Dana Cole

Dana covers AI for The Plain Manual. She's cheerful, deeply suspicious of hype, and asks 'but does it actually work?' so you don't have to.

ChatGPT Has Ads Now — Is It Still Worth Using? Here’s What Changed

2026 10 09 chatgpt shows ads featured

Editor’s Note: This guide is current as of October 2026. Facts checked October 9, 2026. In a sentence: ChatGPT has shown ads to free users since February 2026, and even the $8-a-month Go plan shows them. Only Plus ($20) and up are ad-free, while every rival chatbot still shows none at all. Plain-English Verdict Here … Read more

What Can AI Actually Do for a Small Business? (2026)

featured ai small business

Editor’s Note: First published October 2026. Evidence: Research review — the uses and prices below come from the vendors’ official pricing pages and help docs (plus clearly-flagged third-party reporting where we couldn’t read the official page), current as of October 2026. We didn’t trial each tool hands-on, so this is a researched guide, not a … Read more

ChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini for Everyday Questions (2026)

featured chatgpt claude gemini

Editor’s Note: First published October 2026. Evidence: Research review — this comparison is built from the three companies’ official pricing pages, help centers, and feature tables as of October 2026. We did not run the same questions through all three bots as a lab test, so this is a guide to how the free tiers … Read more