Deep Research: OpenAI’s New AI Agent for Conducting Multi-Step Research
What’s better than an AI chatbot that can assist you with tasks? One that can do them for you. OpenAI continues to build out its AI agents in ChatGPT with the launch of Deep Research.
Deep Research
Earlier this month, OpenAI unveiled Deep Research, an AI agent that can conduct multi-step research for you by pulling a robust amount of information from the web and synthesizing those sources for you in a comprehensive report. Once prompted, Deep Research can work entirely independently; it’s like having a research analyst at your command.
Access to Deep Research
At launch, it was only accessible to ChatGPT Pro users, meaning you would have to pay $200 per month. Now, Deep Research is rolling out to more paid subscribers, including ChatGPT Plus, Team, Edu, and Enterprise users. However, the added users will have 10 deep research queries per month, compared to the 120 deep research queries per month Pro users have access to.
Powering Deep Research
Powering Deep Research is a version of the OpenAI o3 model optimized for web browsing and data analysis. By leveraging o3’s advanced reasoning capabilities, it can search and interpret massive amounts of content from the web, including texts, images, and more, and then output it in a report targeted to your needs.
How it Works
Each report is generated in five to 30 minutes, depending on the task at hand. However, you can work on other tasks during that time, optimizing your workflow productivity. The finished report is output in the chat. Along with the update that expanded access to the feature, OpenAI announced Deep Research now includes embedded images with citations in the output and is better at understanding uploaded files.
Target Audience
The target audience for Deep Research includes those who do intensive knowledge work in finance, science, policy, and engineering — and who need reliable, thorough research, according to OpenAI. Every report includes clear citations and a summary of the agent’s thinking so that users can double-check the information for themselves.
Performance Compared
In the blog post announcing the feature, OpenAI includes the same side-by-side results of GPT-4o versus Deep Research to showcase how the same prompt generates very different results. The ones generated with Deep Research were much more robust and better organized.
Conclusion
Deep Research is a game-changer in the world of AI research, allowing users to conduct multi-step research independently and efficiently. With its advanced reasoning capabilities and ability to search and interpret massive amounts of content, Deep Research is a valuable tool for those who need reliable, thorough research.
FAQs
Q: What is Deep Research?
A: Deep Research is an AI agent that can conduct multi-step research for you by pulling a robust amount of information from the web and synthesizing those sources for you in a comprehensive report.
Q: How does Deep Research work?
A: Deep Research uses a version of the OpenAI o3 model optimized for web browsing and data analysis to search and interpret massive amounts of content from the web, including texts, images, and more, and then output it in a report targeted to your needs.
Q: Who is the target audience for Deep Research?
A: The target audience for Deep Research includes those who do intensive knowledge work in finance, science, policy, and engineering — and who need reliable, thorough research, according to OpenAI.
Q: How much does Deep Research cost?
A: Deep Research is available to ChatGPT Plus, Team, Edu, and Enterprise users, with 10 deep research queries per month, compared to the 120 deep research queries per month Pro users have access to.
