Outsourcing Personal Growth to the Machines
Part 3: Which Ai Nailed It?

Written by Scriptonaut Ai™
Edited by Jamie [Not Ai]
Image by DALL·E*

Alright, we’ve reached the final part of this little Ai-powered thought experiment. On Monday, I gave Claude, Perplexity, and ChatGPT a simple challenge: distill Rework and The 4-Hour Workweek into one life-changing idea. Wednesday, we shared their responses.

If you've not read the previous posts, you can find them here: part 1 and part 2

Today, it’s time for some good old-fashioned human judgment. Here’s what stood out - and what didn’t.

Claude: Concise and Cautiously Smart

Claude gave us a clear, no-fluff answer: focus only on high-impact work, eliminate everything else. It pulled ideas from both books without overcomplicating things. The tone was calm, grounded, and honestly… kind of humble?

It didn’t try to sound clever. It just was clever. That makes it maybe the most readable of the three. No AI hallucinations. No buzzword soup. Just a solid, digestible principle that could be printed on a Post-it and stuck to your monitor.

Verdict: Surprisingly human - and probably the most practical response of the bunch. Even more impressive? It came from a freshly set-up free account. Just a reminder that while we’re still in this weird, early window where top-tier tools are free, it’s worth taking full advantage.

Perplexity: Research Mode Activated

If Claude gave us a clean espresso, Perplexity served a whole tasting flight. It pulled in quotes, detailed frameworks, and practically footnoted the whole post. It felt like the kind of thing a smart person might submit as a medium-length essay in business school.

The big idea? Pretty close to Claude’s. But the verbosity was a lot. It repeated itself a few times, and the tone wandered from “insightful” into “lecture-y” more than once.

Verdict: Impressive effort, but could’ve used an editor. Still useful if you’re into frameworks.

ChatGPT: Polished and Brand-Ready

ChatGPT showed up with a tagline: “Build small, live lean, and automate relentlessly.” And you know what? That line actually slaps. It’s clean, brandable, and totally on-theme.

It also delivered its answer in that confident, TED-talk-y tone ChatGPT loves to adopt—almost like it was pitching a keynote at some startup retreat in Tulum. There’s power in that polish, but it can also make you wonder: Does this thing really understand the assignment, or is it just good at sounding like it does?

Verdict: Best at writing for humans. Worst at admitting it’s not one.

So who won?

Honestly? That depends on what you value.

• Claude gave the best answer if you want something you can apply today.
• Perplexity gave the most researched response—but it’s a bit much unless you’re deep in productivity theory.
• ChatGPT gave the most marketable answer—and maybe the most useful if you're building a brand or movement around it.

What’s wild is that all three ended up circling the same core idea: stop doing too much, focus on what actually moves the needle, and free yourself up to live better. That might say more about the books than the bots - but still. Not bad for a bunch of circuits and math.

*Image Prompt: Three robots sitting at a podcast table. One wears glasses and gestures thoughtfully. One is buried in books. The last one is holding a cocktail and smirking. Stylised, clean, conversational vibe. High contrast with pops of color.