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Session 1: Getting Useful Answers from AI

AI Assistants

Written by Charli-Jo Tyrer for TAVIP, July 2026

This handbook is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. You may copy, share, adapt and use it for any purpose, including commercially, provided that you credit the author.

Suggested attribution: AI Assistants, written by Charli-Jo Tyrer for TAVIP, July 2026. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Introduction

Welcome

This handbook accompanies the Confident with AI course.

What is an AI assistant?

For this course, when we say AI, we mean AI assistants: computer programs you can have a conversation with using ordinary language.

The five assistants covered are:

How do I choose one?

There is no single best assistant. Choose the one that feels easiest for you to use. The skills in this course transfer between all five.

Things all AI assistants can do

Things all AI assistants get wrong

Every AI assistant can:

Always use your own judgement and check important information.

ChatGPT

What is it?

ChatGPT is an AI assistant. You can ask it questions, have conversations, and ask it to write, explain, summarise, plan, translate or help solve problems.

Think of it as someone you can ask for a first draft, an explanation or another way of thinking about a problem.

ChatGPT uses artificial intelligence to generate its responses. Like all AI assistants, it can be extremely useful, but you should still use your own judgement and check important information.

Who makes it?

ChatGPT is made by OpenAI, an AI company.

What does ChatGPT mean?

The name has two parts.

Chat refers to the way you can have a conversation with it.

GPT stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer.

You do not need to understand what a Transformer is to use ChatGPT. It is simply the name of the type of AI model that powers the assistant.

Where do I use it?

You can use ChatGPT:

You can create a free OpenAI account. ChatGPT also allows limited use without signing in.

Does it cost anything?

There is a free version, which is suitable for most people getting started.

Paid subscriptions are also available. These provide higher usage limits and additional features.

For this course, the free version is perfectly adequate.

What is ChatGPT good at?

Many people use ChatGPT to:

ChatGPT is widely used and offers a broad range of features. Because so many people use it, there are also plenty of guides, examples and sources of help available.

What should I be careful about?

Do not assume ChatGPT is always right.

It can misunderstand your question, invent facts, provide incomplete or out-of-date information, and sound confident while being wrong.

Always check important information, particularly when making medical, legal or financial decisions.

Should I choose ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is an excellent place to start if you have never used an AI assistant before. It is widely available, relatively easy to begin using, and has become the assistant many people first think of when they hear the term AI.

You do not need to choose the perfect AI assistant. The best place to start is often whichever one feels easiest for you to use.

Remember

ChatGPT is one AI assistant. The others discussed during this course are Claude, Copilot, Gemini and Grok.

The skills you learn in this course transfer between all of them.

Claude

What is it?

Claude is an AI assistant. You can ask it questions, have conversations, and ask it to write, explain, summarise, plan, translate or help solve problems.

Think of it as someone you can ask for a first draft, an explanation or another way of thinking about a problem.

Claude uses artificial intelligence to generate its responses. Like all AI assistants, it can be extremely useful, but you should still use your own judgement and check important information.

Who makes it?

Claude is made by Anthropic, an AI company that places particular emphasis on making its systems helpful, honest and safe.

What does Claude mean?

Claude is not an acronym and does not stand for anything technical.

The name is widely understood as a reference to Claude Shannon, one of the founders of modern information theory. You do not need to know anything about him to use Claude.

Where do I use it?

You can use Claude:

You sign in using a free Anthropic account.

Does it cost anything?

There is a free version, which is suitable for most people getting started. Paid subscriptions are also available. These provide higher usage limits and additional features.

For this course, the free version is perfectly adequate.

What is Claude good at?

Many people use Claude to write emails and letters, explain difficult topics, summarise long documents, brainstorm ideas, improve writing, help with planning, describe and create images, answer questions, compare options and support everyday decision-making.

Claude is often praised for careful, natural writing and for working steadily with long or complicated documents.

What should I be careful about?

Do not assume Claude is always right. It can misunderstand your question, invent facts, provide incomplete or out-of-date information, and sound confident while being wrong.

Always check important information, particularly when making medical, legal or financial decisions.

Should I choose Claude?

Claude is an excellent choice if you value thoughtful, natural writing or regularly work with longer documents. Many people find its tone calm, clear and easy to work with.

You do not need to choose the perfect AI assistant. The best place to start is often whichever one feels easiest for you to use.

Remember

Claude is one AI assistant. The others discussed during this course are ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini and Grok.

The skills you learn in this course transfer between all of them.

Copilot

What is it?

Copilot is an AI assistant. You can ask it questions, have conversations, and ask it to write, explain, summarise, plan, translate or help solve problems.

Think of it as someone you can ask for a first draft, an explanation or another way of thinking about a problem.

