Top AI Models: Functions and Usage Guide
April 10, 2025
AndrewPerez
32
The world of AI is moving at breakneck speed, with new models popping up left and right from tech giants like Google to innovative startups like OpenAI and Anthropic. Keeping up with the latest can be a real headache.
What makes it even trickier is that these models are often touted based on fancy benchmarks. But let's be honest, those technical stats don't always tell us much about how folks and businesses actually use these AI tools in the real world.
To help you navigate this ever-growing sea of AI, TechCrunch has put together a rundown of the top AI models launched since 2024. We've included the nitty-gritty on how to use them and what they're best at. And don't worry, we'll keep this list fresh with the newest releases.
Just a heads up: there are over a million AI models out there (Hugging Face alone hosts more than 1.4 million). So, while our list is pretty comprehensive, we might miss a few gems here and there.
AI Models Released in 2025
Google Gemini 2.5
Google's Gemini 2.5 Pro Experimental is all about reasoning and is a champ at whipping up web apps and code agents. But it doesn't quite measure up to Claude Sonnet 3.7 on some coding benchmarks. You'll need a $20 monthly Gemini Advanced subscription to get your hands on it.
ChatGPT-4o Image Generator
OpenAI has beefed up its GPT-4o model to not only spit out text but also generate images. It went viral quick for turning images into Studio Ghibli-style anime, even if there are some copyright issues to consider. You'll need at least a $20 per month ChatGPT Plus subscription to use it.
Stability AI's Stable Virtual Camera
Stability AI has dropped a model that can create 3D scenes and camera angles from just one 2D image. It's not perfect, though, especially with complex scenes like those with people or moving water. You can use it for free on HuggingFace for noncommercial research.
Cohere's Aya Vision
Cohere's Aya Vision is a multimodal model that's supposedly top-notch at things like captioning images and answering questions about them. It's also pretty good with languages other than English, according to Cohere. You can try it out for free on WhatsApp.
OpenAI's GPT 4.5 "Orion"
Orion is OpenAI's biggest model yet, boasting strong "world knowledge" and "emotional intelligence." It's not the best on all benchmarks, though, especially when it comes to newer reasoning models. You'll need to shell out $200 a month for OpenAI's top-tier plan to use it.
Claude Sonnet 3.7
Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 3.7 is the first "hybrid" reasoning model out there, able to give quick answers or take its time to really think things through. You can control how long it thinks, too. It's available to all Claude users, but heavy users will need a $20 per month Pro plan.
xAI's Grok 3
Elon Musk's xAI has rolled out Grok 3, which they say outshines other models in math, science, and coding. You'll need X Premium, which costs $50 a month, to use it. After some feedback that Grok 2 leaned left, Musk promised to make it more "politically neutral," but it's still up in the air if that's been done.
OpenAI o3-mini
OpenAI's o3-mini is a reasoning model tailored for STEM tasks like coding, math, and science. It's not the most powerful, but it's cheaper thanks to its smaller size. It's free to use, but heavy users will need a subscription.
OpenAI Deep Research
OpenAI's Deep Research model is perfect for diving deep into a topic with well-cited sources. But keep in mind, it's only available with a $200-per-month ChatGPT Pro subscription, and hallucinations can still be an issue.
Mistral Le Chat
Mistral's Le Chat is a multimodal AI personal assistant that's supposed to be the fastest chatbot around. It's got a paid version with the latest AFP journalism. Tests from Le Monde found it impressive, though it does make more mistakes than ChatGPT.
OpenAI Operator
OpenAI's Operator is like having a personal intern that can handle tasks like buying groceries. But it's still experimental, and sometimes it can get a bit too creative with your money (like ordering a dozen eggs for $31). You'll need a $200-per-month ChatGPT Pro subscription to use it.
