Meet Claude — What Makes It Different from ChatGPT

What Is Claude?

If you've been following along from Course 1, you already know what ChatGPT can do. Now it's time to meet the other AI tool that every serious business operator needs to know about: Claude.

Claude is an AI assistant built by Anthropic, a company founded by former members of OpenAI. Anthropic was created with a specific mission: to build AI systems that are helpful, harmless, and honest. That guiding philosophy shapes everything about how Claude works — and it's the first major difference you'll notice compared to ChatGPT.

The name "Claude" is a nod to Claude Shannon, the mathematician widely considered the father of information theory. Shannon's work laid the groundwork for modern computing, digital communication, and ultimately the AI systems we use today. It's a fitting name for a tool that's designed to help you think more clearly and communicate more effectively.

While ChatGPT and Claude can both handle many of the same tasks — writing, brainstorming, analysis, research — they approach those tasks with different philosophies. ChatGPT tends to be eager and enthusiastic. Claude tends to be more measured and careful. Neither approach is inherently better. But understanding the differences helps you pick the right tool for the right job.

Claude vs ChatGPT: Key Differences

Let's break down where each tool shines so you can make smart decisions about when to use which.

Where Claude Excels

• Long-form writing: Claude produces longer, more coherent outputs and maintains consistency across thousands of words. If you need a 3,000-word article, a detailed report, or a comprehensive guide, Claude handles it with remarkably little drift in quality.
• Large document analysis: Claude can process up to 200,000 tokens of context — that's roughly 150,000 words or a 500-page book. You can upload entire contracts, research papers, or financial reports and ask Claude to analyze them in full.
• Nuanced, careful responses: Claude is less likely to make bold claims it can't support. It's more willing to say "I'm not sure" or present multiple sides of an issue. For business decisions that require careful analysis, this matters.
• Artifacts: Claude has a unique feature called Artifacts that lets it create standalone documents, code, and other outputs in a separate panel alongside the conversation. This makes it easy to iterate on a document while chatting about it.

Where ChatGPT Excels

• Web browsing: ChatGPT can search the internet in real-time, which is invaluable for research on current events, trends, and up-to-date information.
• Image generation: With DALL-E built in, ChatGPT can create images directly in the conversation. Claude cannot generate images.
• Plugins and GPTs ecosystem: ChatGPT has a large marketplace of custom GPTs and integrations that extend its capabilities in specialized ways.
• Code interpreter: ChatGPT can actually run code, analyze data files, create charts, and process spreadsheets — not just write code, but execute it.

Where Both Are Strong

• General writing: Emails, social media posts, product descriptions, ad copy — both handle these tasks well.
• Brainstorming: Generating ideas, exploring angles, creative problem-solving — both are excellent brainstorming partners.
• Analysis and reasoning: Breaking down problems, comparing options, strategic thinking — both can help you think more clearly.

When to Use Claude vs ChatGPT

Here's a practical decision framework you can use every time you sit down to work with AI:

Use Claude when you:

• Have long documents to analyze — contracts, reports, articles, research papers
• Need careful, nuanced analysis where accuracy matters more than speed
• Want longer-form writing that maintains quality across thousands of words
• Need a "second opinion" on something ChatGPT produced
• Want to iterate on a document using the Artifacts feature

Use ChatGPT when you:

• Need real-time information from the internet
• Want to generate images for social media, presentations, or marketing
• Need to run code or analyze data files like spreadsheets and CSVs
• Want to use a specialized GPT from the marketplace

The smartest approach? Use both. Many experienced AI users start with one tool, then cross-check important outputs with the other. When you need a thorough, well-reasoned piece of writing, start with Claude. When you need current data or visual content, start with ChatGPT. Over time, you'll develop an instinct for which tool fits which task.

Claude's Interface

Let's walk through the basics of using claude.ai so you can hit the ground running.

The Chat Interface: When you first open Claude, you'll see a clean, simple chat interface. Type your message in the text box at the bottom and press Enter or click the send button. Claude's responses appear above, and the conversation flows naturally from there.

Starting Conversations: Each conversation with Claude is independent. You can start a new conversation at any time by clicking "New Chat." Your previous conversations are saved in the sidebar so you can revisit them later.

Uploading Documents: One of Claude's biggest strengths is document analysis. Click the attachment icon (the paperclip) next to the text input to upload PDFs, text files, images, and other documents. Once uploaded, you can ask Claude to summarize, analyze, extract information, or answer questions about the document.

The Projects Feature: Claude's Projects feature lets you create dedicated workspaces for ongoing tasks. You can set custom instructions for a project, upload reference documents that persist across conversations, and keep all related chats organized in one place. Think of it as creating a specialized Claude assistant for a specific area of your business.