Top AI Models: Functions and Usage Guide
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 OpenAI Engineer Shares Insights on Company Culture and Rapid Growth
Three weeks ago, Calvin French-Owen, an engineer who contributed to a key OpenAI product, left the company.He recently shared a compelling blog post detailing his year at OpenAI, including the intense
Google Unveils Production-Ready Gemini 2.5 AI Models to Rival OpenAI in Enterprise Market
Google intensified its AI strategy Monday, launching its advanced Gemini 2.5 models for enterprise use and introducing a cost-efficient variant to compete on price and performance.The Alphabet-owned c
Meta Offers High Pay for AI Talent, Denies $100M Signing Bonuses
Meta is attracting AI researchers to its new superintelligence lab with substantial multimillion-dollar compensation packages. However, claims of $100 million "signing bonuses" are untrue, per a recru
Comments (24)
0/200
![FrankClark]()
FrankClark
August 4, 2025 at 9:00:59 AM EDT
This article’s a lifesaver for navigating the AI jungle! So many models out there, it’s like picking a favorite superhero. Google’s got the muscle, but startups like OpenAI are stealing the show. Anyone else overwhelmed by all these options? 🤯
0
![MichaelMartinez]()
MichaelMartinez
July 29, 2025 at 8:25:16 AM EDT
This article’s breakdown of AI models is super handy! I’m geeking out over how fast this tech is evolving, but picking the right model for my project still feels like choosing a wand at Hogwarts. 🪄 Any tips on which one’s best for creative writing?
0
![WalterGonzález]()
WalterGonzález
July 27, 2025 at 9:19:30 PM EDT
This article's breakdown of AI models is super handy! 😎 I love how it simplifies the chaos of new tech popping up everywhere. Curious though, which model do you guys think will dominate in 2026?
0
![FrankSanchez]()
FrankSanchez
July 27, 2025 at 9:18:39 PM EDT
The AI world is wild! So many models out there, it’s like trying to pick a favorite song in a playlist that keeps growing. This guide sounds super helpful for sorting through the noise—gonna check it out! 😎
0
![EricPerez]()
EricPerez
April 16, 2025 at 4:52:27 AM EDT
Top AI Models guide is super helpful! It's like a cheat sheet for all the latest AI stuff. Only wish it was updated more often, but it's still a must-have for anyone trying to keep up! 📚
0
![WillCarter]()
WillCarter
April 15, 2025 at 11:02:03 PM EDT
Руководство по Top AI Models очень полезно! Это как шпаргалка для всех последних новинок в области AI. Хотелось бы, чтобы оно обновлялось чаще, но всё равно это must-have для всех, кто хочет быть в курсе! 📚
0
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 OpenAI Engineer Shares Insights on Company Culture and Rapid Growth
Three weeks ago, Calvin French-Owen, an engineer who contributed to a key OpenAI product, left the company.He recently shared a compelling blog post detailing his year at OpenAI, including the intense
Google Unveils Production-Ready Gemini 2.5 AI Models to Rival OpenAI in Enterprise Market
Google intensified its AI strategy Monday, launching its advanced Gemini 2.5 models for enterprise use and introducing a cost-efficient variant to compete on price and performance.The Alphabet-owned c
Meta Offers High Pay for AI Talent, Denies $100M Signing Bonuses
Meta is attracting AI researchers to its new superintelligence lab with substantial multimillion-dollar compensation packages. However, claims of $100 million "signing bonuses" are untrue, per a recru
August 4, 2025 at 9:00:59 AM EDT
This article’s a lifesaver for navigating the AI jungle! So many models out there, it’s like picking a favorite superhero. Google’s got the muscle, but startups like OpenAI are stealing the show. Anyone else overwhelmed by all these options? 🤯
0
July 29, 2025 at 8:25:16 AM EDT
This article’s breakdown of AI models is super handy! I’m geeking out over how fast this tech is evolving, but picking the right model for my project still feels like choosing a wand at Hogwarts. 🪄 Any tips on which one’s best for creative writing?
0
July 27, 2025 at 9:19:30 PM EDT
This article's breakdown of AI models is super handy! 😎 I love how it simplifies the chaos of new tech popping up everywhere. Curious though, which model do you guys think will dominate in 2026?
0
July 27, 2025 at 9:18:39 PM EDT
The AI world is wild! So many models out there, it’s like trying to pick a favorite song in a playlist that keeps growing. This guide sounds super helpful for sorting through the noise—gonna check it out! 😎
0
April 16, 2025 at 4:52:27 AM EDT
Top AI Models guide is super helpful! It's like a cheat sheet for all the latest AI stuff. Only wish it was updated more often, but it's still a must-have for anyone trying to keep up! 📚
0
April 15, 2025 at 11:02:03 PM EDT
Руководство по Top AI Models очень полезно! Это как шпаргалка для всех последних новинок в области AI. Хотелось бы, чтобы оно обновлялось чаще, но всё равно это must-have для всех, кто хочет быть в курсе! 📚
0
