Soffi vs YandexGPT vs ChatGPT: choosing the best solution for business

Imagine you are conducting an interview for an “AI assistant” position for your company. Three candidates are waiting in the lobby: the world-famous ChatGPT, the local talent YandexGPT, and a newcomer focused on business tasks, Soffi. Each of them is strong in their own way, and the choice isn’t so obvious. Adding intrigue is the fact that artificial intelligence long ago stopped being a laboratory curiosity—according to McKinsey, six out of ten companies already make direct profit from neural networks. This means your business’s ability to save time and money may depend on your choice of AI tool. Let’s sort out who’s who in this neural network battle and who deserves to be “hired” for your team.

Meet the Candidates

We have three different approaches to artificial intelligence before us. Allow us to introduce them as job candidates and take a look at their “resumes”:

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  ChatGPT—the star expat. Developed by OpenAI, it stormed onto the scene in 2022 and quickly gained over 100 million users worldwide. Speaks dozens of languages, is as knowledgeable as an encyclopedia, and can hold a conversation on any topic. Its talent is versatility: from writing articles and marketing ideas to helping with code. You could say ChatGPT is a world-class consultant, polyglot, and walking library all in one. But the foreign genius has some nuances: first, it communicates mainly in English (though it understands Russian), and second, it runs on a foreign service. For Russian companies this means there may be accessibility challenges (you can’t do without a VPN) and data security issues (user data goes to OpenAI servers and may even be used for training the model unless you disable this option).

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  YandexGPT—our local guy in the domestic AI crowd. Developed by Yandex, launched in 2023 as part of an ecosystem: its “brains” are built into the Alice voice assistant and Yandex search. YandexGPT has been raised on Russian-language data and is great at picking up on the context of our culture—gets subtle humor, meme references, and speaks Russian as a native (because he is one!). He also knows languages of the neighboring CIS countries and even some English, but the main domain is the Russian region. For business tasks in the domestic market, this is a big plus: YandexGPT won’t be lost if you ask it to write a text in the style of a domestic advertising slogan or reply to a client considering local realities. Moreover, in Russia, YandexGPT is freely available—no VPN or ritual dances required. And company data accessed through Yandex Cloud stays with the company; Yandex emphasizes B2B confidentiality. In essence, this candidate promises: “Your data won’t go overseas; I work according to domestic data protection standards (FZ-152).” Admittedly, its universalism is a bit behind its colleague’s: it doesn’t reach the level of global ChatGPT in all tasks. But the progress is impressive—the latest YandexGPT-5 almost matches OpenAI’s GPT-4 in answer quality, so don’t underestimate this competitor.

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  Soffi—young and energetic automator. This is more than just a model; it’s a platform that positions itself as “a new employee ready to handle routine work.” Simply put, Soffi is an AI service for business process automation. In its resume, it claims: “I’ll connect to your data, understand the task in natural language, and regularly deliver results—report, analysis, forecast—wherever you say (Telegram, email, anywhere).” Soffi works “out of the box,” no coding—you don’t need developers to implement AI in your company. Connect Google Sheets, upload a CSV, describe the task in plain language—and go: you’ll get your first result in 15 minutes. For example, you can ask: “Analyze monthly sales and send me a summary on Telegram.” Soffi waves its magic wand—and sends you a ready report, saving you hours of manual work. Unlike just models, this platform is tailored to specific business cases: reports, digests, analytics, CRM integration, and so on. And even though Soffi isn’t as famous as ChatGPT, it talks to you in friendly Russian, encrypts data with AES-256 standard, and stores everything on secure European servers. Plus, your first 3 tasks are free—a kind of trial period for the AI rookie.

Comparing Capabilities: what can our AIs do

So, we’re facing three candidates. Let’s see how each handles typical business tasks, comparing their strengths and weaknesses across key criteria.

1. Knowledge and Languages

ChatGPT is a walking polyglot and expert. It’s trained on a massive corpus of texts from all over the world. Need to write a client email in English, make a post in Spanish, or translate a product description into French—no big challenge for ChatGPT. It confidently generates text in many languages and draws on a global knowledge base. However, it’s at its best in languages with the most training data (English, Spanish, etc.). It’s fine with Russian, too, but may miss subtle cultural nuances more than YandexGPT. For example, if you ask ChatGPT to joke in the style of an “Odessa anecdote,” it might come up with a joke, but a connoisseur will spot the difference.

