# Pick the right AI tool

A free starter skill from Neosaipien. Version 1.0, as of 16 October 2026.

You describe a piece of work. The skill tells you where to do it: Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini, which mode (a plain chat, an agent that does the task, or a code tool), which model, and what to set up first. Then it gives you the steps from start to end.

## What it does

For each task you give it (up to five at once), you get:

- **One clear pick**, written as tool > mode > model, for example "Claude > an ordinary Claude conversation > Opus 5.5", with the plan it needs.
- **Why**, in one or two sentences, tied to an honest comparison of the three tools.
- **Start to end**: three to seven short steps, with the real menu names.
- **What to set up first**: a project, standing instructions, a skill or a connector, only when the task needs one.
- **What to watch out for**: approvals, checking sources and figures, your company's data rules.
- **A second choice**, in case you do not have the first tool.

It also explains the words people trip over (model, agent, project, skill, connector, MCP) in plain language when you ask.

It starts from my recommendation, and it tells you plainly when another tool is the better fit.

## Who it is for

Anyone at work who has more than one AI tool, or is choosing one, and wants to stop guessing: office staff, team leads, managers and the person everyone asks "which AI should I use for this?"

## My recommendation, next to the honest comparison

**My recommendation: Claude first, ChatGPT second, Gemini third.** (Samson, Neosaipien.)

- **Claude first:** the simplest start to finish. Since 16 Sep 2026 one ordinary conversation handles both quick questions and handed-over tasks, with no mode to choose. It asks before acting by default. Claude Docs, Slides and Design are on every plan, including Free, and Claude for Excel cites cells and keeps formulas intact.
- **ChatGPT second:** ChatGPT Work is a strong agent, with a cloud browser for websites you sign in to and Scheduled Tasks that start when an email or message arrives. It has a wide set of everyday features: voice, images, Sites, and ChatGPT for Word even on Free.
- **Gemini third:** the best fit when your company already runs on Google Workspace (Gemini in Gmail, Docs, Sheets and Meet), with a generous free plan. But its Task agent, custom apps and skills are for personal accounts for now, and many features start in the US and in English only.

**Where another tool wins, and the skill says so:**

- Pictures and video: ChatGPT or Gemini.
- Meeting notes in Google Meet, and writing inside Gmail: Gemini.
- Routines that start when an email or a Slack message arrives: ChatGPT Work.
- Research where you must control the sources: ChatGPT deep research. Answers only from your own files: Gemini Notebook.
- A company that has standardised on one tool: use that tool. Your company's data rules always beat a personal preference.

### Best at, task by task (as of Oct 2026)

| Task | Claude | ChatGPT | Gemini | Pick for most office workers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Writing | Clear business writing; Claude Docs on every plan | Fast drafts in Chat; ChatGPT for Word even on Free | Writing inside Gmail and Docs at Google companies | Claude |
| Documents | Finished Word, PDF or Google Docs from one conversation | Reports and Pages from Work | Gemini in Docs for Workspace users | Claude |
| Spreadsheets | Claude for Excel: cell references, formula-safe edits | Excel and Google Sheets add-ins; Data plugin | Gemini in Sheets for Workspace users | Claude |
| Slides | Claude Slides on every plan; Claude for PowerPoint | Following company templates; PowerPoint add-in | Gemini in Slides | Claude, with ChatGPT close |
| Research | Mixes the web with your connected work tools | Most control: edit the plan, limit to named sites | Free Deep Research; Gemini Notebook for your own sources | ChatGPT for control; Gemini Notebook for your own files |
| Automation | Scheduled tasks, such as a report every Monday | Tasks that start on a new email, Slack message or pull request | Schedules in tasks (personal accounts) | ChatGPT for event-triggered routines |
| Meetings | Working from a transcript you give it | Meetings plugin (beta, Mac) and audio uploads | "Take notes for me" in Google Meet | Gemini if you meet in Google Meet, otherwise ChatGPT |
| Email | Gmail connector; Claude for Outlook | Gmail and Outlook Email apps | Gemini built into Gmail | Gemini inside Gmail; Claude or ChatGPT for Outlook |
| Images | Designs, mockups and diagrams (Claude Design) | ChatGPT Images 2.5 | Nano Banana images; Gemini Omni video | ChatGPT or Gemini |

Each company publishes tests it wins, so the skill never ranks the three on vendor benchmark numbers.

