With fall classes in full swing and another record-breaking incoming class on campus, UNLV’s podcast The Real BS About AI with hosts Bob Soulliere and Alethea Inns returns for a third episode, tackling the question everyone’s asking: What’s the best AI tool to use and when?

In this episode, Inns introduces the four Cs of artificial intelligence (AI) selection: context, constraints, cognition, and controls. This quick framework can be used to match the task with the right tool, protect data, and keep the human voice intact.

“There isn’t one ‘best’ AI,” Soulliere added. “There’s a best fit for you and the job at hand.”

The pair compares daily use across leading systems:

• ChatGPT: Soulliere’s go-to for writing with extensive tone and clarity tuning and citation verification.
• Gemini: Soulliere’s “creative engine” for coding and long-context tasks.
• Claude: Inns’ “thought partner” for concept checks, while Soulliere uses it for large document analysis.
• NotebookLM: Both praise its closed-corpus workflows, from mind maps to narrated video and podcast summaries built strictly from provided sources.

“Know each tool’s strengths, and where it breaks for you. If you understand the weak spots, you can still use them well,” Soulliere said.

UNLV is expanding its support with a biweekly AI series led by the Teaching & Learning Commons and Office of Online Education, a new “Learning with AI” button in WebCampus to give students direct access to resources, and expanded campuswide options, including ChatGPT Enterprise with institutional data protections and Gemini Pro integrations.

From the hosts, the bottom line is to experiment widely, keep sensitive work in university-supported platforms, and let AI polish, not replace, your voice.

The Real BS About AI publishes new episodes every two weeks, blending humor, accessibility, and practical advice to make artificial intelligence approachable for the UNLV community. View the AI Technology webpage for past podcast episodes or more information about AI at UNLV.

Short on time? Grab The Afterwards, a quick read about the episode, complete with prompts and notes you can copy and paste for your own use and workflow.  

Content for this story was drawn directly from the podcast and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our communications team verifies all content for accuracy.