Five assistants.
One of them is yours.
You don't need all of them — you need the right one for the work you actually do. Here's an honest look at each, with a guided tour of the four controls that matter.
Tap a name. Get the tour.
Same four controls in every tool. Learn them once and you can walk into any of these.
- 1Start a new chat for each new job. One long thread that drifts between topics is the single most common mistake.
- 2Projects. Keep files and instructions together so you don’t re-explain yourself.
- 3The model picker. Faster models for quick jobs, the deeper one when the answer matters.
- 4The composer. Attach the real file. Context beats clever wording every time.
Illustration, not a screenshot — layouts change often, but these four controls exist in every one of these tools.
Claude by Anthropic
Long documents, careful reasoning, and writing that sounds like a person wrote it.
Where it wins
- Anything that needs judgement, not just speed
- Reading long files without losing the thread
- Writing in a voice that isn’t obviously machine-made
Trade-off: Fewer bolt-on extras than some rivals — it does the core job unusually well instead.
Three things to try first
- Paste a long document and ask what a specific person would object to
- Give it three bullet points and your last email, ask it to match your voice
- Ask it to argue the opposite of your draft, then fix the holes it finds
This is the assistant The First Inch is built around — every example in the course works here.
- 1Start a new chat for each new job. One long thread that drifts between topics is the single most common mistake.
- 2GPTs. Purpose-built mini-assistants for tasks you repeat.
- 3The model picker. Faster models for quick jobs, the deeper one when the answer matters.
- 4The composer. Attach the real file. Context beats clever wording every time.
Illustration, not a screenshot — layouts change often, but these four controls exist in every one of these tools.
ChatGPT by OpenAI
The one most people meet first. The widest ecosystem and the most add-ons.
Where it wins
- Quick drafts, brainstorms and rewrites
- Making images without leaving the chat
- Saving a repeatable task as a reusable assistant
Trade-off: The sheer number of options can be a distraction when you just want an answer.
Three things to try first
- Ask for five subject lines, then ask why it chose the first one
- Give it a messy list and ask for a table
- Build a small GPT for the report you write every month
If your team already has accounts, this is the path of least resistance.
- 1Start a new chat for each new job. One long thread that drifts between topics is the single most common mistake.
- 2Gems. Saved personas for recurring jobs.
- 3The model picker. Faster models for quick jobs, the deeper one when the answer matters.
- 4The composer. Attach the real file. Context beats clever wording every time.
Illustration, not a screenshot — layouts change often, but these four controls exist in every one of these tools.
Gemini by Google
Lives inside Docs, Gmail and Drive. If your work already sits in Google, start here.
Where it wins
- Summarising a Doc without leaving the Doc
- Long video, audio and large files
- Pulling together material scattered across Drive
Trade-off: Strongest inside Google’s own apps; less compelling outside them.
Three things to try first
- Open a long Doc and ask for the decisions, not the summary
- Ask it to draft a reply in Gmail using the thread as context
- Point it at a folder and ask what’s missing
The least friction if your day is already Docs, Sheets and Gmail.
- 1Start a new chat for each new job. One long thread that drifts between topics is the single most common mistake.
- 2Notebook. A scratchpad for longer prompts and iteration.
- 3The model picker. Faster models for quick jobs, the deeper one when the answer matters.
- 4The composer. Attach the real file. Context beats clever wording every time.
Illustration, not a screenshot — layouts change often, but these four controls exist in every one of these tools.
Copilot by Microsoft
Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams — the one your IT department has probably already paid for.
Where it wins
- Drafting in Word and explaining formulas in Excel
- Catching up on a Teams meeting you missed
- Working inside enterprise rules and permissions
Trade-off: Quality varies by app; brilliant in some, thin in others.
Three things to try first
- Ask Excel to explain what a formula actually does
- Ask for the action items from yesterday’s Teams call
- Turn a Word doc into a short deck outline
Often free to you already — worth checking before you pay for anything.
- 1Start a new chat for each new job. One long thread that drifts between topics is the single most common mistake.
- 2Spaces. Keep a running thread on a topic you track.
- 3The model picker. Faster models for quick jobs, the deeper one when the answer matters.
- 4The composer. Attach the real file. Context beats clever wording every time.
Illustration, not a screenshot — layouts change often, but these four controls exist in every one of these tools.
Grok by xAI
Wired into X, so it’s fastest on what is happening right now.
Where it wins
- Real-time reaction and trend checks
- A looser, more conversational tone
- Seeing what people are actually saying today
Trade-off: Less suited to careful, high-stakes written work.
Three things to try first
- Ask what changed in your industry this week
- Ask it to summarise the argument on both sides of a story
- Sanity-check a claim you saw online
A useful second opinion rather than your main workhorse.
The short version.
| Claude | ChatGPT | Gemini | Copilot | Grok | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| If your work lives in… | Anywhere | Anywhere | Google Workspace | Microsoft 365 | X / the open web |
| Best at | Judgement & long documents | Breadth & add-ons | Docs, Gmail, Drive | Word, Excel, Teams | Right now |
| Reusable setups | Projects | GPTs | Gems | Notebook | Spaces |
| Makes images | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Free tier worth using | Yes | Yes | Yes | Often via work | Yes |
| Used in this course | Yes — every example | Works fine | Works fine | Works fine | Works fine |
These tools change monthly. The judgement in this table is about what each one is shaped for, not a feature race — that part is deliberately durable.
Knowing which one isn't the same as using it well.
That's the whole course. Short lessons, a full library of prompts, and a role cheat sheet for the job you actually do.
30-day money-back guarantee