YandexGPT grew up on its native soil. Its forte is Russian and related languages (Ukrainian, Kazakh, Belarusian, etc.). In these, it not only writes correctly but also gets the cultural context: it knows the “Zhdun” meme, gets irony in the phrase “Ну ты, блин, даёшь!”, and won’t mix up the meaning of proverbs. For companies working in the Russian-speaking market, this means much more accurate and natural customer communication. For example, YandexGPT is perfect for automatic replies in Russian: it politely and to the point continues dialogues, almost like a live operator, and its answers have a local flavor. In multilingual environments, YandexGPT is less confident—with English, it’s now pretty good (30% of its training data is in English), but for advanced Japanese or Hindi tasks, it’s better to go with global ChatGPT.

Soffi, strictly speaking, doesn’t compete by language count—its power is in understanding tasks in natural language (mainly Russian so far, since it’s aimed at our market). You tell it what you want in simple words, without tech jargon—for example: “Prepare a sales report for the quarter and compare it to last year,” and Soffi gets what you mean, just like a real analyst would. Here, it’s on par with the “big brothers,” since Soffi also uses a powerful language model under the hood. The difference is, Soffi was trained to understand typical business cases. It “knows” that a sales report means collecting numbers, calculating totals, making conclusions, and presenting it nicely. Soffi can also handle English-labeled data in your Google Sheets—it won’t get lost. But Soffi is less likely to chat idly: it’s focused on getting a specific task done. So, in terms of knowledge and languages, you could say: ChatGPT is the universal guru, YandexGPT is the specialist in our region, Soffi is the pragmatic doer who understands plain speech.

2. Integration and Ease of Use

Here’s where major differences start. Imagine telling each candidate: “Great, you’re hired, start tomorrow.” How quickly and easily will each start adding value?

ChatGPT in its basic form is like an external consulting agency. You talk to it via a web interface (OpenAI’s chat site) or a special app. For one-offs, perfect: jump in, ask for a commercial proposal, get the text. But integrating ChatGPT into your business processes is harder. Suppose you want AI to daily analyze website requests and send you a digest. By itself, ChatGPT can’t do this—you’d need to write scripts with the OpenAI API, decide where it gets data, and where to put results. So you can’t avoid a programmer or at least a “power user.” Yes, OpenAI provides extensive docs and SDKs, and there are lots of integrations (Slack, Gmail via third-party plugins)—but all this takes time to set up. Another catch: ChatGPT works only in the OpenAI cloud. You can’t deploy it on your own servers (on-premise). So for banks or state agencies needing an isolated environment, the standard ChatGPT won’t work.

YandexGPT is more of a corporate player integration-wise. It fits organically in the Yandex ecosystem. If your business already uses, say, Yandex.Cloud, you can connect YandexGPT via familiar tools. Yandex offers APIs, its own sandboxes for testing models, and even the ability to run the model on your own servers (for large clients). Imagine you have a call center powered by Yandex.Alice—switching Alice to the new YandexGPT engine lets you upgrade your bot without exotic integrations. Plus, Yandex docs are in Russian and fit local realities. For small/medium businesses, direct API integration might still be tough—a developer is needed to set it up. But at least YandexGPT is open for this: want it inside your site or CRM? Here’s the API key—go for it. A bonus—the Playground interface: in Yandex.Cloud’s console there’s a simple chat where business users can experiment, quiz the model manually. It’s like a test range: before committing to integration, you can see how YandexGPT responds to typical client queries or how well it summarizes a report.

