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Don't Chase Your Tail: Why Switching AI Tools Is Costing You

Vicky
Vicky

Recently I sat in on a seminar with the AI specialist from a leading real estate business. What surprised me most wasn't anything they demonstrated. It was the intent behind it: a constant hunt for the latest feature, the newest model, whichever tool was on top that week.

I understand the pull. But I think it's the wrong game.

The market leader keeps changing

Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Microsoft and xAI (the company behind Grok) are releasing so quickly that the market leader keeps changing. A tool everyone praises one month can be "falling behind" two months later. If your strategy is to always hold the best tool, you'll spend your time switching instead of working.

The value is in what you build

Think about it this way. You'd never change your accounting software because a competitor shipped a feature yours didn't have. The value is in your history, your setup and a team that knows how to use it. AI tools are no different. Their value comes from the context you build up, the skills your team develops and everyday adoption. Every time you switch, you start all of that again.

Four decisions to make up front

So set your strategy up front. We think about it as four decisions:

  • Personal AI: the AI program you use for your own augmented thinking, writing and research.
  • Personal agent: the tool that is always-on, working more independently towards achieving results in your personal sphere.
  • Business AI: the shared AI system where your team collaborates and where your business logic and context is held.
  • Business agents: the platform for enabling autonomous AI agents to achieve goals and complete recurring tasks.

Once those are clear, a new release becomes a simple question: does this change one of my four decisions? Usually the answer is no, and you can get back to work.

Keep building

Some months you'll feel the FOMO. Other months you'll realise your tool is right at the frontier. Either way, the business that kept building will be ahead of the one that kept switching.

Don't chase your tail. Don't chase tools.

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