OpenAI Expands Access to ChatGPT's Deep Research Tool, Enhancing AI-Powered Research Capabilities

ChatGPT's Deep Research tool now available for non-Pro subscribers too - Phandroid

AI like OpenAI's ChatGPT is a great tool for research. You can ask it all sorts of things and it can search the web for you to find the right answers. But what if you really needed to dive deep into a topic? That's where the ChatGPT Deep Research tool comes in. However, previously, the feature was only available for Pro users. The good news is that has changed. According to OpenAI's post on X, the company has announced that it is making Deep Research available to cheaper-tier subscribers. This includes Plus, Team, Edu, and Enterprise users. For context, ChatGPT Pro is the priciest individual subscription at $200 a month. This is obviously not meant for the average user. This is versus other tiers like Plus which only costs $20 a month. However, do note that if you're a non-Pro subscriber, your limits on ChatGPT's Deep Research is considerably lower than Pro subscribers. According to OpenAI, Plus, Team, Edu, and Enterprise users are limited to 10 deep research queries per month. Whereas Pro users are actually getting bumped up from 100 queries to 120 queries per month. So, if you ever wanted to do a deep dive on a topic for work or for school or just simply to expand your knowledge, Deep Research could be worth taking for a spin.

ChatGPT Plus just got a huge deep research upgrade -- how to try it now

OpenAI announced today (February 25) that the deep research feature will now be accessible to all ChatGPT Plus users. This advanced tool, previously exclusive to Pro subscribers for $200 per month, enables users to conduct comprehensive, multi-step research tasks directly through ChatGPT Plus, which costs just $20 per month. Starting this month, Plus, Team, Edu, and Enterprise users will have access to deep research with a limit of 10 queries per month. Pro users, who were initially allotted 100 queries monthly, will see their limits increase to 120 queries. This expansion aims to provide a broader user base with the ability to perform in-depth analyses and generate detailed reports while staying within the price range of other chatbots with deep research features such as Grok-3, Gemini Advanced and DeepSeek. Deep research is designed to autonomously search the internet, analyze information from diverse sources, and synthesize comprehensive reports on complex topics. It leverages OpenAI's o3 reasoning model, optimized for web browsing and data analysis, to interpret and analyze text, images, and PDFs. Users can input prompts and attach relevant files, enabling the AI to produce thorough, documented, and clearly cited reports. This feature is particularly beneficial for users in finance, science, policy, and engineering, as well as researchers and discerning consumers seeking precise and reliable information. As a response to user feedback, OpenAI has enhanced deep research's ability to understand and reference uploaded files. The system now more effectively incorporates data from user-provided documents, ensuring that the generated reports are contextually accurate and tailored to specific informational needs. This improvement streamlines the research process, allowing for seamless integration of user documents and data with real-time web information. While deep research currently provides text-based reports, OpenAI plans to introduce features such as embedded images, data visualizations, and other analytic outputs to enrich the user experience. These enhancements aim to offer additional clarity and context, making the reports more comprehensive and user-friendly. OpenAI is also exploring options to further increase query limits and expand access to accommodate the growing demand for advanced research capabilities. The deep research feature is now available on all ChatGPT platforms, including web, iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows. Users can access it by selecting the "deep research" model option within the ChatGPT interface. The AI will then independently conduct the research and provide a detailed report within the chat, typically within 5 to 30 minutes, depending on the complexity of the request. Because deep research takes longer than most queries, users should wait for the chatbot to respond rather than restarting or entering their query again. There is a limited number of queries within the lower price tiers and even a repeated query counts as a new query. This expansion reflects OpenAI's commitment to democratizing access to advanced AI tools, enabling a wider audience to benefit from sophisticated research capabilities.