Soffi is designed to hold your hand and instantly deliver results. Its motto: “No complicated setups, everything works out of the box”. Basically, Soffi is a turnkey solution (SaaS). Integration isn’t a project—it’s a simple onboarding: sign up on the platform, pick a data source (Google Sheets, Telegram, or upload a file), describe a task in free form (“every Monday send me a summary from this Trello board”), and set the destination. That’s it—in a few minutes your first result will hit your messenger or mailbox. No coding, no servers, no DevOps. If ChatGPT is a genius expert who needs a bridge, YandexGPT is a techie to be fit into the system, then Soffi is a ready-to-go worker who fits himself into your team. Of course, this simplicity has boundaries: Soffi offers a library of typical actions (analytics in tables, report generation, metric calculation, filling templates, etc.). It won’t start writing code or designing logos—you’d need the others for that. But routine office tasks (data collection, calculation, reporting) it’ll do automatically and on schedule. In essence, Soffi fills the niche of no-code AI automation for those not wanting to dive into technical details.

3. Specific Examples and Use Cases

To liven up the comparison, let’s look at how each AI can help in the real-world work of small/medium businesses:

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  Content and Creativity: Suppose you run a small online store. You need product card descriptions and social media posts. ChatGPT is a multi-functional copywriter here. Give it some product specs—it writes a detailed description, even in several languages at once if you like. It can take a humorous tone or include SEO keywords if prompted. Minus: ChatGPT’s text is sometimes too generic or “literary” and should be tweaked for your audience. YandexGPT can also generate texts, especially well in Russian. It can compose more “human” descriptions for local realities, less glossy—for VK’s audience, say, it’ll do a more down-to-earth style. But YandexGPT may be less creative: tricky metaphors or super-original ideas aren’t its forte (though it's getting smarter with updates). However, for generating answers to FAQs in Russian, YandexGPT does better (it trained on thousands of similar domain dialogues). Soffi plays a different role in content tasks. Rather, it gathers data for content: exporting top monthly sales from CRM for infographics or factual posts. Soffi isn’t trained to make jokes, but it’ll spare the marketer from manually compiling numbers—they’ll be served up ready.

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  Analytics and Reports: Imagine a café owner spending every week in Excel consolidating revenue, expenses, and client reviews. ChatGPT won’t dive into your spreadsheets by itself (unless you paste data into the chat by hand). Hooked in via plugins, it can help interpret: explain why revenue dipped Wednesday or spot a trend. The trouble: you need to connect your data and ChatGPT first—not easy without IT expertise. YandexGPT is similar: no direct “feed the spreadsheet and ask what’s interesting” interface. However, YandexGPT can be integrated into reporting systems to auto-generate text notes to the numbers (“sales are up 5% likely due to the promo”). Again, this takes development work. Soffi is made for these cases. You connect Excel/Google Sheet directly to Soffi and say: “every morning send me yesterday’s key numbers”—and it does. Or ask: “analyze monthly client reviews and show top three complaints”—Soffi scans the data and writes the summary. Basically, it’s an internal business analyst on autopilot. One advantage Soffi has is regularity and automation: ChatGPT and YandexGPT are more for ad hoc queries (“pull an insight from this data”), while Soffi can be scheduled (daily/weekly/monthly, no reminders needed).

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  Customer Service and Communications: Suppose you run an internet service with lots of user Q&A. ChatGPT can theoretically be trained to reply, but risks exist: it can fantasize and give wrong answers (“hallucinations”). Usually, customer support opts for specialized chatbots. ChatGPT is more an aide for operators: as a reference, it quickly summarizes info or suggests a polite reply. YandexGPT is more at home here, thanks to Alice. You can build a voice or text bot on YandexGPT to serve clients 24/7. And clients may not realize it’s an AI—they get natural-sounding answers (especially in Russian, attuned to local nuance). Plus, YandexGPT can be tied into your knowledge base, pulling facts from there and not just the public net—reducing hallucination. Soffi plays more on the back-office side. It won’t chat with users directly (not a chatbot in the literal sense). But Soffi can auto-send clients reports, prepare personalized commercial proposals (filling in the right fields), or, say, compile feedback from various sources and pass it to a manager. So it helps process and prep info for communication, not handle the communication itself.

4. Reliability, Data and Security

For business, not only the AI’s capabilities matter, but security and accountability do too. Here, differences exist as well.

