What the different kinds of AI do, which names are models and which are apps, how they link together, and which tools to try. No tech background needed.
What you open and use: the website, phone app or button inside your email.
Like a car. ChatGPT, Canva and Otter are apps.
The trained AI inside that does the actual work: writing, drawing, listening.
Like the engine. GPT, Claude, Gemini and Veo are models.
From here on we’ll just say model. One app can use several models, and the same model can power many apps. That’s why names get confusing: ChatGPT is the app, GPT is its model. Good news: you can usually just pick the app that suits your task and let it handle the models.
The names you hear fall into three groups. Knowing which is which explains most of the confusion.
They make their own model and their own app to use it.
A handy app built on top of someone else’s model.
You don’t open these directly. You use them through an app.
Apps and models connect in three ways. You’ll often see all three in one app.
The app quietly rents a model from an AI company and runs it for you. You never see or choose it.
Most apps work this way. When the model’s maker improves it, the app often gets better too.
The app has a menu so you can choose which company’s model answers you.
This is the way to use Claude and GPT side by side in one app.
Your assistant reaches into other apps and uses them for you, with your permission.
MCP is the plug standard behind this. Think of it as USB-C for AI: one shape, so the same connector works in many assistants.
Say you run a café and ask Claude for “a 10-second ad with a voice-over.” Here’s what happens behind the scenes:
Claude’s own model writes the script and describes each shot.
Through the Runway connector, Runway’s models turn those descriptions into video.
A voice connector like ElevenLabs reads the script. Without connectors, you’d copy and paste between three apps yourself.
The things people most often ask or mix up, from how apps connect to privacy and cost.
The video comes from the same Runway models either way, and it uses your Runway account and credits. What changes is who does the steps.
Rule of thumb: use the assistant when you want things done for you across several tools. Open the tool’s own app when you want hands-on control.
Not really. MCP plugs tools and data into an assistant (your files, Runway, Gmail, a website). It doesn’t swap the model doing the thinking. ChatGPT always thinks with OpenAI’s GPT models, and Claude always thinks with Claude models.
A developer could build a custom connector that forwards questions to Claude, but that’s a workaround: you pay for both, and Claude’s answer gets relayed through ChatGPT.
What actually works: use an app with a model picker (like Perplexity, Poe or Cursor) to switch models in one place, or keep both apps open. Since MCP is a shared standard, the same connectors, like Runway or Notion, can often be added to both ChatGPT and Claude.
The model doing the thinking. Both can reach Runway or your Google Drive, but each plans, writes and reasons in its own way. Many people use one for everyday work and try the other when a result isn’t right.
No. They’re different apps from different companies. Microsoft Copilot runs largely on OpenAI’s GPT models alongside Microsoft’s own, so answers can feel similar, but Copilot is built into Windows, Edge, Word, Excel and Outlook. GitHub Copilot is a separate product just for writing code.
Both use Google’s Gemini models, but they do different jobs. The AI answers at the top of Google Search summarize web results for one search. The Gemini app is a full assistant you can chat with, give files to and ask follow-ups.
Same family of models, three ways to use it. Claude is the chat app. Claude Code works directly in a coding project. The API is the doorway developers use to put Claude inside their own apps. OpenAI has the same split with ChatGPT, Codex and its API.
Each app adds its own hidden instructions, tools and settings, and some use a smaller, cheaper version of the model to save costs. Same model, different setup, different results.
Saved setups with your own instructions and files, so you don’t repeat yourself. They run on the same model underneath. They aren’t new models.
A wrapper is an app built on someone else’s model (an “App only” tool). That’s normal: you’re paying for a better design, a ready-made workflow and features for one job. Just check whether a general chatbot already does the same thing for you.
No. AI is the whole field. ChatGPT is one app that uses one family of models (GPT). Spam filters, map routes and phone cameras all use AI too.
AI is built to vary its wording a little each time, so you can ask again for a fresh take. If the facts change between answers, treat both with caution and check a reliable source.
A model learns from information collected up to a certain date, so it doesn’t know what happened after. Apps with web search turned on can look things up. Watch for source links.
