The questions the field keeps asking, answered in one screen: which AI is ahead right now, what is worth paying for, and what changed since last month. Every answer carries the date we last checked it.
Nothing here older than 30 Aug 2026
The one to pay for if you only pay for one thing, judged on real work rather than benchmark charts.
Claude
Fable 5 right nowThe group's pick when the work is serious, and Fable 5 currently sits first on the public human-preference board as well. One good subscription, used for everything, still beats four.
Runner-up
ChatGPT (GPT-5.6)
Holding As of 1 Sep 2026
For building an app, a site or a small tool, whether or not you have ever written a line of code.
Claude Code
Opus 5 and Fable 5Shluchim who tried both say it is all you need to build anything, and Opus 5 and Fable 5 are what the public coding boards rank first. The limits still hold: nothing with a database, logins, money, or mission-critical email.
Runner-up
Lovable
Holding As of 1 Sep 2026
Flyers, posters and social graphics: which one draws the thing you actually asked for.
ChatGPT
GPT Image 2GPT Image 2 leads the blind-vote boards by a wide margin. The group's Nano Banana habit is a step behind the evidence, and the pipeline still finishes in Canva.
Runner-up
Nano Banana Pro
New champion As of 1 Sep 2026
Three different jobs that all start with a microphone, and three different answers.
Wispr Flow
People type around 50 words a minute and speak around 200. It types what you say and tidies the sentence as it goes, which is why most of the group stopped typing anything longer than a text message.
Runner-up
Typeless
Holding As of 30 Aug 2026
ElevenLabs
Still the one that sounds human in Hebrew. The tactic that makes it work: write the Hebrew with Ashkenazi-tuned nikkud, or transliterate it as khabad rather than chabad.
Runner-up
Cartesia
Holding As of 30 Aug 2026
Sofer.ai
Built by Chabad, and it follows a shiur that switches language mid-sentence. The honest limit: on hard Yiddish it gets about 6 words in 10 right, so check the Yiddish before you publish it.
Runner-up
ivrit.ai
Holding As of 30 Aug 2026
The field's answer to the question everyone asks first: I will pay for one thing, so which one.
Claude Pro
$20 a month buys the long documents, the technical Torah, and Claude Code for building, which comes with it.
ChatGPT Plus
$20 a month. The easiest place to start, the best one on a phone, and the one most people already have open anyway.
Google AI Pro
$19.99 a month. The best fit if your Chabad house already lives in Google Workspace. Note the rename: Google One AI Premium is gone.
As of 30 Aug 2026
What changedIf you only ever type, the case for paying now rests on images, voice, memory and uploads.
What your mosad can get at nonprofit pricing, once the 501(c)(3) paperwork is in order.
OpenAI
Up to 75% off ChatGPT Business or EnterpriseArranged through their sales team rather than a checkout page. The group's July data point worked out to about $8 a seat.
Canva
Canva Pro free for up to 50 users, then 50% off EnterpriseApply describing your community programming, not only your religious services.
Microsoft
Business Basic free for up to 300 users, Business Premium $5.50 per user per monthCopilot Chat comes with the free tier, the full Copilot runs $25.50 per user per month, and there are $2,000 a year in Azure credits.
Anthropic
Claude Team at $8 per user per month, two seats minimumClaude Code and Cowork are included, so the build tools come with the plan rather than on top of it.
ElevenLabs
Twelve months of Pro free through GoodstackA full year of Hebrew voice work, the biggest single saving here.
Google for Nonprofits
Google Workspace for Nonprofits, freeA Chabad house qualifies as a branch under a group exemption. Fiscal sponsorship does not count.
As of 30 Aug 2026
What changedOpenAI's $50 million nonprofit grant round closed on 15 July; the standing Business discount above is separate and still live.
The five steps the field follows when the answer has to be a real source and not a confident guess.
Sefaria
Get the text from a vetted corpus first: Sefaria for nigleh, dach.dev for sichos and maamarim. The rule is Sefaria for the text and AI for the reading, never the other way round.
Claude
Bring that text to Claude for iyyun, for structuring a shiur, and for building a curriculum around it.
NotebookLM
Upload the corpus and ask for cited answers. It reads only about a dozen sources per query, so ask it for 100 insights to force it wider.
Qwen
Still the surprise winner on pure Hebrew and Yiddish translation, shoresh and etymology included.
Verify by hand
Check every citation yourself before you teach it or print it. Nothing above removes this step.
As of 30 Aug 2026
What changedSefaria shipped a cited Library Assistant this spring. Worth a look before you build your own notebook.
You are in the field every day. If one of these answers is out of date, or you have found something better, say so and it gets read by a person.