ChatGPT is powerful but closed: hosted on overseas servers, we don’t know exactly what it was trained on (we know it’s tons of texts up to 2021), and the model can be wrong or lack fresh facts. For instance, asking about late 2024 events, base ChatGPT (offline) may give outdated info. Also, businesses worry: “Where does our input data go?” OpenAI claims user prompts aren’t used for training if history saving is off, or if you use the API with the right settings. Still, in some industries you cannot send confidential info to an external service. There have been cases where staff pasted source code or client personal data into ChatGPT, violating company security policy. ChatGPT now offers paid enterprise editions with guarantees, or API use with control encryption. You wouldn’t trust the regular version with secrets.

YandexGPT, as a domestic product, is more transparent in terms of jurisdiction. All data sent through the YandexGPT API is stored in Russian data centers (or by client’s choice, possibly in friendly jurisdictions), under local law. For many businesses, that’s reassuring. Yandex also says: client data stays with the client and won’t be used for model retraining without consent. So, if a bank uses YandexGPT for internal docs analysis, those docs won’t go to any third party. Plus, certifications: YandexGPT/Yandex.Cloud claim compliance with security requirements like FZ-152 (personal data). Another reliability point—knowledge refresh. Yandex models train on data relevant to the local market, and are supplemented from time to time. However, like ChatGPT, YandexGPT can err, hallucinate. For example, it's not great at math (Yandex admits complex calculations are a weak spot). So, verifying critical answers is a must, whether it's ChatGPT or YandexGPT.

Soffi manages security for the user. It encrypts data with AES-256 and hosts on secure European servers. So, when you connect your sources (spreadsheets, email, etc.), everything sent is protected and stored according to EU GDPR standards. GDPR isn’t Russia’s native standard, but is a high guarantee level. Of course, some might prefer data never leaves the country—in such cases, pick a domestic solution (Yandex) with in-Russia storage, or a neutral European cloud (Soffi). Either way, Soffi clearly cares about confidentiality—no one will automate reporting if there’s a trade secret leak risk. Also, as a specialized service, Soffi likely does not store your data longer than needed for the job (unlike big models retrained on user prompts). It acts as a conscientious employee: composes the report, sends it—and forgets your numbers, doesn’t leak them. Soffi is also less likely to “make stuff up”: it executes tightly programmed actions with AI, so there’s less chance of hallucination. However, still: trust but verify—check initial results to see if Soffi understood tasks correctly, amend instructions if needed.

5. Cost and Efficiency

The last comparison: money. Any businessperson will ask: “What does this banquet cost?”

ChatGPT shocked the world with a free base version (still is, though with restrictions and unofficial in Russia). But corporate use of the free version is hard: message limits, no uptime guarantees, and not meant for commercial scale. So for serious usage, there’s ChatGPT Plus ($20 per month) or direct OpenAI API usage (pay for requests, cost calculated per token). Active use can mean hefty bills—ChatGPT has one of the highest API prices. For example, a long report can cost a few cents, but daily, at scale, it adds to dozens of dollars per month. Big business shrugs, but for a startup, that's a line item. Also, due to sanctions, paying OpenAI from Russia is tricky: need a foreign card or workarounds. So with ChatGPT it’s either free and “best effort,” or paid—and then you have to optimize queries for the budget.

YandexGPT went for accessible pricing on the home market. Yandex hasn’t published exact rates yet, but Russian tariffs are milder. Using YandexGPT via the cloud may be cheaper than OpenAI, especially without intermediaries or overseas infrastructure. Plus, there may be free quotas or trial periods for businesses (Yandex often runs promos for new services). If you’re a big company, you can get a fixed rate or even install the model on-premise for a fee—then use it with no limitations, as much as you like. For small business, on-premise isn’t practical, but licensing flexibility is greater with YandexGPT. Integrating with current Yandex services can also cut development costs (less time paying programmers if it all fits in easily).

Soffi has a transparent subscription model: first 3 tasks free, then packages—for instance, Standard: 20 tasks for 2999 ₽ per month. For small/medium business, 20 automations (e.g., daily report + weekly summary + a couple of one-off analytics) can cover main needs. Need more—Pro plan or custom. You can easily see your automation cost—a fixed budget, no surprises. And data size or text length doesn’t matter—you pay per task, not data volume. So Soffi turns variable AI expenses into flat costs: plan for 3000 ₽ a month—routine reports are covered. It’s often easier for management than open-ended API spend: 1,000 requests this month, 10,000 the next (hello, unpredictable bills). If you have tons of tasks, you’ll need a pricier plan or supplement with other solutions. But as a start for automation—it’s just right. No wonder Soffi says: “Launch a free pilot—get first results in minutes.” Try it—if it works, you decide if the subscription is worth it. Honest approach.

