You’ve heard of ChatGPT. But do you actually know which AI model is right for your business — and why using just one might be slowing you down instead of speeding you up?
Timestamps:
- [0:00] — The steak and spoon analogy: why most business owners are using AI wrong
- [3:00] — ChatGPT: the Kleenex of AI, what it’s good for, and the hallucination problem
- [9:00] — Claude: why it feels like talking to an emotionally intelligent adult
- [13:00] — Gemini: the best tool if you live in Google Workspace
- [16:00] — Perplexity: the AI search engine your competitors don’t know about yet
- [19:00] — Grok: what makes it different and what to watch out for
In This Episode You’ll Discover
- Why ChatGPT is the most famous AI tool and not always the best one for your daily business workflow
- How Claude thinks differently from every other model — and why that changes the way you should talk to it
- The one place Gemini beats everything else if you run your business inside Google
- Why Perplexity might be the most important tool for your business visibility that you’ve never heard of
- The truth about AI knowledge cutoffs — and which models actually have access to current information
About this Episode:
Not all AI tools work the same way — and using the wrong one for the wrong job is why so many business owners feel like AI isn’t working for them. In this episode, Bella breaks down the major models from her own real-world experience in March 2026: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Grok. What each one does well. Where each one falls short. And how to stop using one spoon for everything.
Resources and Links Mentioned:
- Magai — All the major AI models in one place, 30% off for 3 months
- The Jumpers Mastermind — Where Bella works with business owners on AI, hiring, marketing, and more
- Free 20-Minute Call with Bella — One problem, 20 minutes, totally free
- How to Switch from ChatGPT to Claude Without Losing Your Brain — Bella’s blog post
- Watch Bella’s ChatGPT Agent Mode Reel on Instagram
CONNECT WITH BELLA
Free 20-Minute Call with Bella
Subscribe to Bella in Your Business
Find Bella on Instagram and Facebook — search Bella Vasta
FAQ SECTION:
What is the difference between ChatGPT and Claude?
ChatGPT is the most widely known AI and excels at a wide range of tasks, agent automation, and image generation. Claude tends to be more precise, asks better clarifying questions, and produces fewer errors — making it better for writing, deep analysis, and coding. Most serious business owners end up using both for different jobs.
Which AI model is best for small business owners?
There is no single best model — the right answer depends on the task. ChatGPT is the easiest starting point. Claude is best for deep work, writing, and analysis. Gemini is best if your business runs on Google Workspace. Perplexity is best for research and checking how your business appears in AI search. Grok has real-time access to X/Twitter content. Use different tools for different jobs.
What is Perplexity AI used for?
Perplexity is a search engine powered by AI. Instead of giving you a list of links like Google, it reads the web and gives you a direct answer with cited sources you can verify. It is especially useful for research, fact-checking, understanding what questions your customers are asking, and seeing how your business appears in AI search results.
Do I need to pay for AI tools to get good results?
Free versions of AI tools are typically six months to over a year behind the paid versions in capability. If you tried AI on a free plan and it felt limited, that’s likely why. Paid plans are $20 per month or less for most tools. Magai lets you access most of the major models for the price of one subscription — it’s where Bella recommends starting.
What does ‘AI knowledge cutoff’ mean?
Every AI model is trained on data up to a certain date. After that date, it doesn’t know what happened in the world. As of March 2026, most models are trained through late 2024 or 2025. This is why they can’t tell you today’s news unless they also have a web search tool connected. Perplexity and Grok are specifically built around real-time web access.
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Have you ever tried to eat steak with a spoon?
Like… actually tried it. No knife. No fork. Just a spoon.
You can’t cut it. You can’t stab it. You end up having to pick the whole thing up and just… bite into it. And now it’s dripping. And your fingers are a mess. And you need a napkin. And now you’re annoyed. And the steak was GOOD… but you barely got to enjoy it because the whole experience was just a disaster.
Now imagine someone hands you a knife AND a fork.
Suddenly the same steak is a completely different experience. Bite-sized. Clean. Enjoyable. You’re actually tasting it instead of wrestling with it.
That’s what AI literacy is.
Most business owners right now are sitting at the table with one tool… one spoon… and wondering why AI feels overwhelming and messy and like more work than it’s worth.
Today we’re going to fix that.
I’m Bella Vasta, and this is Bella in Your Business. Let’s get into it.
Before we dive in… if you’re finding value here, hit subscribe wherever you’re listening. And if there’s a topic you want me to dig into, send me a message. I actually read them.
So I want to back up for a second and tell you why I’m doing this episode.
In my last episode, I touched on the differences between the major AI models… and a LOT of you came back and said you wanted more. You wanted me to go deeper into my own personal experience with each one.
So that’s what we’re doing today.
I want to be really clear about a few things before I start though.