### The three modes, side by side

| | Claude | ChatGPT | Gemini |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quick question | Any Claude conversation | Chat | Chat |
| Hand over a task | The same Claude conversation (Cowork is built in) | Work | Task (personal accounts, Google AI Pro or Ultra) |
| Build software | Claude Code | Codex | Antigravity |
| Repeat on a schedule | Scheduled tasks | Scheduled Tasks, including ones that start on a new email | Schedules in tasks |
| Asks before acting | Yes, by default | Approves important actions | Confirms some actions and sign-ins |

Two questions people ask most:

- **Claude Code or Cowork?** For office work, use ordinary Claude: since 16 Sep 2026 Cowork is part of it, so there is no mode to choose. Use ordinary Claude for documents, research, spreadsheets, files and repeat tasks. Open Claude Code only to build or change software, a website or a script.
- **ChatGPT Chat or Work?** Chat for quick help, Work for anything that ends in a file, a report or a done task. Codex is only for software.

## What is in the download

| File | What it is |
|---|---|
| `pick-the-right-tool.zip` | The skill, ready to upload to Claude. Inside: `pick-the-right-tool/SKILL.md` and `LICENSE.txt` |
| `skill/pick-the-right-tool/SKILL.md` | The skill itself, as one readable file. This is the file for ChatGPT and Gemini |
| `portable/paste-in.txt` | A plain-text copy for a plan without skills: paste it into a project's instructions, or at the start of a chat |

## Add it to your AI tool (as of Oct 2026)

All three tools now take skills in the same open format, a SKILL.md file. The format began at Anthropic and is now an open standard. So this is one skill, not a version per tool. Use the tool your company approves for work data.

If you cannot see a menu below, the usual reasons are a rollout still in progress, your plan, your country or an admin setting.

### Claude

**Plans:** Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise, says Anthropic's skills page (its pricing table also ticks Free).

1. In **Settings > Capabilities**, turn on **Code execution and file creation**. Skills need it.
2. Go to **Customize > Skills**.
3. Upload `pick-the-right-tool.zip`. It holds the SKILL.md file.
4. To use it, describe the task in a chat, or type **/** and pick **pick-the-right-tool**.

Anthropic does not review skills made by other people, so read a skill's files before you turn it on. This one is plain text: open `skill/pick-the-right-tool/SKILL.md` to read it. A skill you add in Claude also follows you into Claude Code when you sign in with the same account.

### ChatGPT

**Plans:** skills are a beta on Free and Plus, and generally available on Enterprise and Edu (since 9 Jul 2026). ChatGPT keeps skills inside plugins, in the Plugin Directory.

1. Start a new chat and type **@skill-creator**.
2. Attach `skill/pick-the-right-tool/SKILL.md` and write: "Make a skill from this file. Keep its name, description and instructions exactly as written."
3. Check that the skill it shows you matches the file.
4. To use it, describe the task, or type **@** and pick **pick-the-right-tool**.

### Gemini

**Plans:** 18 or over, with a personal Google Account. Google says work and school accounts get skills "soon".

1. Open the left menu, click **Customize**, then **Skills**.
2. Make a new skill by uploading a SKILL.md: choose `skill/pick-the-right-tool/SKILL.md`.
3. To use it, describe the task, or type **/** (Google says **@** is coming) and pick **pick-the-right-tool**.

Gemini wants skill names in lowercase with hyphens, which this one has, and allows up to 100 active skills.

