AI for Beginners
Brand new to AI and not sure where to start? Answer a few simple questions and we'll point you to the one assistant that fits what you want to do: honest, with sources, no hype. Start here.
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Three steps to your match
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Answer 3 quick questions
What you'll use AI for, how much it matters, and whether you'd pay. Each answer jumps to the next.
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Read your match
One clear pick, with every option ranked beside it and scored out of 100 from real benchmarks.
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Take the next step
Try the free plan. Check if paying is worth it with the plan picker, and run sensitive text through the paste checker first.
It matches you, not a leaderboard
Most "best AI" lists are written for enthusiasts. This quiz asks about you instead:
- What you'll actually do
- How much getting it right matters
- Whether you'd pay
It scores your answers against six assistants — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Le Chat and Perplexity — using a 0–100 score per task drawn from real, sourced benchmarks, and ranks all six best-first. All six are good tools. The point is fit, not hype.
How the quiz decides
Your answers are scored against an open capabilities matrix:
- Each assistant's strengths
- Free-tier quality
- EU data options
- Vendor sources linked at the page bottom
An automated scan re-reads those sources weekly; the "Last verified" date only moves when we actually re-checked. No vendor pays to appear, rank or be linked. Full process on our how we test page.
Why you get three options, not one verdict
Parts of the matrix are editorial judgment, not measurements — "strong at writing" is our assessment, formed by using these tools weekly. Reasonable people disagree, and models change fast. So you get a shortlist, not a single verdict, with every free tier one click away. The cheapest way to settle fit is to try the thing. The final call is yours.
Frequent questions
Isn't ChatGPT just the best one? +
It's the best known, and a genuinely good default. But "best" depends on what you do. If your day lives in Word and Outlook, Copilot is right there. If you need answers with checkable sources, Perplexity cites everything. If keeping your data with an EU company matters, Mistral's Le Chat changes the picture. The quiz exists exactly because one ranking can't answer a personal question.
Do I need more than one assistant? +
Plenty of people end up with two: one for daily work and one for a specific job, like research with citations or coding. Since every assistant in this quiz has a free tier, trying your runner-up costs nothing but ten minutes. Start with your best match, and add a second only when you hit a task it's weak at.
What about privacy? +
The quiz asks how much it matters to you that your data stays with an EU company, and weighs the answer using each vendor's published terms. That's where Le Chat and Copilot's EU commitments earn their points. Whichever assistant you pick, check what you're about to share before you paste it: our paste checker shows the exact data rules for your plan.
Why does the quiz ask about Word and Excel? +
Because integration beats raw capability when your work lives inside Office. Microsoft Copilot sits directly in Word, Excel and Outlook, so it can draft a document or summarize a thread right where you already are, with no copy-paste shuttle. If you don't use Microsoft 365, that advantage disappears, and the quiz scores accordingly.
How current is this quiz? +
Every factual field behind the scoring (strengths, free-tier quality, EU data options) lives in a capabilities matrix that an automated scan re-verifies weekly against vendor pages. The "Last verified" date at the bottom only moves when we actually re-checked. When a vendor ships something that changes the picture, the matrix changes, and so do the results.
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