Copilot uses artificial intelligence to generate its responses. Like all AI assistants, it can be extremely useful, but you should still use your own judgement and check important information.

Who makes it?

Copilot is made by Microsoft.

Microsoft uses the Copilot name for several AI products. This course is discussing the general Microsoft Copilot assistant, rather than GitHub Copilot for computer programmers or Microsoft 365 Copilot for workplaces.

What does Copilot mean?

A co-pilot is the second pilot in an aircraft, who works alongside the person in command.

Microsoft chose the name to suggest an assistant that works alongside you. You remain in control and responsible for checking the result.

Where do I use it?

You can use Copilot:

You can sign in using a free Microsoft account.

Does it cost anything?

There is a free version, which is suitable for most people getting started. Paid Microsoft subscriptions are also available. These can provide higher usage limits, additional features or Copilot inside Microsoft 365 apps such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.

For this course, the free version is perfectly adequate.

What is Copilot good at?

Many people use Copilot to write emails and letters, explain difficult topics, summarise information, brainstorm ideas, improve writing, help with planning, describe and create images, answer questions using current information from the web, compare options and support everyday decision-making.

Copilot may be particularly useful if you already use Windows, Microsoft Edge or Microsoft 365.

What should I be careful about?

Do not assume Copilot is always right. It can misunderstand your question, invent facts, provide incomplete or out-of-date information, and sound confident while being wrong.

Always check important information, particularly when making medical, legal or financial decisions.

Microsoft has several products with Copilot in their names. Check which Copilot you are using and whether it can access information from your personal, work or school account.

Should I choose Copilot?

Copilot is an excellent choice if you already use Microsoft products such as Windows, Edge, Word, Outlook or Microsoft 365. Its web search can also make it useful when you want help finding and understanding current information.

You do not need to choose the perfect AI assistant. The best place to start is often whichever one feels easiest for you to use.

Remember

Copilot is one AI assistant. The others discussed during this course are ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Grok.

The skills you learn in this course transfer between all of them.

Gemini

What is it?

Gemini is an AI assistant. You can ask it questions, have conversations, and ask it to write, explain, summarise, plan, translate or help solve problems.

Think of it as someone you can ask for a first draft, an explanation or another way of thinking about a problem.

Gemini uses artificial intelligence to generate its responses. Like all AI assistants, it can be extremely useful, but you should still use your own judgement and check important information.

Who makes it?

Gemini is made by Google.

It can work with some Google services, including Gmail, Drive, Maps and other Google apps, when those connections are available and you choose to enable them.

What does Gemini mean?

Gemini is the Latin word for twins and is also the name of a constellation.

Google chose Gemini as the name for its family of AI models and its AI assistant. You do not need to know anything technical about the name to use it.

Where do I use it?

You can use Gemini:

You sign in using a free Google Account.

Does it cost anything?

There is a free version, which is suitable for most people getting started. Paid Google AI plans are also available. These provide higher usage limits and additional features.

For this course, the free version is perfectly adequate.

What is Gemini good at?

Many people use Gemini to write emails and letters, explain difficult topics, summarise long documents, brainstorm ideas, improve writing, help with planning, describe and create images, answer questions, compare options and support everyday decision-making.

Gemini may be particularly useful if you already use Google services. It can use current information from the web for some questions and may be able to work with information from your Google apps when you choose to enable those connections.

What should I be careful about?

Do not assume Gemini is always right. It can misunderstand your question, invent facts, provide incomplete or out-of-date information, and sound confident while being wrong.

Always check important information, particularly when making medical, legal or financial decisions.

Be especially careful before allowing any AI assistant to access personal information stored in your email, documents or other accounts.

Should I choose Gemini?

Gemini is an excellent choice if you already use Google services such as Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps or Android.

You do not need to choose the perfect AI assistant. The best place to start is often whichever one feels easiest for you to use.

Remember

Gemini is one AI assistant. The others discussed during this course are ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot and Grok.

The skills you learn in this course transfer between all of them.

Grok

What is it?

Grok is an AI assistant. You can ask it questions, have conversations, and ask it to write, explain, summarise, plan, translate or help solve problems.

Think of it as someone you can ask for a first draft, an explanation or another way of thinking about a problem.

Grok uses artificial intelligence to generate its responses. Like all AI assistants, it can be extremely useful, but you should still use your own judgement and check important information.

Who makes it?

Grok is made by xAI, the artificial intelligence company founded by Elon Musk. The company now describes itself as SpaceXAI.

Grok is closely connected with X, formerly called Twitter, but you do not have to use it inside X.

What does Grok mean?

The word grok comes from Robert A. Heinlein’s science-fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land.