ChatGPT Plus subscribers now enjoy deep research feature

OpenAI has rolled out its deep research tool to ChatGPT Plus subscribers as of February 25, 2025, allowing them to generate extensive reports on various topics that were previously exclusive to the $200 Professional subscription tier. Plus subscribers can now execute ten deep research queries per month, with potential increases expected in the future. OpenAI noted that the deep research process is "currently very compute intensive," which has limited its availability to paying users, with no current plans to extend the feature to free users. In addition, ChatGPT Professional subscribers now have their monthly limit for deep research queries increased to 120, up from 100. OpenAI's $200 deep research will write reports for you but is it worth it? The deep research tool is designed to autonomously analyze vast amounts of information from diverse sources and compile comprehensive reports. It can search the internet, examining thousands of sources to create unique research documents, completing this task in significantly less time than a human. The report compilation duration can vary based on complexity, taking anywhere from five minutes to over an hour. While generating reports, the tool provides a side panel that displays its ongoing processes and analyses. As part of the rollout, OpenAI has enhanced the deep research tool, which now includes the ability to embed images with citations in reports and improved analysis of user-uploaded files. It is important to note that the deep research feature differs from the ChatGPT Operator, which serves as an autonomous AI agent capable of making reservations and contacting businesses. OpenAI's announcement extended access to the deep research feature to all paying users, including ChatGPT Plus, Team, Enterprise, and Edu subscribers. In addition to the ten queries per month for Plus users, Pro subscribers will receive an increase in their monthly quota to 120 queries, facilitating more extensive research efforts. Competing tech companies, including Google and Perplexity, are also advancing their deep research tools, which have similar functionalities and reports. Google recently rolled out its own deep research agent to all Gemini Advanced users. The rollout of the deep research feature to ChatGPT Plus subscribers is currently underway, and users can expect its appearance in their accounts shortly. Since updates can take time to be implemented across all accounts, some subscribers may need to be patient to access the new tool. Plus users will receive ten deep research queries per month as part of their plan. If users wish to utilize the new feature, they should compose their prompts as usual and access the Deep Research icon before sending their requests to OpenAI. The time taken to generate responses will depend on the complexity of the questions posed, with typical compilation times ranging from five to 30 minutes. OpenAI continues to highlight that deep research remains resource-intensive, which may delay availability for free users.

OpenAI Rolls Out Deep Research Access to More ChatGPT Users

Samantha Kelly is a freelance writer with a focus on consumer technology, AI, social media, Big Tech, emerging trends and how they impact our everyday lives. Her work has been featured on CNN, NBC, NPR, the BBC, Mashable and more. OpenAI is opening up its Deep Research tool to all paying ChatGPT users. In a series of tweets this week, the company said Plus, Team, Enterprise and Edu users will now have access to 10 Deep Research queries each month. Previously, only Pro users - who pay $200 a month - were able to access the tool. Meanwhile, Pro users will see their monthly Deep Research queries increase to 120, up from 100. OpenAI told CNET it also made improvements to the tool, including embedding images with citations for deeper insight and the ability to better understand files to help with document analysis. The move comes as OpenAI expands its suite of tools and moves toward its broader goal of developing AI that can match or surpass human capabilities in areas requiring deep analysis and decision-making. The company also announced this week that it is rolling out a free version of Advanced Voice Mode, a tool that enables real-time voice interactions with ChatGPT. The iteration will be powered by its GPT-4o Mini model, whereas ChatGPT Plus users use Advanced Voice Mode powered through 4o with advanced capabilities access to video and screensharing. Microsoft, meanwhile, said this week that it is giving users of its Copilot AI unlimited free access to its Voice and Think Deeper resources on its free tier. Voice enables verbal commands, and Think Deeper is meant for more complex questions through more advanced reasoning powered by OpenAI's o1 model. Paul Schell, an analyst at ABI Research, noted the latest Deep Research news from OpenAI follows a pattern seen with previous iterations of ChatGPT in which the company makes gradual improvements and provides more access to less expensive tiers over time. "There is a democratization of AI occurring, and the real question is whether such high-performance (agentic AI) models will be refined to a level that can be implemented in workplaces, and the impact that this will have on a range of professions," he said. Announced in early February, Deep Research is an AI agent that uses reasoning-like skills to make sense of large amounts of information and tackle complex, multistep tasks. The company said it can accomplish in minutes what would take a human several hours. Some queries, however, may take up to 30 minutes as the AI sifts through hundreds of online sources to create a comprehensive report. The tool runs on OpenAI's o3 model, which uses search to interpret and analyze text, images and PDFs. At the time, OpenAI said Deep Research is intended for people who require intensive research in areas like finance, science, policy and engineering. But it could also be helpful for general consumers, such as shoppers looking for hyper-personalized recommendations on cars and appliances, according to the company.