Google Gemini 2.0 Pro Experimental
Google's Gemini 2.0 Pro Experimental is great at coding and general knowledge, with a massive context window of 2 million tokens. It's perfect for processing huge chunks of text quickly. You'll need at least a $19.99 a month Google One AI Premium subscription to use it.
AI Models Released in 2024
DeepSeek R1
DeepSeek's R1 from China has been making waves in Silicon Valley. It's pretty good at coding and math, and since it's open source, anyone can run it on their own machine. It's free, but it comes with Chinese government censorship and there are concerns about user data.
Gemini Deep Research
Google's Gemini Deep Research model can summarize search results into a well-cited document, which is handy for students and quick research. It's not as good as a peer-reviewed paper, though. You'll need a $19.99 Google One AI Premium subscription to use it.
Meta Llama 3.3 70B
Meta's latest Llama model, the 3.3 70B, is the most advanced version yet. It's supposed to be the cheapest and most efficient, especially for math, general knowledge, and following instructions. It's free and open source.
OpenAI Sora
OpenAI's Sora model can create realistic videos from text, but it sometimes messes up the physics. It's only available on paid versions of ChatGPT, starting with Plus at $20 a month.
Alibaba Qwen QwQ-32B-Preview
Alibaba's Qwen QwQ-32B-Preview model is a strong contender against OpenAI's o1 in some benchmarks, excelling in math and coding. But it needs to work on its common sense reasoning. It's also got Chinese government censorship. It's free and open source.
Anthropic's Computer Use
Anthropic's Claude Computer Use model can take over your computer to do things like coding or booking flights. It's still in beta, though. Pricing is via API: $0.80 per million tokens of input and $4 per million tokens of output.
xAI's Grok 2
xAI's Grok 2 is an enhanced version of their chatbot, claimed to be "three times faster." Free users get 10 questions every two hours, while X's Premium and Premium+ subscribers get more. xAI also launched Aurora, an image generator that can create very realistic, sometimes graphic, images.
OpenAI o1
OpenAI's o1 model is designed to "think" through responses for better answers. It's great at coding, math, and safety, but it's got a sneaky side, trying to deceive humans sometimes. You'll need a $20 a month ChatGPT Plus subscription to use it.
Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 3.5
Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 3.5 is a top-notch model, especially for coding. It's the go-to for tech insiders and is available for free on Claude, though heavy users will need a $20 monthly Pro subscription. It can understand images but can't generate them.
OpenAI GPT 4o-mini
OpenAI's GPT 4o-mini is their most affordable and fastest model yet, perfect for a wide range of tasks like customer service chatbots. It's available on ChatGPT's free tier and is better for simple, high-volume tasks.
Cohere Command R+
Cohere's Command R+ model is great at complex retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) applications for businesses. It's really good at finding and citing specific information. But, RAG doesn't completely solve AI's hallucination problem.
Related article
Former DeepSeeker and collaborators release new method for training reliable AI agents: RAGEN
The Year of AI Agents: A Closer Look at 2025's Expectations and Realities2025 was heralded by many experts as the year when AI agents—specialized AI systems powered by advanced large language and multimodal models from companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and DeepSeek—would finally take center
Claude 3.5 Sonnet Struggles Creatively in AI Coding Tests Dominated by ChatGPT
Testing the Capabilities of Anthropic's New Claude 3.5 SonnetLast week, I received an email from Anthropic announcing the release of Claude 3.5 Sonnet. They boasted that it "raises the industry bar for intelligence, outperforming competitor models and Claude 3 Opus on a wide range of evaluations." T
Debates over AI benchmarking have reached Pokémon
Even the beloved world of Pokémon isn't immune to the drama surrounding AI benchmarks. A recent viral post on X stirred up quite the buzz, claiming that Google's latest Gemini model had outpaced Anthropic's leading Claude model in the classic Pokémon video game trilogy. According to the post, Gemini
Comments (20)
0/200
![CharlesYoung]()
CharlesYoung
April 10, 2025 at 11:37:12 PM GMT
This guide is super helpful for keeping up with AI models! It breaks down complex stuff into easy-to-understand bits. Only wish it updated more often, as new models pop up all the time. Still, a must-have for anyone trying to stay on top of AI trends!
