bank account, credit card numbers, passwords or detailed medical records. It’s perfectly reasonable to describe symptoms in general terms to better understand a diagnosis, but there’s no reason to include your name, address or other personal details. 

So where do these tools genuinely help? I’ve used AI to help me understand medical terminology after a doctor’s appointment – not to replace the doctor, but to help me understand what the doctor just told me. It’s pretty good at drafting emails, organizing travel plans or helping learn a new hobby without making you feel foolish for asking beginner questions. For someone who enjoys learning, it satisfies curiosity almost instantly without sending me down a three-hour internet rabbit hole.

You don’t need to understand how any of this works to benefit from it. Pick one and ask it something minor: a gift idea, a recipe or where a word came from. See how it feels. Each has its own personality, and you’re not locked into any one of them. 

Dive in, but be careful. Chatbots can be incredibly helpful, but like social media, they are designed to hold your attention. They are tools – not friends and not confidants. The internet gave us access to an enormous amount of human knowledge.

AI may finally give us a practical way to put it to use.