It means to understand something deeply and intuitively, rather than merely knowing facts about it.

Where do I use it?

You can use Grok:

You can sign in using an X account or an email address.

Does it cost anything?

There is a free version, which is suitable for most people getting started. Paid subscriptions are also available. These provide higher usage limits and additional features.

For this course, the free version is perfectly adequate.

What is Grok good at?

Many people use Grok to write emails and letters, explain difficult topics, summarise long documents, brainstorm ideas, improve writing, help with planning, describe and create images, answer questions, compare options and support everyday decision-making.

Grok can search the web and public posts on X. This may make it particularly useful for recent news, live events and current discussions.

It is designed to have a more humorous, playful and sometimes rebellious personality than many other AI assistants.

What should I be careful about?

Do not assume Grok is always right. It can misunderstand your question, invent facts, provide incomplete or out-of-date information, sound confident while being wrong, and treat rumours or unreliable posts on X as useful evidence.

Always check important information, particularly when making medical, legal or financial decisions.

If you use Grok through X, check the data-sharing and personalisation settings. X says your public data and your interactions with Grok may be used to train and improve its AI unless you opt out.

Should I choose Grok?

Grok is an excellent choice if you already use X, want help exploring current discussions, or enjoy a more playful and irreverent style.

It may be less suitable if you dislike X, prefer a more restrained tone, or do not want to spend time checking information drawn from social media.

You do not need to choose the perfect AI assistant. The best place to start is often whichever one feels easiest for you to use.

Remember

Grok is one AI assistant. The others discussed during this course are ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot and Gemini.

The skills you learn in this course transfer between all of them.

AI assistants, models and the wild frontier

So far, this handbook has treated ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini and Grok as five AI assistants. That is the most useful way to begin. Underneath each assistant, however, is one or more AI models: the systems that generate the answers.

An assistant is the service you use. A model is the engine inside it. The same assistant may use a fast model for an everyday question, a reasoning model for a difficult problem and a specialist model for voice or images. The provider may choose automatically, or may let you choose. This is why an assistant can change noticeably even though its name and app remain the same.

The following is a snapshot from 21 July 2026. Model names and availability change extremely quickly.

The model families behind the five assistants

ChatGPT: the GPT family

ChatGPT is powered by OpenAI’s GPT models. The current frontier generation is GPT-5.6, with Sol, Terra and Luna variants offering different balances of capability, speed and cost. ChatGPT can route a request to an appropriate model, while some paid plans and specialist OpenAI products provide more choice. OpenAI also develops models for coding, voice, images and other particular forms of work.

Claude: the Claude family

Claude is powered by Anthropic’s Claude models. Sonnet 5 is the everyday default for many users and is designed for writing, coding, tool use and multi-step work. Opus 4.8 remains a more powerful option for demanding work. Fable 5 is Anthropic’s most capable generally available model, while the closely related Mythos 5 has restricted access because of its advanced cybersecurity capabilities. The older Haiku, Sonnet and Opus names originally formed a simple fast-to-powerful ladder; the newer family is less tidy, which is itself a sign of how quickly the frontier is moving.

Copilot: a multi-model assistant

Copilot is different because Microsoft does not present it as the product of one permanent model family. Microsoft’s consumer and workplace assistants have traditionally relied heavily on OpenAI models, and GPT-5.6 is the preferred model in Microsoft 365 Copilot as of July 2026. Microsoft now describes Copilot as model-diverse, with OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft and open models available in different products and settings. The name Copilot therefore tells you more about the Microsoft service around the model than about the particular model answering.

Gemini: the Gemini family

Gemini is both the name of Google’s assistant and its main model family. The current range includes Gemini 3.1 Pro for complex work, Gemini 3.1 Deep Think for difficult scientific and reasoning problems, Gemini 3.5 Flash for fast multimodal and agentic work, and Flash-Lite for efficient high-volume use. Gemini models are designed to work across text, images, audio and video rather than treating those as entirely separate worlds. Google also has specialist families for images, video, music and robotics.

Grok: the Grok family

Grok is powered by models developed by SpaceXAI, formerly xAI. Grok 4.5 is the current leading general model, with particular emphasis on coding, tool use and work carried out by AI agents. The wider family includes faster coding models and separate Grok Imagine models for images and video. Grok’s close connection with X and real-time search remains part of the assistant’s identity, but the models can also be used through Grok’s own apps and by developers.

Beyond the five

The five assistants are prominent consumer services, not the whole AI world. Developers, companies and technically confident individuals can choose from hundreds of other models. Some are available through their maker’s website or an independent assistant. Others can be downloaded and run on a company’s own servers or, when small enough, on a personal computer.

