Why this matters
Your firm has the documents every answer depends on: a price list, the policies, the FAQ new staff keep asking about. ChatGPT Projects, Gemini Gems, Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) and "knowledge bases" all promise to let AI use them. Most teams pick one at random, or try all four and keep three copies of every file.
Pick the wrong one and you get answers that mix your policy with the AI’s general advice, or last year’s prices quoted with total confidence to a client.
In this module you load the same three files into each tool, ask the same question, and compare the answers side by side. You leave knowing which tool fits which job, and why you keep one master copy of every document.
What you’ll build
For Birch Street Auto Repair, a made-up business, you load three files (Price list 2026.pdf, Warranty and policies.pdf and Customer FAQ.docx) into a ChatGPT Project, a Gemini Gem and a Gemini Notebook, and ask each one the same customer question about a warranty claim.
The answers differ in a useful way. The Project uses the files and adds general tips that are not in them. The Gem replies straight to the customer, the way its instructions say. The Notebook sticks to the files, cites each line and says plainly what the files do not cover. You finish with a one-screen cheat sheet.
What you need
- Nothing to start the practiceChatGPT and Gemini are practice copies, and no files are uploaded.
- The three test files, and what is in themThe answers turn on three lines. Warranty and policies.pdf: "Brake repairs: 12 months or 12,000 miles, whichever comes first. Parts and labor." and "Not covered: normal wear, and light noise while new pads bed in during the first 500 miles." Price list 2026.pdf: "Brake inspection $49 (credited toward any brake repair)". The customer’s mileage is in none of them. The download below has the question and these lines.
- A ChatGPT account, for Projectschatgpt.com. Projects are in the sidebar. File limits depend on your plan.
- A Google account, for Gems and Gemini Notebookgemini.google.com for Gems. Gemini Notebook is in Google’s Gemini apps. A work Google Workspace account keeps company files under company control.
- Three of your own documentsPick ones you would happily share with every user of the tool, like a price list, a policy and an FAQ. Never client files.
Concepts
4 ideas you’ll use in the practice.
ChatGPT Project: your workspace
A Project keeps files, instructions and all the related chats in one place. Every chat in the project can use the files.
It also mixes in ChatGPT’s general knowledge. That is handy for your own ongoing work (quotes, replies, planning), as long as you notice which parts came from your files and which did not.
Gemini Gem: one repeat job for the team
A Gem is a helper with fixed instructions and knowledge files, built for one job, like answering customer questions in a short, friendly message. You share it like a Google Doc, so everyone gets the same kind of answer.
Google Docs you add from Drive stay up to date when you edit them.
Gemini Notebook: what do my documents actually say?
Gemini Notebook answers only from the sources you add, with numbered citations. Click one and the exact passage opens. When the answer is not in your files, it says so.
That makes it the one for checking a policy, a contract or a manual before you tell someone what it says.
A knowledge base is the master copy
A knowledge base is the one up-to-date home for your documents, like a shared Drive folder or a help center. Customer-facing bots, such as a website chat or an AI phone receptionist, read their answers from it.
Whatever tools you use, update the master copy first. Otherwise the price list in your Project, your Gem and your chatbot slowly drift apart.
Practice
Do every step yourself in a practice copy of the real tool. It checks your work, and “Do it for me” finishes any step you get stuck on.
Do it for real
Now repeat it in your own account. Tick each step as you go.
Downloads
- Test question, source lines and cheat sheet (.txt)The question from the lesson, the file lines each answer depends on, and the one-screen guide to which tool to use.
Quick check
3 questions to check you’ve got it.
1. You need to check exactly what your contract says, with the line to prove it. Which tool fits best?
- ChatGPT Project
- Gemini Notebook
- Gemini Gem
Show the answer
Gemini Notebook. Gemini Notebook sticks to your sources and cites each line, and says when the answer is not there.
2. The Project’s answer included tips that are not in any of your files. Why?
- It mixes your files with ChatGPT’s general knowledge
- The files were uploaded wrong
- It always copies the FAQ
Show the answer
It mixes your files with ChatGPT’s general knowledge. Projects bring in general knowledge. Useful for your own work, but notice which parts came from your files.
3. Your prices change. What keeps every tool quoting the right ones?
- Upload the new file to whichever tool you use most
- Keep one master copy and update it there first
- Ask the AI to guess the new prices
Show the answer
Keep one master copy and update it there first. One master copy, updated first, stops the copies drifting apart.
AI Agent vs Chatbot vs Automation
You know where your documents belong. Next, the three words everyone mixes up: chatbot, automation and AI agent, shown on one real job, chasing six unpaid invoices.
Start module 9 →