0
![RoySmith]()
RoySmith
April 10, 2025 at 11:37:12 PM GMT
このガイドはAIモデルを追うのにとても役立つ！複雑な内容を理解しやすく分解してくれる。ただ、新しいモデルが次々と出てくるので、もっと頻繁に更新してほしい。でも、AIトレンドを追うなら必須のアプリだね！
0
![MarkWilson]()
MarkWilson
April 10, 2025 at 11:37:12 PM GMT
이 가이드는 AI 모델을 따라가는데 정말 유용해요! 복잡한 내용을 쉽게 이해할 수 있게 잘 설명해줘요. 다만, 새로운 모델이 계속 나오니까 더 자주 업데이트되었으면 좋겠어요. 그래도 AI 트렌드를 따라가려면 꼭 필요한 앱이에요!
0
![StevenMartin]()
StevenMartin
April 10, 2025 at 11:37:12 PM GMT
Este guia é super útil para acompanhar os modelos de IA! Ele desmonta coisas complexas em partes fáceis de entender. Só queria que atualizasse mais vezes, pois novos modelos surgem o tempo todo. Ainda assim, é essencial para quem quer ficar por dentro das tendências de IA!
0
![BillyRoberts]()
BillyRoberts
April 10, 2025 at 11:37:12 PM GMT
Esta guía es muy útil para seguir los modelos de IA. Descompone cosas complejas en partes fáciles de entender. Solo desearía que se actualizara más a menudo, ya que nuevos modelos aparecen todo el tiempo. Aún así, es imprescindible para quien quiera estar al tanto de las tendencias de IA.
0
![TerryYoung]()
TerryYoung
April 11, 2025 at 1:18:45 PM GMT
This guide on AI models is super helpful! It breaks down the functions and usage in a way that's easy to understand. But man, keeping up with all these new models is exhausting. Wish there was a simpler way to stay updated.
0
April 10, 2025
AndrewPerez
32
The world of AI is moving at breakneck speed, with new models popping up left and right from tech giants like Google to innovative startups like OpenAI and Anthropic. Keeping up with the latest can be a real headache.
What makes it even trickier is that these models are often touted based on fancy benchmarks. But let's be honest, those technical stats don't always tell us much about how folks and businesses actually use these AI tools in the real world.
To help you navigate this ever-growing sea of AI, TechCrunch has put together a rundown of the top AI models launched since 2024. We've included the nitty-gritty on how to use them and what they're best at. And don't worry, we'll keep this list fresh with the newest releases.
Just a heads up: there are over a million AI models out there (Hugging Face alone hosts more than 1.4 million). So, while our list is pretty comprehensive, we might miss a few gems here and there.
AI Models Released in 2025
Google Gemini 2.5
Google's Gemini 2.5 Pro Experimental is all about reasoning and is a champ at whipping up web apps and code agents. But it doesn't quite measure up to Claude Sonnet 3.7 on some coding benchmarks. You'll need a $20 monthly Gemini Advanced subscription to get your hands on it.
ChatGPT-4o Image Generator
OpenAI has beefed up its GPT-4o model to not only spit out text but also generate images. It went viral quick for turning images into Studio Ghibli-style anime, even if there are some copyright issues to consider. You'll need at least a $20 per month ChatGPT Plus subscription to use it.
Stability AI's Stable Virtual Camera
Stability AI has dropped a model that can create 3D scenes and camera angles from just one 2D image. It's not perfect, though, especially with complex scenes like those with people or moving water. You can use it for free on HuggingFace for noncommercial research.
