A Beginner's Honest Guide to AI Tools

When I first started exploring AI tools, I was completely lost. There are so many options, and everyone online seems to have strong opinions about which one is "best." After spending way too much time testing everything, here's my honest take.

For General Questions and Writing: Pick One and Stick With It

You don't need all of them. Really.

ChatGPT is the most versatile. It's good at almost everything and has the biggest user community, so help is easy to find.

Claude is what I use for longer documents. If I'm working on something that needs multiple pages analyzed, Claude handles that well.

Google Gemini is great if you're already in Google's ecosystem and want things integrated with your Gmail, Docs, etc.

My advice: pick one, use it for a month, then decide if you need something else. Don't tool-hop.

For Images and Design

Midjourney makes the most impressive images but requires Discord (which is annoying). DALL-E is easier to use and built into ChatGPT. Canva AI is perfect if you're making practical stuff like presentations rather than art.

I mostly use Canva because I need things that look professional, not artistic.

For Research

Perplexity has become my go-to for research. It's like Google but gives you direct answers with sources. Saves a lot of clicking through results.

NotebookLM is great for working with your own documents—upload a PDF and ask questions about it.

The Honest Advice

Don't try to learn everything. Pick one tool that solves a real problem for you. Use it until it becomes second nature. Then maybe add another.

I wasted months trying every new tool that came out. In hindsight, I would've been better off just getting really good at one thing.