The Undeniable Leader with Rob Cressy

Why I Stopped Chasing AI Model Upgrades

• Rob Cressy

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0:00 | 18:35

The best AI tool isn't the one everyone's talking about. In this episode of Built For The Game, Rob Cressy shares why he stopped chasing model upgrades after 1000+ days with ChatGPT and how mastering one tool creates more value than constantly switching to the latest release. You'll discover why depth beats novelty and how to build real competitive advantage through execution, not optimization.

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Hey, it's Rob. You know that gap between who you are today and who you're capable of becoming? That's where I live. And I've built something for leaders who are done playing small. Undeniable is my group coaching program where you get the support to step into your next level. We work on the identity, the mindset, and the way of being that turns your vision into who you are. You get me as your coach, a community moving at your speed, and the belief that you belong at the top. If you're ready to become undeniable, go to joinundeniable.com. Every few months there's a new best AI model that everybody rushes to go test out, and they go and tell you this is the greatest thing since sliced bread, and it is going to change your life. And right now I'm seeing a lot of positive chatter all around Gemini 3. And what I want to do is give some candid thoughts on why I do not chase AI model upgrades, my success mindset around it, and how this can help you create more growth by doing less. And the signal for this is I'm getting tagged in a lot of posts about Rob, what are your thoughts on Gemini 3? And I'm seeing a lot of people positively talk about it. And I get it, awareness is part of the game of AI. Innovation is constantly happening, but there's a lot of holes in the boat to constantly switching back and forth between models. So let's dive a little bit deeper into this so that you can get a better understanding so that moving forward for yourself, you have a clear strategy on what to do when new models come out. So let's start with this the upgrade trap. And the big trap that people are falling into that they don't realize is that just because a model upgrades and it's supposedly better, that does not upgrade your results because upgrading your relationship with the model might. Upgrading the amount of work that you ship will. Those are tools that can help us ship more work. And oftentimes when I hear people say it works better, I believe they're talking about the resonance. And yes, I know that when you are a power user with AI, you can start to notice some of the subtle little differences from the M-dashes to the not this, but this, to the way that things are formatted or emojis or not emojis, or uh Chat GBT-4, man, it's so much more emotionally resonant when it's talking to you. And then some of the other ones are much more uh curt and in your face. I get that we can notice these things, but ultimately the name of the game is shipping the work. And irregardless of AI models, one of the uh the foundational principles of high performance is focus, right? And depth, and consistency, and clarity. So I would prefer to not even worry about the model upgrades because they're constantly going to be changing, and instead go deep. Because oftentimes I believe when people see that something is better, a lot of times that might just be their commitment to this, it's a little bit different. You're coming in with a little bit more intention, a little bit more energy. Someone says, hey, this model's better, and you're like, oh, this is better. Maybe I'm gonna start doing it. And yes, I understand there are things in which models are better. So, for example, with Gemini, I like to use Gemini's Nano Banana for image creation. It is without a doubt the best image creation out there. So cool, there's a clear use case for it. But when I look at my current AI stack as I sit here on December 15th, 2025, number one is Chat GBT, I use it 90% of the time. Number two is Claude, I use it 10% of the time. And then number three, distant third is Gemini. And by no means does that mean the way that I use it is the way that you need to use it. Because the key in all of this is all around the relationship to how you use AI and those models. Because one of the massive advantages for me is what I'm gonna call the thousand-day advantage. I use Chat GBT the first week it came out in November 2022. So I've got over a thousand days of data and training and prompting and memory built inside of it. So of course, when I use Chat GBT, it's gonna respond significantly better than if I'm using Gemini. But therein lies why I do not task switch. Because I've gone so all in on Chat GBT, I don't particularly care about some nuanced upgrades. Yes, if all of the if all of a sudden Gemini starts mowing the lawn for me, maybe I will then switch over there. But I know that from my own workflow standpoint, it is more important for me to understand the tools that I'm using and to go deep and to go comfortable with this. And of course, I know I'm speaking to a specific user out there, but I think it's also important for everybody, no matter where you're at right now, because I hear and see so many of the things that are challenging people, that I'm overwhelmed, I feel stuck, I feel behind, the innovation is just moving