### No skills on your plan? Use a project

- **Claude or ChatGPT:** make a project for this job and paste the whole of `portable/paste-in.txt` into the project's instructions. Every chat in that project then follows it. In ChatGPT: select **New project** in the sidebar, name it, then add instructions from the **•••** menu under **Project settings**.
- **Gemini with a work account, or any single chat:** paste `portable/paste-in.txt` as your first message. It lasts for that one chat.

There is no custom GPT or Gem version: OpenAI plans to retire custom GPTs in favour of plugins, and Google is moving Gems to skills from Nov 2026 for personal accounts and in 2027 for work and school accounts.

## Which mode and model to run this skill in

The skill only gives advice, so a plain chat is all it needs: an ordinary Claude conversation with Sonnet 5.5 at its Default effort, ChatGPT Chat with GPT-6 at Medium, or Gemini chat with Flash. On a free plan, the default model is fine.

## How to use it

Start a new chat and describe the work in plain words. Say which tools and plans you have, and any company rule, if you know them. For example:

- "Which tool should I use to turn three files into a two-page quarterly update? I have Claude Pro and ChatGPT Business."
- "Our company only allows Gemini. How do I get notes and actions from my Google Meet calls?"
- "Claude Code or Cowork for sorting 300 files on my laptop?"
- "What is an MCP, and do I need one so Claude can read our shared drive?"

Then follow the steps, and do the checks below.

## What you must check

1. **Your company's rules.** The pick must be a tool your company allows for that data. The skill follows any rule you tell it, but it cannot know rules you do not mention.
2. **Your own screen.** Names, plans and menus are as of October 2026. If yours differ, the usual reason is your plan, your country, an admin setting or a rollout still in progress.
3. **Approvals.** For any agent or connector, keep "ask before acting" on, and type passwords into the website yourself, never into the chat.
4. **The result.** Check what the tool makes against its sources before you share it.

## What it does not do

- It does not open links, change settings, connect apps, install anything or start the task. It tells you how.
- It does not look anything up. It answers from a dated snapshot written into the skill, as of October 2026.
- It covers Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini only.
- It does not promise that a feature is on your plan or in your country today.

## Your data

The skill is one text file of advice. It has no scripts and no links, needs no internet access, and sends nothing anywhere. It works only with what you type in your assistant, and your assistant's own data terms apply.

## Compatibility, as of October 2026

| Tool | Who can add skills (vendor's own pages) | Which file |
|---|---|---|
| Claude | Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise (the pricing table also ticks Free), with code execution on | `pick-the-right-tool.zip` |
| ChatGPT | A beta on Free and Plus; generally available on Enterprise and Edu | `skill/pick-the-right-tool/SKILL.md`, through @skill-creator |
| Gemini | 18 or over, personal Google Accounts; work and school accounts "soon" | `skill/pick-the-right-tool/SKILL.md` |
| A plan without skills | Everyone, through a project's instructions or one chat | `portable/paste-in.txt` |

"Who can add skills" is what each vendor's own page says, as of October 2026. These tools change often.

**Tested:** on 16 October 2026 the skill was run on all five examples by following `SKILL.md` step by step. That run found six gaps, which were fixed, and all five examples then passed. An independent cold run was tried but could not sign in, so it has still to be done in a fresh chat in each tool. The facts in the skill were checked on the vendors' own pages on 16 October 2026; re-check anything older than 30 days.

## Licence and contact

Free, under the Neosaipien free licence, Version 2. Use it as much as you like, at work or at home, in any organisation. Change it to fit your team, and hand the changed version to people inside your own organisation, team, class or group, with the credit, the date and a line saying it was changed. Share unchanged copies with anyone, free of charge. Do not sell it, and do not publish a changed version outside your own group. Full terms in `LICENSE.txt`.

Neosaipien is not affiliated with Anthropic, OpenAI or Google. Product names belong to their owners. The default order is my own recommendation, set out next to an honest comparison.