Number one… this is March 2026. This space is moving FAST. What I’m sharing is accurate right now, in this moment. But six months from now, some of this may look different. That’s just the nature of AI.
Number two… these are MY personal experiences and opinions. Not sponsored recommendations. Not political statements. I have no axe to grind with any of these companies.
And number three… and this is IMPORTANT…
If you think you know what AI can do because you’ve been using the free version… you don’t.
I’m not saying that to be harsh. I’m saying it because it’s true. The free versions of most of these tools are running on older models… anywhere from six months to over a year behind what the paid versions can do. So if you tried AI once, it felt limited, and you moved on? That wasn’t AI. That was a demo.
Okay. With that said… let’s talk about the tools.
ChatGPT. Let’s start here because… everyone starts here.
ChatGPT is the Kleenex of AI. It’s the Xerox. It’s the name that became the thing. When someone says “I asked AI,” they almost always mean they asked ChatGPT.
And look… it got us here. It introduced an entire generation of business owners to what AI could do. That matters.
But I want you to think about something. Remember Yahoo? Yahoo was THE search engine. Dominant. Everywhere. And then Google came along, and within a few years… Yahoo who?
ChatGPT could very well be the Yahoo of this moment. That doesn’t mean it’s bad. It means you shouldn’t assume it’s the only option just because it’s the most famous one.
Here’s my honest take on ChatGPT…
The best thing about ChatGPT is its ecosystem. It has the GPT store, where you can find and use custom-built AI tools. It has projects. It has agent mode, which I actually love for very specific tasks.
Agent mode is where ChatGPT can go take action FOR you. Not just answer a question… actually DO a thing. I’ve done reels about this. Like asking it to figure out what I need to buy for the week, build a grocery list, and then have the agent actually add everything to Instacart and get it delivered. No rabbit holes. No “ooh, that looks good too.” Just… done.
That’s genuinely useful.
But here’s where I get a little bit… complicated on ChatGPT.
Talking to ChatGPT for me sometimes feels like talking to a very enthusiastic, very distracted five-year-old. You ask it one thing and it gives you that thing PLUS twelve other things you didn’t ask for. It assumes. It keeps going. It will never stop and say “wait, what do you actually mean?”
And here’s the bigger issue. ChatGPT will NEVER tell you it doesn’t know something. It will make up an answer. Confidently. Professionally. Completely wrong. That’s called hallucinating, and ChatGPT does it more than any other major model I use regularly.
Studies have measured hallucination rates across models and found they can range anywhere from a few percent to over 30% depending on the task. And the problem isn’t that it’s wrong. The problem is that it SOUNDS right. It gives you a polished, confident answer… and now you trust it and share it… and it was made up.
Most business owners I know are already overwhelmed. Already going in five directions. The LAST thing you need is a tool that also goes in five directions and occasionally makes stuff up.
Great for playing around. Great for agent tasks. Great for the GPT store. Just… go in with your eyes open.
Now let’s talk about Claude. And I want to be upfront… Claude is my daily driver. This is the tool I actually live in.
The best way I can describe the difference between ChatGPT and Claude is this:
ChatGPT is like talking to a smart kid who never stops talking.
Claude is like talking to a really emotionally intelligent adult who actually listens before they respond.
Claude will stop you. It will ask clarifying questions. It will tell you if it thinks you’re heading in the wrong direction. It will tell you when it’s not sure about something instead of just making something up. That is RARE in this space.
And here’s something important that I want to flag for anyone who used ChatGPT first and then switched to Claude… the way you talk to Claude is different.
With ChatGPT, people have gotten really into prompt engineering. Very specific instructions. Very detailed setups. And there’s a time and place for that.
With Claude, you just need to give it your end goal and let it figure out how to get there. You don’t need to say “I want to go to Boston and I’ll be driving, and I want to stop four times, and I need to avoid tolls.” You just say “I’m trying to get to Boston as fast as possible.” And it works it out.
Over-prompting Claude actually limits it. You end up building guardrails without realizing it.
Claude is also exceptional at two specific things that matter for small business owners.
One is coding. If you need something built, a workflow, a tool, anything tech… Claude is where I’d go.
Two is working inside your documents. I can take a screenshot directly in Claude without having to download it, save it, then upload it somewhere else. That sounds small. It is not small. That friction kills productivity.
There’s also a whole enterprise side to Claude that bigger organizations are building on. But for the everyday small business owner just trying to work smarter? Claude is where I’d send you.
Speaking of working smarter… if you are still trying to figure out which AI tool to even start with, I want to make that decision really easy for you.
Magai. M-A-G-A-I. Go to jumpconsulting.net/magai.
Magai gives you access to most of the major AI models AND image tools… all in one place… for less than the cost of a single monthly subscription. I’m talking ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, image generators… all of it. One login. One price. And if you use my link, you get 30% off for the first three months.
