Hundreds of people across New Zealand are cancelling their ChatGPT subscription every single day - and honestly, I think it’s the right move. I switched my entire business over to Claude about six months ago and I have never looked back. I’ll break down exactly why people are switching, whether it’s the right choice for you, and most importantly, how to make that switch without losing all the valuable knowledge and memory you’ve built up in your ChatGPT conversations.
Claude Is Overtaking ChatGPT in Downloads
Claude has been on a complete rampage, outshining its competitor ChatGPT - currently the most popular AI tool on the market. Anthropic has been taking subtle digs with their advertisements, and a growing wave of users across social media are making the switch.
The numbers tell the story clearly. Not long ago, Claude was sitting at around 25,000 app downloads per day compared to ChatGPT’s 150,000. Now, Claude has surpassed ChatGPT in daily downloads - a significant shift - while ChatGPT’s numbers have slightly dropped off. So what’s driving this change?
1. Ethics and Leadership Concerns
One of the biggest reasons people are leaving ChatGPT comes down to ethics. The US Department of War under the current administration had Anthropic (the company behind Claude) as a contractor. When the contract came up for renegotiation, the Department wanted Anthropic to allow Claude’s models to be used for mass surveillance of US citizens and autonomous lethal systems - think AI-controlled drones and robots.
This crossed a clear ethical boundary for the Anthropic team, and they pulled out of the contract. Within hours, OpenAI (the company behind ChatGPT) stepped in and signed that same contract, stating they didn’t share those same concerns. For many users, this was a turning point.
2. The “Yes Man” Problem
Another major frustration with ChatGPT is what’s known as the “yes man” problem. ChatGPT is constantly trying to appease you, agree with whatever you’re thinking, and keep you happy in the conversation. This is a well-documented issue - even Sam Altman himself has acknowledged it on multiple occasions and said it’s something they’re looking to fix. But it doesn’t seem to be getting better anytime soon.
Even if you change the system prompt to try and avoid this behaviour, ChatGPT still defaults to that agreeable, people-pleasing tone. For business decisions, you need an AI that will challenge your thinking and give you honest, critical feedback - not just tell you what you want to hear.
3. Smarter and Better Connected to Your Business
AI is a “garbage in, garbage out” system. To get truly useful results, you need to connect it to the tools your business actually uses to operate - whether that’s your email accounts, Xero, Notion, or whatever else is in your tech stack.
Claude can connect directly into those systems, pull information from them, and send information back. You can build automated workflows within the Claude app that ChatGPT simply can’t match. Here’s what makes Claude stand out:
- MCP Connections: Connect Claude to virtually any business software you use
- Skills: Similar to custom GPTs, but instead of switching between separate agents, Claude can use multiple skills autonomously within a single conversation
- Claude Code: Whether you’re a developer or non-technical, you can build websites and custom software to solve business problems
- Co-work: A UI-friendly mode where Claude can work on your computer, generating PowerPoints, proposals, templates, and more
How to Switch Without Losing Your Data
One of the biggest concerns people have about switching is losing all the memory and context they’ve built up in ChatGPT. Fortunately, Claude has put out a dedicated guide for this. Here’s how it works:
- Go to Claude’s “Get Started” migration page and log in to your account
- You’ll receive a prompt to copy - paste this into ChatGPT (ideally using the thinking model for best results)
- The prompt asks ChatGPT to extract everything it knows about you: your identity, career, projects, preferences, and any other context from your conversations
- ChatGPT will compile all of that into a single text response
- Copy that response directly into Claude’s memory settings
- Fill in any gaps or missing details, then hit “Add to Memory”
Once that’s done, you can review your imported memory under Claude’s memory settings. Everything will be structured in a way Claude can interpret properly. If anything needs changing or adding, simply click the edit button and update it.
Setting Up Your Business Connections
Once your memory is imported, the next step is connecting Claude to your business systems. From the Claude homepage, click the plus button, go to “Connectors,” and browse the available integrations. You’ll find a huge range of options - the most popular ones appear at the top. Simply click the one you want, sign in, and it’s connected.
Creating Skills for Repeatable Tasks
Any repeatable task in your business that AI could assist with should become a Claude skill. A skill is essentially a set of instructions that Claude can follow and execute on your behalf. Here’s a simple example - creating an email drafting skill:
- Ask Claude: “I want to create a skill”
- Tell it exactly what you want - for example, an email drafting skill
- Answer the follow-up questions Claude asks, providing as much context as possible
- Review the generated skill file (a markdown document outlining the instructions)
- Save it to your skills, and it’s available across all your devices
A Real-World Example: Calendar and Email Automation
Once you’ve connected your calendar and email (Gmail, Outlook, or otherwise), you can do things like this: ask Claude to find a specific meeting on your calendar, explain that you can no longer make it, and have it draft an email suggesting an alternative time - all in one conversation.
Claude will read your email drafting skill to match your tone of voice, check your calendar to find the meeting and identify when you’re free, then draft the email and send it via Gmail. What used to involve switching between multiple apps now happens in a single chat.
Scaling It Up: Project Proposals in 10 Minutes
Here’s a more advanced example from my own workflow. I have all my client meetings transcribed and stored in Google Drive. I have email chains back and forth, and I have Notion storing all my previous project details. When I need to generate a client proposal, I simply ask Claude to pull from all of these sources and use my client proposal skill.
Instead of spending one to two hours copying information into a template, Claude generates the proposal automatically. My job is simply to review the content before sending it. A task that used to take one to two hours now takes me only 10 minutes per client - a massive time saving.
If you’re a New Zealand business looking to work smarter with AI, making the switch to Claude is well worth considering. The migration process is straightforward, and the productivity gains from connected workflows and reusable skills will pay for themselves almost immediately.