so fast. I get all of that, and at the same time, none of it is part of my life. I don't feel overwhelmed by innovation because I'm aware, but I'm not swamped by it. I'm not changing models all of the time because I'm using what I use until all of a sudden someone's like, Rob, this is a massive thing that you need to change. I'm like, cool, let me test it out for myself, right? So there is an element of what I call intention by design. And a lot of people think that there's this massive performance gap between the models. For me, that's all techie and tool talk. I don't care about tech and tools. I don't have an AI background, I don't have a tech background, and I don't particularly care about any of that, despite the fact that AI is the massive driver in my business and the way that I coach and lead. So for me, the performance gap is on you, not the models. And it starts with how you think, right? This is the biggest thing in the world. If you want to change your results with an AI model, change who you are and how you show up and what you're putting into the model, right? Because once you do that, now we're working on the performance upgrade. That is the thing that has the biggest impact in the world because so many people right now are dabbling. They're either at zero or using it at a very surface level. Or one of the things that I've been saying a lot is they're using it very transactionally. Let me ask a question, I want the right answer. So these new model upgrades, they're gonna give me more of the right answers. I hear that, but throw that in the trash because that's not how I'm getting down. For me, the key is I am the king, it is my assistant, we're co-collaborating right here, and let's build from right there. So the next thing that a lot of people are not considering with these AI models is the cost of switching, right? So I've used Chat GPT for over a thousand days. How big is the cost for me to move over to Gemini? Pretty massive. Well, is the juice worth the squeeze? Side note, put that in as a prompt for yourself if you're wondering this. Hey, Chat GPT, is the juice worth the squeeze? And the answer for me right now is no. That being said, let me give you a little inside baseball into literally the last week of my life as it relates to AI models. So I'm tagged in a bunch of Facebook posts about Gemini 3. So now Rob's awareness is like, hey, what's going on with Gemini 3? And as I'd mentioned, I've been using the$20 Chat GBT version, I've been using the paid Claude version and the paid Gemini version. But at the same time, Chat GBT dropped 5.2. And what did the model upgrade do? I have no idea. I don't particularly pay attention to those things. If you want, just say, hey ChatGBT, tell me what was the upgrade to this model, how's it apply to me, my business, and my clients, make it simple and easy to understand. And for me, the number one source for all my information is Twitter, because I've got Twitter lists and streams, and my for you feed is essentially nothing but AI and fantasy sports. So with this in mind, I did hear the chatter around ChatGBT 5.2 is an upgrade. We are seeing different results for that. So much so that I was like, huh, this is interesting. Maybe I want to get on the top tier of Chat GBT. So up until this point, I've always believed that um the pro version, the$200 a month version, early on, it was very techy and coding and research based. And it was a bunch of applications and use cases that weren't how I was getting down. It didn't mean there's not value there, but for a lot of people, they say, Hey Rob, can you help guide me for what's important for me? Should I be using the free version, the$20 a month version, or the$200 a month version? Up until now, for the last three years, I did not see for my own specific use case upgrading to the$200 version. But then once 5.2 came out, I started to look a little bit differently. And I said, okay, and remember, I'm only five days into this, so you're getting fresh off the boat insight. So I was like, okay, chat GBT, if I were to upgrade to the$200 a month version, why? What's the value for me? What are the benefits? How am I actually going to see this? So it gave me a variety of things, and some of them we already know, always having the best, um, most up-to-date technology. That's a massive advantage. The speed, the token window, and some other things there. And I said, you know what? I'm just gonna upgrade and I'm gonna test this thing out myself. So throughout last week, I, while doing my usual creating with business and use cases, which I'm using ChatGBT every day, I started to put prompts through ChatGBT, the top-tier version, Claude, the paid version, and Gemini, the paid version there. And what I noticed was that ChatGBT and Claude for me far stood out over Gemini. But of course, the reason for that is because I'm barely using Gemini and it doesn't have the personalization of the relationship or the depth that I do with the other two platforms. That being said, some other people have said, Rob, once you get the personalization in there, it is significantly better. And side note, what I'm sharing is just my experience, my thinking, my mindset, my process. You might have a completely other relationship because when I put this out on Facebook, some people said Manus, some people said Gemini, some people said chat GBT. So this is you creating your own relationship, but I