AI Chat Overview (Sept 2025)

0. In November 2022 OpenAI was working on developing interactive Artificial Intelligence tools but struggling to find something suitable to offer as a product. Observing that some existing users simply liked talking to existing offerings they posted on Twitter (as it was then) "Try talking with ChatGPT, our new AI system which is optimized for dialogue. Your feedback will help us improve it" along with a link.

Nobody was expecting the huge response which followed as users saw that this was something very different from their previous experiences. The many later versions of ChatGPT have attracted millions of users, both paid and free, making OpenAI one of the fastest growing companies ever.

1. By early 2024 AI Chat tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) were powerful in many ways, but the main interaction was by text input producing responses output as text. Very quickly after this though these tools gained far more powerful capabilities with voice, image and video input. They also were given the ability to think through their answers before responding. As a result OpenAI suggest we will see the following stages.

Commercial AI Chat Tools with the highest profile

2a. ChatGPT from OpenAI (web version at chatgpt.com)
Very successful as earliest to market. Has relationship with Microsoft.

2b. Gemini from Google (web version at gemini.google.com)
Powerful and part of a wide range of associated AI tools.

2c. Claude from Anthropic (web version at claude.ai)
Very respected, not least for being powerful when writing computer code.

2d. Grok from xAI (web version at grok.com)
Late to the market but growing fast due to its power and quirky features.

2e. Perplexity (web version at perplexity.ai)
Used by professionals who like that it provides the original source references for its answers.

3. "Intelligence to cheap to meter"

Many expect that ordinary people will soon have access to powerful Artificial Intelligence on their phones and elsewhere for free. This is because business uses will create much higher income opportunities.

Examples of text interaction using ChatGPT

4a. For exercise advice

4b. For help in writing letters and emails

4c. For advice on home maintenance

4d. For finding motivational quotes

4e. For helping plan a holiday

4f. For researching hobbies and interests

4g. For legal advice (as a first part of research only of course)

4h. For technical and IT advice

Examples using camera with AI tools

5a. Describe a holiday image or even locate geographically (chatGPT)

5b. Identify what is in a picture (chatGPT)

5c. Change elements of a picture (Google Gemini's Nano Banana)

Here Nano Banana is asked in two stages to change a garden image

Using AI Chat tools on Wearable Devices

6a. Probably the most successful 'wearable' so far are the 'Meta Ray Ban' range of glasses available from places like John Lewis at about £ 300. We have a dedicated website at aiglassesuk.com dealing with their use by the sight impaired.

Glasses, paired with a phone, will likely be the dominant way of accessing AI in public over the next ten years.

6b. Another successful product area are 'pins' that are worn and which capture conversations and use AI to produce notes efficiently. Typical users are doctors as in this screenshot - website is Plaud.ai.