April 2025 AI Models Update:Latest Developments and Trends
Introduction
The AI landscape continues to evolve rapidly. Here’s your monthly update on what’s changed, what’s emerging, and how to make the most of the tools available. I did my original post at https://sharpstone.blog/posts/ai-models-compared/ around 30 days ago and there has been a whirlwind of change since then. I decided that I would leave that post up and offer a monthly summary of new things features, updates and models to watch. The original post has good background - these will just focus on what’s new each month. I may then do a deep dive into new features or particularly compelling information as an extra post.
Updated AI Models
- ChatGPT: The big news with ChatGPT is the relase of GPT 4o with native image generation.
- Claude AI: Claude 3.7, Claude Code, real time search capabilties,
- Meta AI / LLaMA: LLama 4 announced
- Perplexity:
- Grok: xAI and X merging
- DeepSeek:
- Gemini:
- Copilot:
Emerging Synergies
👉 There are rumnors of Grok and Perplexity creating a puporse built synergy. Groks speed and built in social access plus Perplexities academic rigor and academic prowess could be a big boon for researchers and academics.
New Models to Watch
- LLama 4 Behomoth is in Preview mode. This could be a powerhouse that will rival GPT 4.5 and Claude 3.7 sonnet due its massive amount of parameters (288 billion active parametes.)
- Claude 4 is on the horizon. Expected to be multimodal with more ethical use features.
Pairing Suggestions
Often pairing AI models provides deeper, more beneficial results:
👉 Academic Research: Use Perplexity (citations) + Claude AI (long-form analysis)
👉 Business Intelligence: Use Grok (real-time trends) + Claude AI (deep analysis)
👉 Coding: Use ChatGPT (problem-solving) + Copilot (inline suggestions)
AI Model Strengths & Best Use Cases
| If you want to… | Consider these AI Models | Why? |
|---|---|---|
| Conduct Academic Research | Perplexity, DeepSeek, Grok | Perplexity gives citations, DeepSeek offers reasoning, Grok has social search. |
| Get Real-Time Insights | Grok, Perplexity | Grok is connected to X data, Perplexity has real-time search. |
| Do Coding Assistance | ChatGPT (GPT-4), Copilot, Claude AI, DeepSeek | Full spectrum coverage from prompt to IDE. |
| Generate Images | ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot | All offer multimodal generation. |
| Perform Legal/Technical Reviews | Claude AI | With 200k context, great for long docs. |
| Automate Office Tasks | Copilot, ChatGPT | Integrated into Microsoft 365, good for productivity workflows. |
| Improve Customer Support | ChatGPT, Gemini | Conversationally strong, multimodal when needed. |
| Get Casual Answers | Meta AI, Gemini | Simple, fast, good for everyday tasks. |
Final Thoughts
The right combination of AI tools can radically improve your workflow. Track updates monthly, and test new synergies often.
This post was written using AI tools to support research, formatting, and optimization.