General AI assistants
Chat assistants that help with writing, research and everyday questions.
What general AI assistants do
General AI assistants are chat tools that help with writing, research, summarizing, brainstorming and everyday questions. For most small businesses they are the first AI tool worth trying, because one assistant can draft emails, rewrite a web page, summarize a long document and help plan a project.
ChatGPT is the broad all-rounder. Claude is strong at long documents and careful writing. Gemini fits best if you run on Gmail and Google Docs, and Microsoft 365 Copilot fits teams that live in Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams. Perplexity is an answer engine that cites its sources, and Notion combines docs and a wiki with built-in AI.
How to choose
Start with the assistant built into the tools you already use, then try the free plan of one or two others on a real task from your week. Upgrade only when you keep hitting limits on work you actually do. Many owners keep two free assistants and pay for one.
Watch out for
Assistants can state wrong facts confidently. Check numbers, quotes and legal or medical claims against a real source, and avoid pasting sensitive customer data into tools your business hasn't approved.
Jobs in this category
Which agent for answering team questions from your docs?
Notion, ChatGPT, Claude
Which agent for drafting proposals and documents?
Claude, ChatGPT, Notion
Which agent for managing your email inbox?
Superhuman, Lindy, Google Gemini
Which agent for researching and summarizing?
Perplexity, ChatGPT, Google Gemini
Tools
ChatGPT
OpenAI's general-purpose AI assistant for writing, research, analysis, image creation and custom GPTs.
Claude
Anthropic's AI assistant, strong at long documents, careful writing and coding, with Projects and app connectors.
Google Gemini
Google's AI assistant, built into Gmail, Docs and the rest of Google Workspace.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Microsoft's AI assistant inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams.
Notion
All-in-one docs and wiki workspace with built-in AI and custom agents.
Perplexity
AI answer engine that searches the web and cites its sources.