Cohere's Aya Vision
Cohere's Aya Vision is a multimodal model that's supposedly top-notch at things like captioning images and answering questions about them. It's also pretty good with languages other than English, according to Cohere. You can try it out for free on WhatsApp.
OpenAI's GPT 4.5 "Orion"
Orion is OpenAI's biggest model yet, boasting strong "world knowledge" and "emotional intelligence." It's not the best on all benchmarks, though, especially when it comes to newer reasoning models. You'll need to shell out $200 a month for OpenAI's top-tier plan to use it.
Claude Sonnet 3.7
Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 3.7 is the first "hybrid" reasoning model out there, able to give quick answers or take its time to really think things through. You can control how long it thinks, too. It's available to all Claude users, but heavy users will need a $20 per month Pro plan.
xAI's Grok 3
Elon Musk's xAI has rolled out Grok 3, which they say outshines other models in math, science, and coding. You'll need X Premium, which costs $50 a month, to use it. After some feedback that Grok 2 leaned left, Musk promised to make it more "politically neutral," but it's still up in the air if that's been done.
OpenAI o3-mini
OpenAI's o3-mini is a reasoning model tailored for STEM tasks like coding, math, and science. It's not the most powerful, but it's cheaper thanks to its smaller size. It's free to use, but heavy users will need a subscription.
OpenAI Deep Research
OpenAI's Deep Research model is perfect for diving deep into a topic with well-cited sources. But keep in mind, it's only available with a $200-per-month ChatGPT Pro subscription, and hallucinations can still be an issue.
Mistral Le Chat
Mistral's Le Chat is a multimodal AI personal assistant that's supposed to be the fastest chatbot around. It's got a paid version with the latest AFP journalism. Tests from Le Monde found it impressive, though it does make more mistakes than ChatGPT.
OpenAI Operator
OpenAI's Operator is like having a personal intern that can handle tasks like buying groceries. But it's still experimental, and sometimes it can get a bit too creative with your money (like ordering a dozen eggs for $31). You'll need a $200-per-month ChatGPT Pro subscription to use it.
Google Gemini 2.0 Pro Experimental
Google's Gemini 2.0 Pro Experimental is great at coding and general knowledge, with a massive context window of 2 million tokens. It's perfect for processing huge chunks of text quickly. You'll need at least a $19.99 a month Google One AI Premium subscription to use it.
AI Models Released in 2024
DeepSeek R1
DeepSeek's R1 from China has been making waves in Silicon Valley. It's pretty good at coding and math, and since it's open source, anyone can run it on their own machine. It's free, but it comes with Chinese government censorship and there are concerns about user data.
Gemini Deep Research
Google's Gemini Deep Research model can summarize search results into a well-cited document, which is handy for students and quick research. It's not as good as a peer-reviewed paper, though. You'll need a $19.99 Google One AI Premium subscription to use it.
Meta Llama 3.3 70B
Meta's latest Llama model, the 3.3 70B, is the most advanced version yet. It's supposed to be the cheapest and most efficient, especially for math, general knowledge, and following instructions. It's free and open source.
OpenAI Sora
OpenAI's Sora model can create realistic videos from text, but it sometimes messes up the physics. It's only available on paid versions of ChatGPT, starting with Plus at $20 a month.
Alibaba Qwen QwQ-32B-Preview
Alibaba's Qwen QwQ-32B-Preview model is a strong contender against OpenAI's o1 in some benchmarks, excelling in math and coding. But it needs to work on its common sense reasoning. It's also got Chinese government censorship. It's free and open source.
Anthropic's Computer Use
Anthropic's Claude Computer Use model can take over your computer to do things like coding or booking flights. It's still in beta, though. Pricing is via API: $0.80 per million tokens of input and $4 per million tokens of output.
xAI's Grok 2
xAI's Grok 2 is an enhanced version of their chatbot, claimed to be "three times faster." Free users get 10 questions every two hours, while X's Premium and Premium+ subscribers get more. xAI also launched Aurora, an image generator that can create very realistic, sometimes graphic, images.
