Chapter 1 · 8 min read Free
Who’s who: the companies, the tools and the names
What AI actually is, who makes Claude, and how it fits alongside all the other names you keep hearing.
If the world of AI feels like a jumble of strange names, you’re not alone. Let’s sort it out, calmly and in plain English, before you touch a single button.
AI in one sentence
The kind of AI this guide is about is a very clever assistant you talk to by typing or speaking, in ordinary language. You ask it something. It writes back. That’s it.
You don’t need to learn any special commands. If you can write a text message or an email, you can use it.
Jargon buster: You’ll hear these tools called AI assistants, chatbots, or sometimes large language models (LLMs for short). For everyday purposes, they all mean the same thing: an assistant you chat with.
The tool this guide is about: Claude
Claude is an AI assistant made by a company called Anthropic (you say it an-THROP-ick).
- Anthropic is an American AI company, founded in 2021 by a group of AI researchers. It’s one of the handful of companies in the world building the most advanced AI.
- Claude is the assistant it makes. You use it on a website (claude.ai) or in the free Claude app on your phone, tablet or computer.
- Anthropic puts a lot of emphasis on safety and on making Claude honest and careful. Many people find Claude’s writing especially clear and natural.
Think of it like this: Anthropic is the company, Claude is the product. It’s just like how Apple is the company and the iPhone is the product.
The other names you’ll hear
You don’t need any of these to follow this guide, but it helps to know who’s who:
| Name | Made by | Where you’ll find it |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | OpenAI | chatgpt.com and its own app |
| Claude | Anthropic | claude.ai and its own app |
| Gemini | Built into many Google products and Android phones | |
| Copilot | Microsoft | Built into Windows, Word, Outlook and Edge |
| Siri | Apple | On iPhones. Newer iPhones now have a much cleverer, AI-powered Siri |
| Meta AI | Meta (Facebook’s owner) | Inside WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram |
The good news: they all work in broadly the same way. Once you’ve learned Claude with this guide, you’ll find the others easy too. The skills carry over.
Why this guide focuses on Claude
Claude is a brilliant first AI assistant: it writes clearly, it’s good at explaining things patiently, it’s careful about safety, and its free version is genuinely useful. If you ever want to try ChatGPT too, there’s a ChatGPT edition of this guide.
A reassuring word
It’s completely normal to feel a bit behind with AI. Most people are. It has arrived fast, and much of what’s written about it is aimed at technical people. This guide is not. We’ll go one step at a time, explain every word, and you can’t break anything.
Next: what Claude is brilliant at, and what it isn’t.