Generation 1 vs Generation 2 AI
What changed — and why it matters
The landscape
Generation 1
The ChatGPT Era · 2022–25
Free / Constrained
Gen 1a
Whatever your organisation provides by default.
Shorter context, weaker models, no memory.
Limited by design.
Free ChatGPT, free Claude, basic Copilot, bundled tools
My strong recommendation: don’t waste time here
Pro / Competent
Gen 1b
Good general-purpose applications.
Dramatically more capable than the free tier —
longer context, stronger models, useful features.
Paid versions of Claude, Gemini, or ChatGPT
My strong recommendation: Claude
Generation 2
The Claude Code Era · 2026 +
Agentic / Frontier
Gen 2
General-purpose agents that can interact with your computer.
They don’t just answer questions —
they read files, write files, pursue objectives, and complete
entire workflows independently.
Claude Code, ChatGPT Codex, Google Gemini CLI
My strong recommendation: Claude Code
↓
How each generation productises
Gen 1 → GPTs
Packaged prompts
Productised as GPTs — packaged prompts for single tasks.
You work out how to research a company, save the prompt, reuse it for the next one.
One task, one prompt, one output.
Gen 2 → Skills
Packaged agents
Productised as skills — packaged agents for whole workflows.
I built a process that researches every nightclub in a market, scores them on
multiple dimensions, and produces a live dashboard. Then reran the whole thing
in one click for completely different industries:
↓
A dual strategy
1
For the many
Pro / Competent · Gen 1 tools
Free
→
Pro
Move less-engaged people from constrained, default tools to competent use
of good general-purpose applications. This in itself is a big return
on investment.
2
For the best
Agentic / Frontier · Gen 2 tools
Pro
→
Agentic
Accelerate your best people with agentic tools.
They’ll build workflows that deliver outsized impact —
and those workflows become reusable for everyone else.