Module 1 · Choose the tool, then write the request Lesson 1 of 15
The six tools that matter
ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude are chat tools. Perplexity is search that answers with links. NotebookLM answers questions about documents you upload. Microsoft Copilot lives inside Word, Excel and Windows. They solve different problems, and picking the wrong one is the most common reason an answer disappoints.
The concept
There is no single AI tool; there is a set, and the useful skill is picking the right one in five seconds. ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude are chat tools — writing, explaining, thinking through a problem. Perplexity is search that answers with links. NotebookLM answers questions about documents you upload. Microsoft Copilot is built into Word, Excel and Windows. Using a chat tool for a fact that changed last week, or a search tool to rewrite your paragraph, is using the wrong tool.
The first habit this lesson builds is to say what you want BEFORE you ask: a rewrite, a plan, an explanation, a fact from the web. That one sentence decides which of the six you open.
Weak: explain DBMS normalization
Strong: You are a placement trainer. Explain database normalization to a
final-year student who already knows basic SQL. Give one worked
example, then 3 questions that check whether I understood.
Keep it under 250 words.Common mistakes
The mistake is settling on one tool and asking it everything. A chat tool will happily answer a question about this week's news, from memory, and be wrong — and because it is confident, you will believe it. Facts that change need a search tool with links; your own long documents need a documents tool.
Worked example
A question like "what is normalisation in DBMS" is a chat question. "What changed in the latest hiring rules for 2026" is a search question, because the answer must be current and sourced — a chat tool answers from memory and can be months out of date.
Your practice task
Make free accounts on two of the six, ask each the same coursework question, and write one line on which answer you trusted more and why.
Do this before moving on. Reading a solution teaches the shape of it; typing it teaches you.
Key takeaway
There is no single AI tool; there is a set, and the useful skill is picking the right one in five seconds.
Keep your place in this course
A free account saves which lessons you have finished and unlocks the certificate. The lesson itself stays free to read.
Create free account or sign inCourse complete
You finished every lesson.
Your certificate is ready, and the projects you built are the proof to attach to an application.
Almost there
15 lessons left of 15
Finish every lesson to unlock the certificate. Each one ends in a practice task — do them and the final project brief writes itself.