Questions: samson@neosaipien.com, neosaipien.com

## Sources for the setup steps (all read 16 October 2026)

- Anthropic, Skills overview: https://claude.com/docs/skills/overview.md
- Anthropic, Claude plans and pricing: https://claude.com/pricing
- Anthropic, What are projects: https://support.claude.com/en/articles/9517075-what-are-projects
- Anthropic, Connectors, skills, and plugins: https://claude.com/docs/extend/overview
- Anthropic, Change the model, effort, and thinking settings: https://support.claude.com/en/articles/8664678-change-the-model-effort-and-thinking-settings
- OpenAI, Skills and plugins: https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/skills-and-plugins.md
- OpenAI, Build skills: https://developers.openai.com/plugins/build/skills.md
- OpenAI, ChatGPT release notes: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6825453-chatgpt-release-notes
- OpenAI, ChatGPT plans and pricing: https://chatgpt.com/pricing/
- OpenAI, Projects in ChatGPT: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/10169521-projects-in-chatgpt
- OpenAI, GPT-6 and other models in ChatGPT: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001354-gpt-6-and-other-models-in-chatgpt
- Google, Create and manage skills for Gemini Apps: https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/17094296
- Google, About the transition from Gems to skills: https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/18560919
- Google, About Gemini models: https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/18648722
- Agent Skills overview: https://agentskills.io/

## Sources for the facts inside the skill (all read 16 October 2026)

- Anthropic, Introducing Claude Opus 5.5 (22 Sep 2026): https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-opus-5-5
- Anthropic, Models overview: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/models/overview
- Anthropic, Claude Cowork and chat are now one Claude (16 Sep 2026): https://claude.com/resources/articles/cowork-is-now-claude
- Anthropic, Build live dashboards and animate explainers with Claude (8 Oct 2026): https://claude.com/resources/articles/dashboards-and-motion
- Anthropic, Claude Cowork product page: https://claude.com/product/cowork
- Anthropic, Claude Code product page: https://claude.com/product/claude-code
- Anthropic, Get started with connectors: https://claude.com/docs/connectors/overview
- Anthropic, Choosing the right Claude model: https://academy.claude.com/tutorials/choosing-the-right-claude-model
- Anthropic, Use research on Claude: https://support.claude.com/en/articles/11088861-using-the-research-feature
- Anthropic, Use Claude for Excel: https://claude.com/docs/office-agents/excel.md
- OpenAI, GPT-6 Astra (3 Sep 2026): https://openai.com/index/gpt-6-astra/
- OpenAI, Introducing GPT-6.1 Sol (29 Sep 2026): https://openai.com/index/introducing-gpt-6-1-sol/
- OpenAI, ChatGPT Work and Codex: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001275-chatgpt-work-and-codex
- OpenAI, Connected apps in ChatGPT: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/11487775-apps-in-chatgpt
- OpenAI, Deep research: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/10500283-deep-research
- OpenAI, Using cloud browser in ChatGPT: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001280-using-cloud-browser-in-chatgpt
- Google, Gemini Apps release notes: https://gemini.google/release-notes/
- Google, Gemini 4 Argon (13 Oct 2026): https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/introducing-gemini-4-argon/
- Google, Google AI plans: https://gemini.google/subscriptions/
- Google, Project Astra: https://deepmind.google/models/project-astra/
- Google, Manage your tasks and workflows in Gemini Apps: https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/17094507
- Google, Connect and manage custom apps for Gemini Apps: https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/17209137
- Google, Get started with Google Workspace with Gemini: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/13952129
- Google, NotebookLM is now Gemini Notebook (16 Jul 2026): https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/products/gemini-notebook/notebooklm-gemini-notebook/
- Google, Use Deep Research in Gemini Apps: https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/15719111
- Model Context Protocol, What is MCP: https://modelcontextprotocol.io/docs/getting-started/intro