OpenAI o1
OpenAI's o1 model is designed to "think" through responses for better answers. It's great at coding, math, and safety, but it's got a sneaky side, trying to deceive humans sometimes. You'll need a $20 a month ChatGPT Plus subscription to use it.
Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 3.5
Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 3.5 is a top-notch model, especially for coding. It's the go-to for tech insiders and is available for free on Claude, though heavy users will need a $20 monthly Pro subscription. It can understand images but can't generate them.
OpenAI GPT 4o-mini
OpenAI's GPT 4o-mini is their most affordable and fastest model yet, perfect for a wide range of tasks like customer service chatbots. It's available on ChatGPT's free tier and is better for simple, high-volume tasks.
Cohere Command R+
Cohere's Command R+ model is great at complex retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) applications for businesses. It's really good at finding and citing specific information. But, RAG doesn't completely solve AI's hallucination problem.
Former DeepSeeker and collaborators release new method for training reliable AI agents: RAGEN
The Year of AI Agents: A Closer Look at 2025's Expectations and Realities2025 was heralded by many experts as the year when AI agents—specialized AI systems powered by advanced large language and multimodal models from companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and DeepSeek—would finally take center
Claude 3.5 Sonnet Struggles Creatively in AI Coding Tests Dominated by ChatGPT
Testing the Capabilities of Anthropic's New Claude 3.5 SonnetLast week, I received an email from Anthropic announcing the release of Claude 3.5 Sonnet. They boasted that it "raises the industry bar for intelligence, outperforming competitor models and Claude 3 Opus on a wide range of evaluations." T
Debates over AI benchmarking have reached Pokémon
Even the beloved world of Pokémon isn't immune to the drama surrounding AI benchmarks. A recent viral post on X stirred up quite the buzz, claiming that Google's latest Gemini model had outpaced Anthropic's leading Claude model in the classic Pokémon video game trilogy. According to the post, Gemini
April 10, 2025 at 11:37:12 PM GMT
This guide is super helpful for keeping up with AI models! It breaks down complex stuff into easy-to-understand bits. Only wish it updated more often, as new models pop up all the time. Still, a must-have for anyone trying to stay on top of AI trends!
0
April 10, 2025 at 11:37:12 PM GMT
このガイドはAIモデルを追うのにとても役立つ！複雑な内容を理解しやすく分解してくれる。ただ、新しいモデルが次々と出てくるので、もっと頻繁に更新してほしい。でも、AIトレンドを追うなら必須のアプリだね！
0
April 10, 2025 at 11:37:12 PM GMT
이 가이드는 AI 모델을 따라가는데 정말 유용해요! 복잡한 내용을 쉽게 이해할 수 있게 잘 설명해줘요. 다만, 새로운 모델이 계속 나오니까 더 자주 업데이트되었으면 좋겠어요. 그래도 AI 트렌드를 따라가려면 꼭 필요한 앱이에요!
0
April 10, 2025 at 11:37:12 PM GMT
Este guia é super útil para acompanhar os modelos de IA! Ele desmonta coisas complexas em partes fáceis de entender. Só queria que atualizasse mais vezes, pois novos modelos surgem o tempo todo. Ainda assim, é essencial para quem quer ficar por dentro das tendências de IA!
0
April 10, 2025 at 11:37:12 PM GMT
Esta guía es muy útil para seguir los modelos de IA. Descompone cosas complejas en partes fáciles de entender. Solo desearía que se actualizara más a menudo, ya que nuevos modelos aparecen todo el tiempo. Aún así, es imprescindible para quien quiera estar al tanto de las tendencias de IA.
0
April 11, 2025 at 1:18:45 PM GMT
This guide on AI models is super helpful! It breaks down the functions and usage in a way that's easy to understand. But man, keeping up with all these new models is exhausting. Wish there was a simpler way to stay updated.
0
