ChatGPT Your McLaren all rounder

If there is one AI tool most business leaders have heard of, it is ChatGPT. It is spoken about everywhere, written about everywhere and often treated as the whole of AI rather than one tool among many.

In F1 terms, ChatGPT is the McLaren of the grid. Fast. Flexible. Sharp. Capable in many conditions. Strong in both qualifying and the race. Not always the absolute fastest on every track, but consistently impressive across the season. And when the setup is right, it can deliver championship level performances. It has also had a lot of upgrades in 2025, seven major model releases some of which are no longer really used, that the speed of AI and large language models that we are all getting used to.

That is why so many people start here. It is a safe, capable, confidence building choice., and at base level there's a free option which you should not be using at work.

What ChatGPT is best at

ChatGPT is brilliant at day to day language work. Anything that involves words, structure or ideas, it handles with ease.

It can help you:

• Research your market to a level you would have paid thousands for only a few months ago 
• With your writing skills in emails, web copy, produce SOPs, completing tenders 
• Write job adverts or role profiles, then help you interview the candidates and onboard them 
• Create images though Sora 
• Brainstorm ideas for marketing, meetings or help you make difficult decisions
• Analysis your data or a spreadsheet for trends you just cannot work out
• Review a supplier contract, advise you on what to push back on and accept with the risks

If your business spends lots of time trying to solve problems, thinking, planning or writing and preparing content, ChatGPT fits straight into the workflow. You can connect it to your Google or 365 and your CRM to make it an even more powerful tool.  

Strengths that make ChatGPT a McLaren fast on lots of different tracks

• It is very fast to learn
  Most people can get useful results within minutes.
• It performs well across many tasks
  Writing, tidying text, explaining something, planning ideas, turning notes into structure.
• It has a huge ecosystem behind it
  Tutorials, examples, templates and integrations are everywhere.
• It works nicely alongside humans
  You give it a rough idea, it gives you a clear draft, and you shape it into something final. It feels like a teammate, not a robot.
• It delivers value quickly
  SMEs often see time savings in the first week.

Pitfalls to watch for

Even the best cars have limits. ChatGPT is no different.

• It can be confident and wrong
  Always check anything factual or numerical.
• It cannot read your files unless you give them to it
  This matters for privacy, so set simple team rules.
• The free version is limited
  If you want speed, advanced features or file handling, the paid version is worth it, only two percent of people are using this.
• It needs clear prompts
  Give it vague instructions and you get vague results. Give it clear direction and your expectations and it flies.

Is ChatGPT the right tool for your race

Choose ChatGPT first if:

• You want a flexible assistant that helps across many tasks
• You write a lot and want to do it faster and better
• You need help shaping ideas or drafts
• You want one tool that can support both leaders and teams
• You want quick wins without complex setup
• You want to create Custom GPTs which are your own AI assistants
• You want one of the leading AI tools out there, don't be fooled by the naysayers ChatGPT is the market leader 

It may not be the right first choice if:

• You work mainly inside Microsoft 365 and want AI that sits inside Outlook, Word or Teams
• You deal with large documents every day and need deeper reading support
• You need research with sources rather than free form answers

For most SMEs, ChatGPT is a superb all rounder.
It is fast enough. Flexible enough. Smart enough.
And it helps people feel more confident with AI rather than overwhelmed by it.

Want help choosing the right tools for your team

If you want a simple, calm plan for where AI fits your business, I run short planning sessions and full roadmaps for SMEs.

If that sounds useful, get in touch and we can work out the best setup for your own race.