ChatGPT Plus Users Finally Gain Access to the Deep Research AI Agent

Deep Research is powered by a fine-tuned version of the full o3 model. It can browse the web to generate a comprehensive report within 30 minutes. OpenAI launched the Deep Research AI agent in early February and made it exclusive to ChatGPT Pro users, requiring a $200 per month subscription. Now, the Deep Research AI agent is finally available to ChatGPT Plus users which requires a $20 per month subscription. Not only that, Deep Research is now rolling out to ChatGPT Team, Education, and Enterprise users as well. In case you are unaware, the Deep Research AI agent is powered by a fine-tuned version of the full o3 reasoning model. The agent can browse the web autonomously and perform deep research on any topic you throw at it. It takes around 5 to 30 minutes to complete the research and create a comprehensive report with citations. Many experts have called the Deep Research AI agent an impressive tool for scientific research. Currently, Deep Research is the only way you can access the full o3 model -- at least until the GPT-5 model arrives, which will unify o3 with other ChatGPT tools. Note that ChatGPT Plus users can perform up to 10 queries per month with the Deep Research agent. And ChatGPT Pro users have a limit of up to 120 queries per month. OpenAI has also improved the agent with embedded images, citations, and can understand and reference uploaded files in a better way. Finally, OpenAI has released the system card for Deep Research which you can read here. It's the first time OpenAI has rated its model as a "Medium" risk in cybersecurity.

ChatGPT's Deep Research Tool Is Rolling Out to Plus Users, and You Can Use It Now

It's the moment ChatGPT Plus subscribers have been waiting for: you can now use OpenAI's deep research tool as part of your monthly fee. OpenAI Rolls Out Deep Research to ChatGPT Plus Subscribers Previously limited to ChatGPT's $200 Professional subscription tier, Plus subscribers can now use the AI tool to create incredibly in-depth reports on almost any topic. The deep research rollout is starting from 25 February 2025, as posted on OpenAI's X account. ChatGPT Plus subscribers have a limit of ten deep research queries per month, though that figure is likely to rise in the future. When OpenAI first launched deep research, it noted the process was "currently very compute intensive." As the company scales up its deep research feature, the number of uses will also rise -- though there is currently nothing on the cards for ChatGPT's enormous number of free users. ChatGPT Professional subscribers also receive a bump in the number of deep research queries, rising to 120 from 100. What Can ChatGPT's Deep Research Tool Do? ChatGPT's deep research tool is designed to autonomously analyze information from a wide range of sources and compile a report on its findings. It can scour the internet and find data, analyzing thousands of different sources to create unique research documents. This, in a fraction of the time it would take a human. ChatGPT's deep research tool can take anywhere from five minutes to a full hour (or more in some cases) to complete a report, depending on its complexity. The tool shows its workings and processes in a side panel while compiling the report, illustrating exactly what it is currently analyzing. As part of the deep research rollout to ChatGPT Plus subscribers, OpenAI has delivered some additional updates to the tool. Deep research can now embed images with citations in a report and is better at analyzing and referencing user-uploaded files. However, ChatGPT's deep research feature isn't the same as ChatGPT Operator, it's autonomous AI agent that can contact businesses, make reservations, and more. Deep research is just as it sounds: it's all about making reports. How to Try ChatGPT Deep Research OpenAI is rolling out deep research to ChatGPT Plus subscribers as of this writing, and it should appear on your account any day soon. All ChatGPT feature updates take a little while to filter out to every account, so if you don't see the "deep research" AI model yet (in the ChatGPT AI model picker), you'll have to be patient a little while longer -- like me!

OpenAI rolls out deep research to paying ChatGPT users | TechCrunch

ChatGPT Plus, Team, Enterprise, and Edu subscribers will get 10 deep research queries per month. OpenAI's Deep research was previously only available to ChatGPT Pro users, the company's $200-a-month tier; they now get 120 deep research queries a month, up from 100 at launch. OpenAI, Google, and Perplexity are racing to put their competing deep research products -- which all have basically the same name and generate long reports -- in the hands of more users. Google rolled out its deep research agent to all Gemini Advanced users last week. Tech companies hope deep research tools help people see value in their pricey AI subscriptions. Though OpenAI notes it needs to do more testing around how these agents could be used to persuade people.