Gradual Complication: under the hood of the models

We’ve covered the practical stuff, and maybe you know who’s right for your needs. If you want a peek under the hood—a few words about the tech, without extra math, promise.

All three options run on generative neural networks—those GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) models. ChatGPT uses GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 architectures—huge neural networks trained on terabytes of text. They predict the next word in a phrase, calibrated by millions of parameters. YandexGPT is also built on transformer architecture. Fun fact: Yandex didn't reinvent the wheel: its newest YandexGPT-5 model is based on China’s open Qwen-2.5 from Alibaba, which Yandex devs fine-tuned for local needs. Nothing wrong with that—on the contrary, it helped close the gap with leaders quickly. The main thing: YandexGPT was trained on Russian data, so it excels there. Soffi most likely uses one of these models (maybe even GPT-3.5 from OpenAI or a local equivalent) under the hood, but keeps this under wraps so the user doesn’t have to worry. For you, Soffi is an app that picks the right neural net, sets it up, and delivers the result—basically an AI orchestrator, conducting the model to output exactly what your business process needs.

What about accuracy and errors? All generative models share a weak point—they can generate confident, but wrong answers. ChatGPT is famous for such “hallucinations,” YandexGPT can invent non-existent facts too (though trying to improve). By narrowing the task range, Soffi likely reduces error risk—when the task is specific (“sum this, output top 5”), there’s less to invent. Nevertheless, we advise implementing AI step by step, increasing task complexity as you go. Start with a simple task, check the result. Then assign something harder, check again. Like a trainee: even if they're a genius, you should watch initially. Later, trusting its reliability, let the AI assistant act more on its own.

A fun detail about context window size: how much info the model can consider at once. ChatGPT (especially GPT-4) allows massive context—tens of pages of text can be fed and considered. YandexGPT Pro also allows 32k tokens context (about 25,000 words), enough to analyze a long document or book. Soffi, working with data, usually splits big chunks up and processes in sequence—it’s transparent to you. But with very large data sets, know that the AI may not chew it all at once—you may have to split the job (Soffi might handle this automatically). For business reports, context is big enough for all key thousands of rows or multi-page texts.

One last point: training on your own data. ChatGPT in the open version isn’t custom-trained on your company (unless you get OpenAI fine-tuning, tough and pricey for small business). YandexGPT can be further trained on your data via Yandex services, but it’s really for large clients—you’d need to prep a dataset and know what you’re doing. Soffi is more practical: it doesn’t train the model, it configures the solution for your task. It’s the difference between “teach the neural net a new song” and “just play the song you need.” Soffi picks the right “tune,” sets filters—and plays. For new stuff, Soffi’s developers add templates or features. For you, that means: minimal tech fuss, maximum focus on task formulation.

Interactive: A Mini-Experiment

To feel the difference, try a little thought experiment (or a real one if you have access to the models). Imagine all three—ChatGPT, YandexGPT, and Soffi—are given the same assignment: for instance, write a monthly sales summary using weekly sales data. How do they handle it?

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  ChatGPT, with no direct file access, will say: “Please enter the data.” You paste the table as text—it analyzes and gives a report, maybe very nicely worded: “Last month saw a 15% sales increase in the second half, recommended to focus on…” and so on. Good. But with new data tomorrow—it’s manual again.

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  YandexGPT takes the same approach, gives a report in Russian, maybe less literary, but will highlight: “Maximum revenue recorded in the 4th week—1.2M ₽, this is 10% higher than week 3.” It’s more to the point. But again, without automation, new data means you repeat the manual process.

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  Soffi you’d configure once: pick the Google Sheet, tell it “analyze by month”—and it sends you the report itself. And tomorrow, and next month. The report won’t have poetic turns—dry facts, a graph, a few findings. But you did nothing, just read the result. Big difference, right?

