Part 3 - ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity: A Plain-Language Comparison for Parents

Part 3 of 12 in the Try It Yourself series — practical AI guidance for parents at blog.parentsguidetoai.ca

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Once you decide to try AI yourself, the next question is: which one?

If you search for "AI tools" right now, you'll find hundreds of options. Most of them you can ignore, at least until you learn more about AI tools and which ones you might want to use, or if you need to learn more about one your children or students ask about. The parent's guide at parentsguidetoai.ca names five tools specifically — and those five are the ones your children are most likely to encounter. So let's focus there.

This post gives you a plain-language rundown of each one. What it is, what it's good for, who made it, whether there's a free version, and where the age limits sit. By the end, you'll know which one to try first and why.

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The five tools

ChatGPT — OpenAI

ChatGPT is the tool that kicked off the current wave of public interest in AI. OpenAI released it in late 2022,¹ and within a few months it had more users than almost any product in history.²

It works as a conversation. You type something. It responds. You can ask follow-up questions, push back on its answers, ask it to rewrite something in a different tone, or have it help you think through a problem. In addition to text chats, ChatGPT is a multi-modal tool, which means it can produce more than just text, it can also produce images, documents, and other types of content.

Good for: General questions, writing help, brainstorming, explaining concepts in plain language, creative tasks.

Free tier: Yes. The free version is genuinely useful. A paid version (ChatGPT Plus) exists and adds faster access and some additional features.

Who made it: OpenAI, an American AI research company.

Age minimum: 13 for a personal account (18 without parental permission in some regions). Children under 13 are not permitted.³

One thing to know: ChatGPT is the most widely used AI tool in the world, which means it's probably the one your child has already tried or heard about.

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Microsoft Copilot — Microsoft

Copilot is Microsoft's AI. It's built on the same underlying technology as ChatGPT (OpenAI's models), but it's integrated into Microsoft's products — including Word, Excel, Outlook, and Teams.

For parents of VSB students, Copilot is the most relevant tool on this list. The Vancouver School Board has introduced Copilot 13+, a managed school version of Copilot for eligible secondary students.⁴ We'll cover what makes that different from the home version in Post 7.

The public version of Copilot works in your browser with no account required to start. That makes it the easiest of the five tools to try without committing to anything.

Good for: General questions, research, summarizing documents, and — for VSB families — understanding what your child is using at school.

Free tier: Yes. No account needed to start.

Who made it: Microsoft, in partnership with OpenAI.

Age minimum: 13 for a Microsoft account. The school version (Copilot 13+) is managed by the school district.⁵

One thing to know: If you have a Microsoft account (which you might through work, or through an Office subscription), you may already have access to Copilot features you haven't noticed yet.

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Google Gemini — Google

Gemini is Google's AI. If you use Gmail, Google Docs, or Google Search, you may have already encountered Gemini features appearing as suggestions or summaries — often without realizing they're AI.

The standalone Gemini tool is a conversation interface similar to ChatGPT and Copilot. Because it's made by Google, it has strong integration with Google's other services and tends to be well-connected to recent information from the web.

Good for: Research, summarizing information, working alongside Google products you already use, translation.

Free tier: Yes.

Who made it: Google (Alphabet).

Age minimum: 13 for a personal Google account (18 for users in the EU and UK).⁶ Accounts through Google Workspace for Education (used by some schools) have different settings.

One thing to know: For Canadian parents: Gemini's age minimum for a personal account is 13, the same as most other tools on this list.

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Claude — Anthropic

Claude is made by Anthropic, a company founded by former members of OpenAI. It tends to be particularly strong at reading and understanding long documents, writing in a consistent voice, and handling nuanced or careful topics.

Claude is less well-known than ChatGPT or Copilot, but it's widely used among writers, researchers, and people who want a more careful, thorough response style.

Good for: Reading and summarizing long documents, careful writing, nuanced explanations, tasks that benefit from a more thoughtful response.

Free tier: Yes. The free version has some usage limits.

Who made it: Anthropic, an American AI safety company.

Age minimum: 18 for a personal account.⁷

One thing to know: Claude tends to be more careful about expressing opinions or taking strong positions, which some people find more appropriate for research and learning contexts.

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Perplexity — Perplexity AI

Perplexity is a bit different from the others. It's designed specifically as a research and search tool. Instead of just generating a response, Perplexity shows you the sources it drew on — inline, as part of the answer. This makes it significantly easier to verify what it's telling you.

For parents who want to check whether AI-generated information is accurate — which Post 5 is all about — Perplexity is the most useful tool on this list.

Good for: Research, fact-checking, understanding a topic from multiple sources, looking up information you want to be able to verify.

Free tier: Yes.

Who made it: Perplexity AI, a San Francisco-based startup.

Age minimum: 13.⁸

One thing to know: Perplexity is the best choice when you need to verify something. Unlike the other tools, it shows its sources by default rather than presenting information without attribution.

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How they compare at a glance

Tool	Free?	Min. age	Best for	Made by
ChatGPT	Yes	13	General use, writing	OpenAI
Copilot	Yes	13	VSB families, research	Microsoft / OpenAI
Gemini	Yes	13	Google users, research	Google
Claude	Yes (limited)	18	Long documents, careful writing	Anthropic
Perplexity	Yes	13	Verification, research with sources	Perplexity AI

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Which one should you start with?

If your child is a VSB secondary student: start with Copilot. It's the tool most directly connected to what your child may be using at school, and the home version is easy to access without an account.

If your main goal is to get better at fact-checking: start with Perplexity. It's the most transparent about where its information comes from, which makes it a natural fit for the verification skills we cover in Post 5.

If you just want the most widely-used tool: start with ChatGPT. It's what most people mean when they say "AI" in casual conversation, and it's a useful baseline.

Pick one. You don't need all of them. They're more similar than they are different, and using one well is more valuable than having accounts you never open.

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The short version:

• Five tools are named in the parent's guide: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity.
• They all do similar things but have different strengths.
• For VSB families: Copilot is the most relevant. For verification: Perplexity is the best choice.
• Check the age minimums before letting your child set up a home account — Gemini requires 18.
• Pick one and try it. You can always explore others later.

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Now that you know which tool to use and why, the next post covers something important before you go further: what you should never type into any of these tools.

Try it today: Sign up for a free account on whichever tool you chose. Just creating the account and sending one test message counts. To stretch yourself, try out two or three, and ask each one the exact same questions and observe the difference in how they respond.

Next up: Post 4 — Your Privacy Checklist: What Never to Share With AI

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Notes