Keep 4, Cut 4: Eight Chatbots, No Hedging
Someone put eight chatbots in front of me and gave me one rule. Keep four, cut four, no hedging, no "it depends". Below is the exact answer I gave on camera, the reasoning behind every verdict, and the 10-tool stack I normally only send by DM. Forced choices tell you more than any review ever will. Here are mine.
The Keep 4
ChatGPT, keep. Daily driver. It is the one I open without thinking, and that habit is earned, not given.
Claude, keep. Writing and long docs. When the work is words, this is where I go.
Grok, keep. The only one on this list with live X data. One capability nobody else has beats ten capabilities everybody shares.
Perplexity, keep. Cited research. It shows receipts, and I do not trust answers without receipts.
The Cut 4
Gemini, cut. Copilot, cut. Meta AI, cut. DeepSeek, cut. And yes, that last one hurt to say out loud. Sorry team.
The bar is not "is it good". Most of these are good. The bar is, does it do one thing nothing else on my list does. Gemini and Copilot lose because everything I would reach for them for, ChatGPT and Claude already cover. Meta AI has never once been the reason I opened an app. DeepSeek was the painful one, but a forced cut is the whole point of the game. Four slots, no exceptions.
The On-Camera Answer, Word for Word
This is the full exchange as shot, unedited. Study the shape of it. Rapid-fire verdicts, a reason given only when a keep needs defending, one emotional beat on the hardest cut, and a gate at the end that turns the argument into DMs.
HOST: Keep four, cut four. Go.
ARIA: ChatGPT, keep. Claude, keep. Gemini, cut. Grok, keep. Only one with live X. Perplexity, keep. Copilot, cut. Meta AI, cut. DeepSeek, cut. Oh shit, sorry team. Comment 'Tools', I'll send the full list.The Full Stack Behind the Gate
This is what the "Tools" comment unlocks. Ten tools, each with exactly one job.
ChatGPT for the daily grind. Claude for writing and long docs. Grok for live X data. Perplexity for cited research. NotebookLM for answers pulled from my own sources. Gamma for decks. Canva for design. Suno for music. ElevenLabs for voice. Lovable for building apps.
No tool gets two jobs. The moment everything does everything, you stop opening any of it.
Here's my full AI tools list, the ones I actually use daily:
ChatGPT (daily driver)
Claude (writing + long docs)
Grok (live X data)
Perplexity (cited research)
NotebookLM (answers from your own sources)
Gamma (decks)
Canva (design)
Suno (music)
ElevenLabs (voice)
Lovable (build apps)
Want my exact prompt stack too? Reply 'Stack'.Steal the Format
Keep or cut works because forced choice is content. Reviews are skippable. Verdicts are not.
Three mechanics do the heavy lifting.
One, the two-column board fills as each name gets called, so viewers watch the screen instead of the clock.
Two, cutting a tool people love is the comment engine. Half the audience agrees, half wants to fight, and both halves comment.
Three, the gate converts the argument into DMs, and the payload ends with its own next hook. "Tools" opens the list, "Stack" is the next door. Every payload you send should open the next one.
On-screen board, two columns: KEEP (ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Perplexity) | CUT (Gemini, Copilot, Meta AI, DeepSeek). Each name flashes into its column the moment the verdict is called.Get the next one first
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Frequently asked questions
Four of eight survive. The guide gives the verdict word for word and explains every cut, no hedging.
Depends on the job, which is exactly why the best-tool-per-task map exists. This guide is the keep-or-cut on the chatbots themselves.
Four of them, each with the reason. The full 10-tool stack I normally gate behind a DM is printed in the guide too.