Signal Over Noise Vol 2, Issue 22 | Jun 5 2026**
**How do you choose “the best” AI tool?
Don’t have time to read this week’s issue? Why not copy/paste it into your AI agent and ask it for insights?
A friend asked me this week to explain how to use “all the different AI tools” — ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, the lot. She wanted, in her words, a presentation for idiots. And honestly — me too, some days.
So I started writing her a list. ChatGPT does this, Claude does that etc and after about two lines in, I stopped — because I was about to hand her the exact thing every comparison site hands you: a chart of features that’s out of date by the time you read it.
That’s not what she needs. It’s not what you need either.
There’s No Best. There’s “Best-For-This”.
Underneath her question is the one everybody actually asks: which one is best?
There isn’t one.
I’m in and out of all of these most days, and every time I decide one’s pulled ahead, the next job flips it. The honest answer — the one the people who test these for a living keep landing on too — is that there’s no single best AI. There’s only the best one for the thing in front of you.
So stop shopping for the winner. Match the tool to the job. Here’s the map I’d draw:
Read straight down the middle — four jobs, four different answers. That table is the point: nothing to memorise, and nothing that wins everything. My first instinct was to file ChatGPT under “quick answers,” but that sells it short — it’s the one you open when you don’t yet know which one to open. And Gemini’s real strength is the making — images, video — not the writing, mind.
So I Gave Them the Same Job
I didn’t want to just tell her “Gemini’s writing is a bit stiff” and leave it there — that’s me passing on a rumour. So I tested it with the same brief, same words, to two of them: write a short, friendly email telling my dog-grooming customers prices are going up 10% next month. Don’t sound corporate.
Here’s a slice of what Gemini sent back:
To keep providing the high-quality care and pampered experience your pups deserve, I’ll be increasing my prices by 10%… the rising costs of the premium supplies and equipment we love…
It’s fine. It’s also got that faint sheen — pampered experience your pups deserve — the gift-shop warmth you can spot a mile off. I asked it not to sound corporate, and it barely flinched.
Here’s Claude on the identical brief:
Quick heads-up: from next month my prices are going up by about 10%. I’ve held them steady a good while, but everything that goes into a proper groom — shampoos, fresh blades, the heating that keeps the place warm while your dog gets fussed over — has crept up enough that I need to nudge mine too. Nothing else changes. Same chair, same unhurried fuss.
You can see the gap. I know which I’d send — and I know it because I watched them do it, not because a leaderboard told me so.
But that’s the actual (human) skill, by the way. Not memorising which tool wins what. Running a real job through them and noticing the difference yourself.
The One With All the Models
There’s always a clever objection here, and you’ll hit it too: what about Perplexity? It lets you pick whichever model you like — ChatGPT’s, Claude’s, Gemini’s. Isn’t that the best of the lot?
That’s a fair question. Perplexity does let you choose the engine. But it’s built for one job — research, with its sources shown — and the model you pick doesn’t change what it’s for. Point Claude’s engine at it and you don’t get Claude-the-writer; you get a research answer with links. Having every model on tap doesn’t make it good at every job. It makes it very good at one.
Which is the whole point again, really. The question was never which one has the most models behind it. It’s what you’re trying to do.
There’s a Breaking-In Period
But I think the most important advice is this: don’t let yourself get overwhelmed.
You can’t expect a perfect answer from any of them, first go, cold. They’re not all alike — you can’t lump them in one basket — and none of them really works until you’ve run it on your own work for a bit, learned its habits, let it learn yours. There’s a breaking-in period. Like a stiff new pair of boots, or anyone you’ve just started working alongside.
So pick one and get your hands dirty. Use it on something that actually matters next week and notice where it lets you down. That noticing is worth more than any guide I could write you — this one included.
Until next time
— Jim
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