If you are not sure where to start, START THERE. Stop trying to decide. Just get in and play.
Okay. Back to the models.
Gemini. Google’s model. And honestly? I don’t use it the way I use ChatGPT or Claude.
Where Gemini SHINES for me is its native integration with Google Workspace.
I am, by my own admission, spreadsheet illiterate. So when I need a spreadsheet to do something? I ask Gemini. Because it’s already IN the spreadsheet. I don’t have to export anything or copy-paste. It’s just… there.
Same thing with Gmail. If I’m drafting an email and I want to clean it up or make it sound better, there’s a button right inside my email that sends it straight to Gemini and puts it right back when it’s done. No switching apps. No reformatting. Done.
And Google Docs. Same thing. Direct integration into my Google Drive.
If you live in Google Workspace the way a lot of small business owners do… Gemini makes your existing tools smarter without making your workflow more complicated.
That’s its sweet spot.
Okay. Perplexity. This one is different from everything else I’ve talked about, and I want you to understand WHY.
Perplexity is not a chatbot. It’s a search engine that actually thinks.
Think about Google as a librarian who points you to the right shelf. Perplexity is a knowledgeable friend who actually READ the books and can tell you exactly what you need to know… with the receipts. Every answer comes with cited sources you can click and verify.
Here’s why small business owners specifically need to know about Perplexity.
First… research. Instead of opening 10 browser tabs and trying to synthesize information yourself, Perplexity does that in seconds. Competitor research. Local market trends. What are people asking about your industry. Quick and cited.
Second… checking how AI sees your business. You can type your business name or your service into Perplexity and see exactly what AI is saying about you. Are you showing up? Are you being recommended? This is called AI search visibility and it is becoming as important as Google right now. Perplexity is processing over 780 million searches a month and that number is climbing fast.
Third… keyword and content research. Not just Google keywords… AI search keywords. The questions people are asking AI are slightly different from what they type into Google. Perplexity shows you what those questions look like in real time.
This is why I’ve been so focused on making sure my website and my content show up in AI search. I mentioned earlier that I got two leads in one day from ChatGPT because of the work I’ve been doing on this. Perplexity is part of that equation.
Now. Let’s talk about something I need to make sure I get right, because I’ve heard people get this wrong on other podcasts and I don’t want to be that person.
Every AI model has something called a knowledge cutoff. A date where its training data stops. After that date, the model doesn’t know what happened. As of March 2026, most models are trained up through late 2024 or 2025 depending on the version.
So if you ask an AI what’s happening in the news right now… most of them don’t actually KNOW. They might have tools that search the web. But that’s a different thing from actually knowing.
Grok is made by xAI, which is Elon Musk’s company, and it’s deeply integrated into X, formerly Twitter. And yes, Grok has access to real-time information from X’s platform. That’s a genuine differentiator.
BUT… Grok is NOT the only model with access to current information anymore. ChatGPT has web browsing. Claude has web search tools. Gemini pulls from Google’s real-time index. Perplexity is built on live web search from the ground up.
The difference is HOW they do it and how much you trust the workflow. Grok’s real-time strength is specifically around social media conversation and breaking news on X. For general business use, the others have largely caught up on web access.
Grok is also known for… let’s call it a lack of guardrails. It’s more willing to go places other models won’t. Some people love that. Some people find it problematic. I’ll let you make your own call on that one.
Okay. So let’s bring this back to the steak.
You needed a knife. A fork. AND a spoon.
ChatGPT is your fork. Great for getting things done, for agent tasks, for playing around. Just fact-check it.
Claude is your knife. Precise. Thoughtful. Does the heavy lifting cleanly.
Gemini is your spoon. The right tool for the right job inside your Google world.
Perplexity is the sommelier who tells you exactly what you’re looking at and shows you the receipts.
And Grok is the person at the next table who knows all the gossip and isn’t afraid to say it.
You don’t have to master all of them. But knowing what each one does best means you stop using a spoon to cut a steak.
One action I want you to take this week… pick ONE of these you haven’t tried yet and spend 20 minutes with it. Not to work. Just to play. That’s it. That’s the homework.
If you want to go deeper on this without it feeling overwhelming… the Jumpers mastermind is where I do this work every single week with business owners. Monday through Friday, you’ve got access to me. Two live on-screen sessions a month. A free 20-minute coaching call with me every single month where you bring one problem and we work through it together.
Plus there are 8 years of archives in there… hiring, marketing, AI, the numbers, operations… it started in 2018 and we haven’t stopped. It’s like having a library AND a coach in the same place.
Any business owner is welcome. Head to jumpconsulting.net to learn more.
If this hit for you… share it with one other business owner who needs to hear it. And as always, Jumpers…
Keep jumping!