Only if the app has a memory feature switched on. Otherwise each new chat starts fresh. Apps with memory let you view, edit or delete what’s saved.
Usually not. It reads your file to answer in that conversation. Whether files are stored is a privacy setting, not learning.
Paid plans usually use stronger models, allow longer files and chats, and add features like video or agents. Free versions are often a smaller, faster model.
Yes, with open models like Qwen, DeepSeek or Mistral and a free app such as LM Studio or Ollama. It keeps everything private, but you need a fairly powerful computer, and they’re usually less capable than the top online models.
Pick one general chatbot (ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini) and use it for a week on real tasks. Add specialist tools only when you hit a limit.
Mostly, but not blindly. AI can “hallucinate”: state something false with total confidence. Check facts, numbers, quotes and anything medical, legal or financial.
Treat it like email to a company. Avoid passwords, ID numbers and other people’s private details, and check the app’s privacy settings.
It depends on the app and plan. Many consumer apps let you switch this off in settings, and business plans usually don’t train on your data by default. Check before sharing anything sensitive.
You choose what to connect and approve the access, just like “Sign in with Google.” A connected assistant can only see and do what that permission allows. Check before it sends, posts, buys or deletes, and disconnect anything you stop using.
It depends on the tool’s terms and your country. Most tools let you use what you make, but some limit commercial use on free plans, and purely AI-made work may not get full copyright protection everywhere. Read the terms before selling anything.
Often, yes. You need your assistant’s plan plus an account with the connected service, and work done through the connector uses that service’s plan or credits.
24 kinds of AI tool, each with examples to try. Every example is labelled so you can see what it is and how you use it.
Something you open and use. It runs on a model from another company.
The company makes its own model and its own app for it.
The AI on its own. You can’t open it directly; you use it through an app.
Works inside apps you already use, like Gmail, Word, Zoom, Notion or your browser. No tool marked 🔌? It works on its own.
Tap any tool to see its listing from our directory: what it’s best for, pricing and similar tools.
No match. Try a simpler word, like “photo” or “write”.
Tools you talk to, type into, or learn with.
An app you chat with, like texting a very well-read helper.
Use it for: Questions, first drafts, ideas, explaining things, reading your files.
Answers can sound confident and still be wrong. Double-check anything important.
Browse all 17 in Chatbots & assistantsPolishes your writing: fixes grammar, rewrites sentences, changes the tone.
Use it for: Emails, essays, social posts, making text shorter or friendlier.
Great for how you say it. Still check what you say.
Browse all 18 in Writing & contentSearches the web for you, then sums up what it found with links to the sources.
Use it for: Quick research, comparing options, finding studies.
Open the source links. They're how you know the answer is real.
Browse all 11 in Research & data analysisUpload PDFs, notes or manuals, then ask questions. Answers come from your files.
Use it for: Summarizing reports, studying, finding a rule in a long policy.
Tech people call this “RAG”. Uploading a file doesn’t permanently teach the AI.
Browse all 11 in Research & data analysisExplains step by step, quizzes you, and helps you practice.
Use it for: Homework help, languages, exam prep, teacher planning.
Most useful when it helps you think, not just hands over the answer.
Browse all 12 in Education & learningMake pictures, videos, voices and music from a description.
Type what you imagine and get an image back. Many can also edit images.
Use it for: Illustrations, social graphics, product ideas, logos to start from.
Need words inside the image? Ideogram and ChatGPT handle text best. Check usage rights before selling anything.
Browse all 18 in Image generationRemoves backgrounds, erases objects, and sharpens or enlarges photos in one click.
Use it for: Product photos, profile pictures, fixing old or blurry images.
Fast and cheap compared with hand editing. Zoom in to check the edges.
Browse all 18 in Image generationTurns an outline or a few sentences into finished slides, posters or social designs.
Use it for: Presentations, flyers, pitch decks, branded posts.
Gets you 80% of the way. Swap in your own facts, photos and brand colors.
Browse all 14 in Business & marketingCreates short video clips from a description or a still photo.
