2026 edition · Step 3 of 11 · 10 min

What these tools are (and are not)

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In everyday language

AI tools can help you draft and explore ideas, but they can also get things wrong. Try one tool and check its answer before using it.

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Illustration for the Working with AI course
Full lesson & technical details

Claude, ChatGPT, Grok and Gemini do the same job in different flavors. Learn where they shine, where they fail, and why you never ship a first draft.

Same job, different flavors

All four tools take text in and produce text out, trained on a huge slice of the written internet. Ask for a caption, an outline, a cover letter or a plan and you get a fluent draft in seconds.

The differences that matter for selling services:

Tool Where it shines Watch out for
Claude Long documents, careful tone, editing your draft instead of rewriting it, Projects that remember a client Free plan has a daily cap; plan heavy sessions
ChatGPT Brainstorming, quick variations, image help, the widest set of plug-in tools Defaults to a chirpy generic voice unless told otherwise
Grok Current events and what people are saying on X right now, blunt feedback, local business research Can be overconfident; always verify local facts yourself
Gemini Works inside Google Docs, Gmail and Sheets; good with Google tools your clients already use Sometimes shorter and vaguer unless you push for detail

What they are bad at

  1. Facts. They will invent a statistic, a quote, a store’s opening hours. Fluent and wrong is the default failure.
  2. Math and counting. Word counts, prices with tax, dates. Check every number.
  3. Recent events. Unless the tool searches the web (and says so), it may be months out of date.
  4. Sounding like a specific person. Left alone, every client sounds the same. Lesson 4 fixes this.
  5. Knowing when to stop. They pad. Your job includes cutting.

The rule for every track

AI writes the first draft. You finish it. The finishing is what the client pays for: checking facts, matching their voice, cutting the padding, making it specific to their business. A seller who pastes raw output gets found out by the second order.

Worked example

Example · The same prompt in two tools

Prompt: Write one Instagram caption for a neighborhood bakery announcing that sourdough now comes out at 6:30am on weekdays. Under 40 words. Warm, not salesy. No hashtags.

ChatGPT (raw): Rise and shine! ☀️ Our sourdough is now fresh out of the oven at 6:30am every weekday. Start your morning right with a warm slice of goodness!

Claude (raw): Sourdough comes out at 6:30 now, weekdays. Early enough to grab a loaf before drop-off. We will have coffee on.

What the difference tells you: both are usable raw material. The first needs the exclamation marks and “goodness” cut; the second needs one specific detail (the Texas mill flour). Neither is the deliverable yet.

Instructions you can copy (prompts)

Copy the instructions, replace the words inside {braces} with your details, and paste them into your AI tool. Check and edit the answer.

Compare two tools on the same task Any tool
Write one Instagram caption for a neighborhood bakery announcing that sourdough now comes out at 6:30am on weekdays. Under 40 words. Warm, not salesy. No hashtags.
Try it

Run the prompt card in two different tools (open a second one in a new tab, no account needed for a quick test in most). Paste both captions below and note one difference you see.

Done when: You have two captions and one sentence about how they differ.. Sign up to save your work to your account.

Quick knowledge check

3 questions, 60% passes. Checkpoints, the certification exam (three versions) and the reviewed final project are unlocked with a free account.

  1. A client asks for a blog post that cites “the latest industry statistics.” What do you do with the numbers the AI gives you?
  2. Which is the best description of the seller’s job on Zertiko?
  3. Why does a track let you choose a tool lane?
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Start this course free

Create a free account to track progress, try AI instructions and work toward your certificate. You will return to this course.

No card. Buyers and sellers use the same account.