Open-weight models

A closed model is normally used through its maker’s app or online service; its internal parameters are not released. With an open-weight model, the trained numerical weights can be downloaded, adapted and run elsewhere. This can offer more privacy, control and independence, but it requires hardware and technical knowledge. Open-weight does not always mean completely open source: the training data, full development process or licence may still impose limits.

Chinese model families

China is now one of the two main centres of frontier model development. DeepSeek’s V4 family combines long context, reasoning and agentic work at comparatively low cost. Alibaba’s Qwen family includes both very large services and smaller downloadable multimodal models. Z.ai’s GLM-5 family concentrates on coding and long-running agent tasks. Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3, released in July 2026, is a very large open-weight multimodal model aimed at long-context coding and agentic work. These families are not curiosities at the edge of the market: they compete with leading American models and are especially influential in the open-weight world. Users should still consider where their information is processed, the provider’s privacy terms and any restrictions that apply in their country or workplace.

American open-weight models

The United States also has an important open-weight ecosystem. Meta’s Llama family helped popularise downloadable general-purpose models. OpenAI’s gpt-oss models provide open-weight reasoning and tool use in sizes intended for servers and powerful personal hardware. Google’s Gemma models offer smaller open models related to its Gemini research, while NVIDIA’s Nemotron family is designed particularly for efficient, long-running AI agents. Many smaller assistants and business systems are built from these families rather than from the closed models their users may recognise.

Mistral and the European alternative

Mistral AI is very much still going. The French company offers the Le Chat assistant, commercial services and a continuing range of open-weight models. Mistral 3 includes Large 3, a powerful mixture-of-experts model, alongside smaller models that are easier to deploy locally. Mistral also develops specialist families for reasoning, coding, documents, audio and speech. Its importance is not only technical: it provides a significant European alternative to an AI landscape dominated by American and Chinese companies.

What should an ordinary user do with this?

Probably nothing—unless you are curious. You do not need to follow model rankings or understand parameter counts to use an AI assistant well. Choose an assistant that is accessible, affordable and useful to you. The deeper lesson is simply that the name on the app is not the whole system. Models will be replaced, combined and specialised, while the skills you are learning—asking clearly, providing context, checking important answers and using your own judgement—will travel with you across all of them.

About this handbook

Author and organisation

This handbook was written by Charli-Jo Tyrer for TAVIP in July 2026 to accompany the Confident with AI course.

Licence

This handbook is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence, usually shortened to CC BY 4.0.

You are free to copy and share it; adapt, translate or build upon it; and use it for educational, personal or commercial purposes.

You must give appropriate credit to Charli-Jo Tyrer, provide a link to the licence, and say if you made changes. You may do this in any reasonable way, but not in a way that suggests the author or TAVIP endorses you or your use.

Suggested attribution:

AI Assistants, written by Charli-Jo Tyrer for TAVIP, July 2026. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Changes were made, if applicable.

Independence and trademarks

This is an independent educational resource. It is not produced, sponsored or endorsed by OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, Google, xAI or any of their associated companies.

ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini, Grok and the names of their respective companies and products may be trademarks of their owners. They are used here only to identify the services being discussed.

Information changes

AI assistants change quickly. Features, prices, account requirements, availability, company names and data practices may have changed since this handbook was written in July 2026. Check the provider’s current website and terms before making an important decision.

Glossary

Term Definition
AI assistant A computer program that you can have a conversation with using ordinary language.
Anthropic The AI company that developed Claude, known for emphasising helpful, honest and safe systems.
CC BY 4.0 The Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence, which allows copying, sharing, adapting and commercial use of a work as long as the creator is credited.
ChatGPT An AI assistant developed by OpenAI that is widely used for drafting text, brainstorming and solving everyday problems.
Claude An AI assistant developed by Anthropic. Its name is widely understood as a reference to Claude Shannon. It is often praised for natural writing and handling long documents.
Copilot Microsoft's AI assistant, named after an aircraft's second pilot to suggest that it works alongside you while you remain in control.
Gemini An AI assistant developed by Google, named after the Latin word for “twins” and the constellation, which can work with other Google services.
Google The technology company that makes the Gemini AI assistant.
GPT An acronym standing for Generative Pre-trained Transformer, the type of AI model that powers ChatGPT.
Grok An AI assistant created by xAI that has a playful, rebellious personality and can search the web and posts on X.
Microsoft The technology company behind the Copilot AI assistant and associated products.
OpenAI The artificial intelligence company that created ChatGPT.
TAVIP The Technology Association of Visually Impaired People, for which this handbook and the Confident with AI course were created.
xAI (SpaceXAI) The artificial intelligence company founded by Elon Musk that developed the Grok AI assistant.