How to choose an AI tool: five questions to ask first

New AI tools appear every week, and it is easy to sign up for five of them and use none. Before you try another one, answer these questions.

1. What is the one task?

Write the task as a single sentence: "I need to summarise weekly reports" or "I need subtitles for my videos". If you cannot write the sentence, you do not need a tool yet.

2. Is the free plan enough?

Many tools are freemium: free to start, with limits on how much you can do. Check the limit that matters for your task — messages per day, minutes of audio, number of exports.

A free plan you can actually live with beats a paid plan you forget to cancel.

3. Where does your data go?

Read the privacy page for two things: whether your content is used for training, and whether you can delete it. For sensitive documents, look at tools that run on your own computer.

4. Does it work in your language?

Test in the language you will really use. Quality in Arabic can differ a lot from quality in English, especially for speech and for formal writing.

5. What if you stop paying?

Can you export your work? Do your files stay readable? A tool that locks your work in is more expensive than its price.

A simple way to test

1. Pick one real piece of your own work.
2. Try it in two tools on the same day.
3. Keep the one that needed fewer corrections.

The checklist below is free to download and reuse.