Here are some rough notes on the AI models I use as of August 26th, 2025.
Important Caveats
The models listed below reflect my current personal preferences and what works best for my specific workflows.
I strongly encourage everyone to look at benchmarks and then test out different models for themselves.
This list is a snapshot in time and is likely to change monthly, if not more frequently, as new models are released, existing ones are updated and I continue exploring new ways of working with them.
Search & Answer Engines
Tool
Use Case
Kagi
My primary search engine. Think "Google, but significantly better" with no ads and customizable results.
Claude Opus 4.1
Excellent as an "answer engine" that can search the web and provide quick but thorough answers to "stupid" and complex questions.
Gemini Advanced Deep Research
Seems to produce reports I appreciate more than OpenAI's.
Claude Research
I'm currently exploring this and like the breadth of searches coupled with shorter final reports than other providers. Verdict still TBD.
Writing & Content Creation
Tool
Use Case
Claude Opus 4.1
My go-to for general copywriting help, creative writing tasks, translation, and editing existing text. It is the only model that tells me when my writing and ideas are bad. I find this refreshing.
Gemini 2.5 Pro
My go to for creating structured documents like guides, proposals, and grant applications.
Image Generation
Tool
Use Case
GPT-4o & Nano Banana (Gemini)
Useful for quick edits, brainstorming visual ideas, and initial explorations.
Midjourney
My preferred choice for any serious image generation when final quality, artistic control and taste matter.
"AI Chores" (Utility Tasks)
Tool
Use Case
GPT-5-mini
Great for quick tasks like reformatting text, reorganizing information and other minimally complex data manipulation.
Gemini 2.5 Pro
My choice for summarizing lengthy texts, synthesizing research from multiple documents, and structuring longer documents.
Powering AI Helpers
A Combination Approach: I often use a mix of OpenAI o3 Pro, Gemini 2.5 Pro, Claude Opus 4.1 and Grok 4 to power different aspects of my AI advisors or personas, depending on the specific task the persona is undertaking (e.g., research, writing, critical analysis). Each model has its own quirks, but using them together helps surface more insights and perspectives. Multi-modelling has been as helpful as it has been time consuming. Sometimes I feel like I'm the bottleneck in the process.
Coding
Tool
Use Case
v0
For generating quick UI prototypes or landing page mockups using text prompts and scribbled wireframes.
Cursor
For any serious development work, I use Cursor for its code autocomplete.
Claude Code
For more complex tasks, Claude code with Opus 4.1 has completely replaced my use of Cursor's coding agent. Usage limits are much higher and results seem to be better so far. Sonnet 4 is excellent for implementation, especially for smaller, well-scoped, but annoying tasks.
Feel free to use this list as a starting point, but please experiment and discover what works best for you!
PS: The next cohort of my AI literacy for business course starts on September 16th in case you'd like structured guidance on how to implement these tools to support your work.