The tool aisle is a mall. You need a desk.
Aside. The robot does not get your badge. Your manager still reads the email with your name on it.
This month: one general chatbot and the AI already sitting in the app you live in (Outlook / Gmail, Word / Docs, Teams / Slack, Excel / Sheets, your ticket tool). That is a stack. A twelfth logo is a hobby.
The general chatbot
Free tiers of ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are enough to learn. Paid tiers buy limits and sometimes a better model. They do not buy judgment.
- ChatGPT — default, everywhere, fine for drafts
- Claude — long documents, a slightly less breathless voice
- Gemini — handy if your life is already Google
Try the same work packet in two. Keep the one you will reread without sighing.
The in-app one
If your company paid for Microsoft Copilot or Google’s workspace assistant, use that for work data. Pasting the customer list into a consumer chatbot to “see if it’s better” is how people become a training story in the all-hands.
Perplexity is a search-shaped chatbot with links. Use it when you need a trail, not when you need the CRM.
Image and video toys can wait until your job actually needs a picture. Most jobs need a clearer email first.
The 10-minute pick
- Confirm what your employer allows. If there is a policy, that is the tool.
- Run one real task, not “write a poem about synergy.”
- If the free cap blocks you this week, then look at paid. If it does not, keep the wallet closed.
Try this today
I am allowed to use: [tool].
Task: [real thing on your list].
Draft it. Label guesses NEED. I will edit.
Do that five days in a row. Then you may shop.
You are done when
You can name your two tools without opening a comparison spreadsheet.