If you like, have some fun with the reader: you can try distinguishing ChatGPT from YandexGPT. For example, ask both to write a short birthday greeting for your accountant. ChatGPT will likely write something universal: “Congratulations on your birthday! Wishing you success…”—pretty neutral. YandexGPT may add some local flavor: “…so debit and credit always match, and the taxman is always waving you through!” That’s their “upbringing” coming out. And Soffi? …he probably won’t generate greetings—not his job 😊. He’s about crunching numbers and delivering value.

Conclusion: Practical Tips on Choosing

Picking the best AI for business is like hiring for a key role. You must consider both skills and personality, and how they fit your team. Our three candidates have distinct personalities. Let's sum up, no fluff:

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  ChatGPT—the outstanding generalist and “idea generator”. Ideal if you need creative content, multilingual communication, or intellectual assistance on a wide range of questions. But for routine automation without programming, less suitable. More a consultant you call on periodically. Tip: use ChatGPT where breadth of knowledge and creativity matter, and confidentiality isn’t critical. Set a policy: teach staff not to post secrets; double-check answers for accuracy.

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  YandexGPT—a strong regional player and “communicator”. Perfect for Russian-language tasks: customer support, content in a local style, or quick answers for staff. Easier to integrate if you’re already in the Yandex ecosystem. Tip: consider YandexGPT if your business is all in the Runet and you want a reliable local solution. Try Yandex Cloud’s demo: ask questions from your field and gauge the reply style. If you like it, plan a pilot integrating your own data.

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  Soffi—a practical automator and “quiet workhorse”. Best choice when your goal is to quickly remove routine and get concrete results, hassle-free. It won’t compose odes, but will collate numbers and send reports unprompted. Tip: start with a free Soffi task: choose your most tiresome routine report and assign it to the platform. Rate how easy the setup is, whether results suit you. Satisfied? Imagine how many hours that saves over a year. Then get the paid plan and automate more.

In the end, nothing stops you from using a combination of tools. For example, a marketer generates ideas with ChatGPT, localizes the tone via YandexGPT (to make sure it clicks with a Russian audience), and outsources all boring analytics to Soffi. Each AI is assigned to its strong suit.

The key thing—start small and learn as you go. AI assistants can work productivity wonders, but only in skilled hands. And skills come from practice 😉

A checklist for you to get value from this article:

1. 1.

   Define your needs: list the specific business tasks you want to solve with AI—content generation, client replies, reports, data analysis, etc.

2. 2.

   Match with candidates: for each task, note who is potentially best—universal ChatGPT, Russian-speaking YandexGPT, or workflow-focused Soffi.

3. 3.

   Test for free: go to the ChatGPT site (if available) and ask a few domain questions. Try YandexGPT’s demo (via Alice or Yandex Cloud). Register on Soffi and set up a trial task. Practice quickly shows what works and what doesn’t.

4. 4.

   Note integration: for regular automated processes, assess your resources. Have a programmer for API roll-out? If not, lean toward ready solutions like Soffi. If you have IT, maybe you can hook up YandexGPT or OpenAI API to your services.

5. 5.

   Care for security: put in internal rules for AI use. For example, no client personal data into public AI chat. For confidential data, look at local solutions or special agreements (ask Soffi about data handling, Yandex for enterprise deals).

6. 6.

   Implement in steps: pick a top priority case and launch a pilot (a week or two). Measure results—save time, faster replies, satisfied clients? Yes? Scale to more processes. No? Adjust or try another “candidate.”

7. 7.

   Don’t be afraid to mix: sometimes the best is not either-or, but joint use. Just don’t let this create confusion. Assign, roughly speaking, ChatGPT for content, YandexGPT for your site chatbot, Soffi for internal reports. Clear role division helps extract the best from each.

The end goal: free up your and your team’s time, raise quality of data work and client care. Like any tool, you must pick one you’ll use every day. Hopefully, now you better understand the differences between Soffi, YandexGPT, and ChatGPT. Try each in practice and pick the best helper for your business. The AI world is racing ahead, so maybe soon you’ll have several “electronic employees” on your team. Why not—so long as your business prospers and people do the creative and strategic work while neural nets handle the routine. Good luck with AI adoption—you’ll excel at this, now that you approach it thoughtfully and with a smile 😊!