Most people who use AI at work already ask more than one model the same question. Glean's Work AI Index 2026 found that 60% of workers rerun the same prompt across multiple tools because the first output was not good enough. Doing it by hand costs time and attention, so the better move is to send one prompt to several leading models at once, compare the answers side by side and keep the best of each.
SmophyAI is a multi-model AI workspace that does exactly that. Its Multi-Chat sends one prompt to six leading chat models, shows the six answers next to each other and can merge them into one reply with Best Answer, for $19.98 a month.
How common is it to use several AI tools at work?
It is the norm, not the exception. Glean's Work AI Index 2026 surveyed 6,000 full-time digital workers in the US, UK and Australia and found that 77% of AI users bounce between multiple AI tools every week, and 33% bounce between four or more.
Recon Analytics asked 31,569 AI users over 13 weeks and found that 62% had tried two or more AI tools and 52% use a second tool regularly. In the same Recon Analytics data, 18% changed their main AI tool in the previous three months.
What is the AI toggle tax?
The AI toggle tax is the cost of switching between disconnected AI tools. Glean defines it as the cumulative cost in time, attention and sanity of carrying context, data and intent from one tool to the next.
You know the routine. You paste a prompt into one tab, wait, copy it into a second tab, wait again, then scroll back and forth to compare. The context you built in the first chat stays behind. By the third tab you are comparing from memory.
Rev's survey of 1,038 people shows the frustration behind it: 28% of respondents frustrated with AI say their top challenge is having to rewrite the same prompt multiple times. One answer is often not enough.
Why does a second and a third answer help?
In our tests, the second and third answers added ideas the first one did not have. We tested this with business scenarios we wrote, sending each one to Claude Opus 5.5, DeepSeek V4 Pro, Gemini 3.8 Flash, GPT-6 Astra, Sonar Reasoning Pro and Grok 4.5 in one SmophyAI Multi-Chat, one run per scenario, with web search off.
In Pain Test PT-08, a nine person software company has one support person and four hundred tickets a month. All six models agreed on the core plan: a help center for the repeated questions, routing for billing and bugs, and part time help. The value was in what only one or two of them saw:
- DeepSeek V4 Pro alone proposed fixing the product causes, so the repeated questions stop for good.
- Grok 4.5 was the one model that proposed moving onboarding off the support person.
- Claude Opus 5.5 and Sonar Reasoning Pro were the two that said to personally contact the two customers who had cancelled.
- GPT-6 Astra alone said to buy back human capacity before automating decisions customers see.
Any single answer would have missed at least three of those ideas. The combined plan covers more ground than each answer on its own.
In Pain Test PT-02, a small web design agency gets about two replies to two hundred cold emails a month. All six told it to stop mass emailing and build trust through a niche and referral partners. Their diagnoses differed. Claude Opus 5.5 said strangers were being asked to trust a large decision, DeepSeek V4 Pro said the agency looked like every other designer, Gemini 3.8 Flash said owners see their current site as good enough, and GPT-6 Astra said the agency was targeting who can pay instead of who has an urgent problem. Only Sonar Reasoning Pro turned the offer into a paid diagnostic credited toward the project.
When six models agree on the direction, you can act with more confidence. When they read the problem differently, you see where to think harder before you spend money.
What does running six models side by side change in practice?
It turns four tabs and a memory test into one screen. With SmophyAI Multi-Chat you write the prompt once, the six answers arrive next to each other, and you read them in one pass.
Three things get easier at once. You spot agreement in seconds, because the shared advice repeats across columns. You spot the outlier, the one answer that says something nobody else said, which in our tests carried ideas like fixing the product cause or a paid diagnostic. And you spot invented details, because a number or a claim that appears in only one answer stands out against five that do not have it.
Best Answer then combines the strongest information from the six responses into a single reply, so you leave with one plan instead of six tabs of notes.
How much do separate AI subscriptions cost?
OpenAI lists ChatGPT Plus at $20 a month, Anthropic lists Claude Pro at $20 a month billed monthly, Google lists Google AI Pro at $19.99 a month, xAI lists the X Premium tier with the SuperGrok benefits at $30 a month and Perplexity lists Perplexity Pro at $17 a month billed annually.
Together those five single-vendor plans add up to $106.99 a month (prices listed by OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI and Perplexity). SmophyAI costs $19.98 a month and gives you six leading chat models in one place, plus Writing Studio, Image Studio and Video Studio.
How do you start comparing AI answers without extra work?
Keep it simple and let the side by side view do the work.
- Write your real question once, with the context a colleague would need.
- Send it to all six models in Multi-Chat.
- Read the advice all six share first. That is where to start.
- Read the answer that disagrees next. Ask yourself whether it found a risk the others missed.
- Check any number that appears in only one answer before you use it.
- Use Best Answer to merge the strongest parts into one plan, then decide.
Common questions
What is the AI toggle tax?
Glean defines the AI toggle tax as the cumulative cost in time, attention and sanity of switching between disconnected AI tools and carrying context from one to the next. Glean's Work AI Index 2026 found that 77% of AI users bounce between multiple tools every week.
Do people really ask several AI models the same question?
Yes. Glean's Work AI Index 2026 found that 60% of workers rerun the same prompt across multiple tools because the first output was not good enough. Running the prompt in one side by side view removes the copying and the switching.
Do different AI models give different answers to the same business problem?
They often agree on the direction and differ in the details that matter. In SmophyAI Pain Test PT-08, one run with web search off, all six models proposed a help center and routing, while only one of them proposed fixing the product causes of the repeated tickets.
Is SmophyAI cheaper than separate AI subscriptions?
SmophyAI costs $19.98 a month for six leading chat models. ChatGPT Plus, Claude Pro, Google AI Pro, X Premium and Perplexity Pro add up to $106.99 a month at the prices listed by OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI and Perplexity.
Sources and further reading
About SmophyAI
SmophyAI is a multi-model AI workspace with ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Perplexity and DeepSeek in one subscription, live web search, side by side comparison in Multi-Chat and Best Answer. Start free, no card required.
About the author. Kamil Kępiński is the founder of Smophy Labs Inc. and builder of SmophyAI. Follow Kamil on X and LinkedIn.
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