Most people use ChatGPT and Claude like a search bar. Type a question. Get an an
By Mattvillage · October 8, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
Most people use ChatGPT and Claude like a search bar.
Type a question.
Get an answer.
Move on.
That's maybe 10% of what these tools can do.
Now, I see it every week.
Smart people.
Powerful tools.
Shallow usage.
Plenty of founders pick a side and defend it.
ChatGPT people.
Claude people.
Both camps leave results on the table.
I use both every single day.
You've probably felt it too.
Generic answers.
Ten open tabs.
Features you never touched.
Before, I had a team to brief.
Now I brief AI instead.
Honestly, I got this wrong for years.
One vague line, hit enter, blame the model.
Here's what changed it.
The tool matters less than the brief.
Brief it like a new hire, not a search engine.
No new tools.
No new subscriptions.
Just a better brief.
So here's the full map on one page.
No hype.
Just what each one is actually best at.
Both have web search, projects, memory and scheduled tasks.
ChatGPT adds voice, image generation, Custom GPTs and plugins.
Claude adds Artifacts, Connectors, Claude Code, Cowork and extended thinking.
Both are strong at research, writing, coding, brainstorming, planning, learning, marketing, summarization, document analysis and problem solving.
Reach for ChatGPT when you need:
→ Images and visual creation
→ Data analysis
→ Voice interaction
→ Deep research
→ Custom assistants
→ Connected and multimodal workflows
Reach for Claude when you need:
→ Long-form writing
→ Document-heavy work
→ Complex coding and Claude Code workflows
→ Extended reasoning
→ Artifacts
→ Agentic work with Cowork
Then use them together:
✔ Draft with one, critique with the other
✔ Research with both
✔ Compare answers on hard problems
✔ Combine their strongest ideas
✔ Verify important claims independently
My prompt formula:
Role → Goal → Context → Input → Constraints → Output Format → Quality Check
5 power tips:
1. Provide detailed context
2. Attach relevant source material
3. Use web research for current information
4. Ask the AI to critique its own output
5. Verify important facts and sources
The last one matters most.
Confident and wrong looks exactly like confident and right.
Small habits.
Big gap between people who get real value from AI and people who don't.
Final rule: stop treating them as simple answer tools.
Give them context, tools and clear goals.
Always verify what matters.
Learn AI for free: https://lnkd.in/dQdb94E8
There's more like this every day if you want to stick around.
Pass it to the friend who still uses AI like Google.
Tell me where you'd split the work differently.