wanted to peel the layers so that you can be informed on this because model upgrades aren't going away anytime soon. So, with all of this, I saw Chat GBT Claude significantly better there. So I will not be investing significant amounts of time in personalizing my Gemini. Yes, it is nice when you can get uh a few different points of view because for anybody who uses Claude, you do notice it is more emotionally resonant. You can feel a different warmth in the tone and the style and the way that it writes. So I like writing more with Claude. I do like um building things differently in Claude with Claude code at the same time, because of the thousand-day rule for myself, Chat GBT is cooking with so much gas. But then something changed for me last week as I was exploring the paid version or I guess the pro version of Chat GBT. I was like, all right,$20 a month to$200 a month is a 10x jump. Am I going to see 10x results? And the key of the first lever for this for me as well as for you starts with identity. Being somebody who speaks on stage, who coaches entrepreneurs and leaders in their team. I am someone who operates at the top of the food chain of high performance in AI and in life. So it does serve me to always be on the highest level. But at the same time, how am I showing up now knowing that I'm using the highest level of Chat GBT? Because now I'm starting to design more systems and processes, all based around the things that it can more powerfully do. And to me, this is an identity side of things. This is part of being undeniable in the AI era, in making 2026 the best year of your life. And these are small little inches here, but this is what's going through my mind. So as I'm leaning into this, an amazing thing happened. I had one of those breakthrough moments with Chad GBT this week, as I call them impress yourself moments. When you look and you're like, whoa, what did I just create here? Is it a coincidence? Maybe. Is it the model upgrade? Maybe, but all of it comes together because ultimately it was my level of thinking. And the light bulb for me is there's a few things going on in life right now. Number one, I'm reading a book about systems. Number two, I just got off a coaching call with Dan Martell talking about building better systems. Cool. Systems are top of mind. Number three, one of the consistency practice I've done every single day for 15 years is reading a book on the Kindle for 30 minutes a day. And I highlight my booknotes while I'm reading the books. So I've got over 300 books with notes in Evernote, and I use an app called ReadWise that'll deliver for me eight booknotes a day randomly that I can just go through and review and think of them as high value signals, right? Imagine you read 300 books over the last decade and a half, and then once a day you go in there for two minutes and like here's a nugget, here's a nugget, here's a nugget. Because systems thinking is on my mind, as I started to see that, I was like, hey Chad GPT, I'm doing this system with readwise, I've got these book notes. I see this is content-rich gold. How could this apply in the AI era? And could I train an AI agent on the data of this to essentially teach itself the things that I'm learning from my books and turn them into systems for growth in my business? And long story short, Chad GPT is like, yeah, dog, you can do that. And let's start building that system right now. And I was like, boom, shaka lockah, let's go. I'm cooking with gas. So I experienced it there, but there's a reason why I'm sharing this. Yes, the model upgrade may have contributed to this, but this is more about my thinking, my vision, and the way I'm creating with AI. I could have put the same thing into all three AI models and gotten similar results one way or another. But at the end of the day, I've got to ship the work in order for this to matter. So, because of that reason, that is why I do not particularly care about AI model upgrades. Because in this era where there has never been more information and noise thrown at us, your ability to put blinders on and remove the noise and live in your zone of genius, that's what's gonna help you win. That's what's gonna help you be undeniable. So, my encouragement for you is be aware of what's going on, but at the same time, do not have shiny object syndrome because there is always going to be something new, there is always gonna be another upgrade, and it does not serve us to chase because leaders, we lead from the front, we earn our confidence by experience. Yes, when something gets so good and so undeniable that it's like, hey, you might want to move over to here, cool, but understanding this fundamentally will remove your overwhelm, your stress, and give you more confidence because you are confident in who you are and how you are creating, and you're not putting the onus on it's the model that's delivering the work. No, it is you who is doing that. You are the catalyst for all the growth there. And that's why we always come from a human first, heart first perspective because you're the leader, not the AI. So I would love to hear from you right now when you look at your AI tool stack, Chat GBT, Claude, Gemini, any of the other ones. How are you getting down right now? What's that looking like? You can hit me up on all social media platforms at Rob Cressy. Sending tons of love and good vibes your way. Hope you have yourself an amazing rest of the day.