Use it for: Social clips, ad ideas, animating a product shot.
Clips are usually seconds long; you join and edit them afterwards. OpenAI closed its Sora video app in 2026.
Browse all 17 in Video & animationType a script and a digital presenter says it on camera, in many languages.
Use it for: Training videos, explainers, product walk-throughs.
Never copy a real person’s face or voice without their permission.
Browse all 17 in Video & animationAdds captions, removes filler words, and cuts long videos into short ones automatically.
Use it for: Podcasts, YouTube, Reels and TikToks.
Descript lets you edit a video by editing its transcript, like a text document.
Browse all 17 in Video & animationTurns text into natural-sounding speech.
Use it for: Voice-overs, audiobooks, reading articles aloud, accessibility.
Cloning someone’s voice needs their clear consent.
Browse all 12 in Audio & musicMakes songs, background music or sound effects from a short description.
Use it for: Jingles, video soundtracks, podcast intros.
Read the license before using a track in anything commercial.
Browse all 12 in Audio & musicAI that takes in sound, pictures or another language and makes sense of it.
Turns speech into text, then writes a summary and a to-do list.
Use it for: Meetings, interviews, lectures, voice memos.
Let people know when you’re recording.
Browse all 17 in Productivity & note-takingLooks at a picture and tells you what’s in it, or reads the text.
Use it for: Identifying plants or products, explaining a chart, reading a menu or receipt.
Understanding a picture and creating one are different skills.
Browse all 17 in Chatbots & assistantsTranslates text, documents or conversations, and helps with pronunciation.
Use it for: Emails to clients abroad, travel, practicing a language.
For contracts or medical text, have a fluent person check the result.
Browse all 18 in Writing & contentGet AI to make software or do repeat work for you.
Suggests and writes code, explains errors, and fixes bugs.
Use it for: Programmers working faster; beginners learning to code.
Treat its code like a new colleague’s: review it and test it.
Browse all 17 in Coding & devDescribe the app or website you want and get a working version, no coding required.
Use it for: Prototypes, simple business tools, landing pages.
Ideal for first versions. Anything handling payments or private data needs an expert check.
Browse all 17 in Coding & devGive it a goal and it works through the steps itself: searching, clicking, filling in forms.
Use it for: Research reports, booking, comparing prices, multi-step chores.
It can only use what you give it access to. Review before it sends, buys or deletes anything.
Browse all 17 in Chatbots & assistants“When this happens, do that”: steps that run on their own, with AI handling parts like summarizing.
Use it for: Sorting emails, saving form replies to a sheet, posting updates.
Automations follow the steps you set. Agents decide the steps themselves.
Browse all 14 in Business & marketingAI built into email, documents, calendars and to-do apps you already use.
Use it for: Drafting replies, planning your week, summarizing long threads.
Often the easiest start: no new app to learn.
Browse all 17 in Productivity & note-takingAI you rarely chat with, but use every day in apps and shops.
Reads your spreadsheets, answers questions about them, and estimates what comes next.
Use it for: Sales trends, demand forecasts, spotting unusual numbers.
A forecast is an educated guess based on past data, not a promise.
Browse all 11 in Research & data analysisAnswers customer questions on your website or app, around the clock.
Use it for: FAQs, order tracking, passing tricky cases to a person.
Always give customers an easy way to reach a human.
Browse all 14 in Business & marketingThe “you might also like” behind shops, streaming and music apps.
Use it for: Suggesting products, shows, songs or articles people are likely to enjoy.
These pick from real items. A chatbot listing suggestions might invent some.
Browse all 14 in Business & marketingYou don’t need to choose these yourself, but you’ll see the names everywhere. Here’s who makes what, and where you’ll meet it.
Large language models (LLMs): they read and write.
Image models: they draw and edit.
Video models: they animate.
Speech and audio models: they listen and speak.
Examples are starting points, not rankings or ads. Tools change quickly, so features and prices vary by plan and country.
Browse 303 AI tools sorted by what you want to get done, with prices shown up front.