I Tried to Build an AI Model Cheat Sheet. Here's Why That Was Pointless
Lots of AI advice tells you which model to use for which task. Claude for writing, ChatGPT for code, Gemini for research. I tried to build that cheat sheet.
It failed, but something more useful emerged.
The exercise
I tested the same prompt with Claude, Gemini, Grok, and ChatGPT:
Write a 150-word marketing email for a kitchen appliance company announcing a new stand mixer. The product is called the “ProMix Elite” and features a 7-quart bowl, 12 speed settings, and a unique “Smart Stop” safety feature that detects when hands get too close to moving parts. Target audience is home bakers aged 35-60. The email should build excitement without being pushy.
The Output
You can read the outputs here.
Surprise result: Grok won on tone, emotion, and sensory appeal:
Dear [First Name],
There’s something special about the moments spent in the kitchen: the scent of vanilla and cinnamon filling the air, the quiet satisfaction of dough coming together just right, the joy of sharing something homemade with the people you love.
But what about Claude, the presumed favorite for this task?
Claude was stiff:
We designed this mixer for bakers who take their craft seriously but want equipment that’s intuitive and dependable.
Ready to see what the ProMix Elite can do in your kitchen? Discover more at [website].
It whiffed on the sensory details. Claude lost. Or did it? Maybe the prompt needed work:
Let’s try again. you missed a couple of key items. First is the sensory experience of baking. Second is the emotional connection -- baking for friends and family. This copy is mostly a feature dump--the tone could be just as much for a cement mixer as a home mixer.
Here’s Claude’s rewrite:
Remember that feeling when fresh bread fills your kitchen with warmth, or when you pull the perfect cake from the oven just as loved ones arrive?
The ProMix Elite is built for those moments …
Now Claude was cooking1.
There’s no “wrong model.”
There's only: did you get what you needed, and if not, did you know how to ask for something better?
A Model Selection Framework
Quick tasks: Use whatever model you already have open
Important tasks: Test 2-3 models, iterate with the best
Repetitive tasks: Build a Claude Project (with custom instructions)
Next up: Let’s build an actual app. Just prompts, no coding.
Baking. Claude was baking.