OpenAI's Deep Research can save you hours of work - and now it's a lot cheaper to access

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. 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. Also: Google just made AI coding assistance free for everyone - with very generous limits 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 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. 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. Also: I was an AI skeptic until these 5 tools changed my mind According to OpenAI, the same work would take humans hours. Furthermore, the agent is meant to be particularly good at finding niche information that would require humans to perform multiple searches. 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. Double-checking a chatbot's responses is generally good practice, as chatbots are prone to hallucinations. In particular, OpenAI warns that Deep Research "can sometimes hallucinate facts in responses or make incorrect inferences, though at a notably lower rate than existing ChatGPT models, according to internal evaluations." OpenAI also added that the agent could struggle to distinguish authoritative information from rumors and can fail to convey uncertainty correctly, highlighting the need for human review. 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. Deep Research also outperformed GPT-4o on Humanity's Last Exam, a recently launched AI benchmark exam by Scale AI and the Center for AI Safety (CAIS) that tests various subjects on expert-level questions. Deep Research scored a 26.6% accuracy, outperforming GPT-4o, Grok-2, Claude 3,5 Sonnet, Gemini Thinking, o1, and even o3-mini high, which had just scored the highest score a couple of days prior, as highlighted by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. OpenAI also published Deep Research's performance results on a series of other evaluations, including GAIA⁠, a public benchmark that evaluates AI on real-world questions and an internal evaluation of expert-level tasks across different areas of deep research. In both, Deep Research had impressive results, even topping the GAIA external leaderboard. If you want access to the feature now but don't want to shell out the $200 per month, Google has a similar feature, also called Deep Research, that is available to all of its Gemini Advanced users through the Google One AI Premium plan that costs $20 per month. Back in December, Altman even replied to an X user who asked Altman to "do a deep research feature like Gemini but better," with "kk," suggesting that the newly released Deep Research feature is OpenAI's answer to Google. Also: What is sparsity? DeepSeek AI's secret, revealed by Apple researchers Recently, xAI also launched its own AI research agent, called DeepSearch. X Premium and Premium+ users have access to DeepSearch now, with all capabilities being rolled our to all Grok users with limits. The X Premium membership is $8 per month or $84 per year, while the Premium+ membership is $40 per month or $395 per year, according to X. Microsoft also announced a feature capable of more thorough reasoning called Think Deeper, which allows users to leverage OpenAI's O1 reasoning model to deliver higher-quality responses to complex prompts. However, unlike Gemini, OpenAI's and Grok's agents, it doesn't have agentic capabilities or access to the internet. The biggest perk is that the experience is entirely free.

OpenAI's Deep Research agent can do in 5 minutes what takes you hours - and now it's a lot cheaper

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. 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. 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 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. 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. Also: I was an AI skeptic until these 5 tools changed my mind According to OpenAI, the same work would take humans hours. Furthermore, the agent is meant to be particularly good at finding niche information that would require humans to perform multiple searches. 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. Double-checking a chatbot's responses is generally good practice, as chatbots are prone to hallucinations. In particular, OpenAI warns that Deep Research "can sometimes hallucinate facts in responses or make incorrect inferences, though at a notably lower rate than existing ChatGPT models, according to internal evaluations." OpenAI also added that the agent could struggle to distinguish authoritative information from rumors and can fail to convey uncertainty correctly, highlighting the need for human review. 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. Deep Research also outperformed GPT-4o on Humanity's Last Exam, a recently launched AI benchmark exam by Scale AI and the Center for AI Safety (CAIS) that tests various subjects on expert-level questions. Deep Research scored a 26.6% accuracy, outperforming GPT-4o, Grok-2, Claude 3,5 Sonnet, Gemini Thinking, o1, and even o3-mini high, which had just scored the highest score a couple of days prior, as highlighted by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. OpenAI also published Deep Research's performance results on a series of other evaluations, including GAIA⁠, a public benchmark that evaluates AI on real-world questions and an internal evaluation of expert-level tasks across different areas of deep research. In both, Deep Research had impressive results, even topping the GAIA external leaderboard. If you want access to the feature now but don't want to shell out the $200 per month, Google has a similar feature, also called Deep Research, that is available to all of its Gemini Advanced users through the Google One AI Premium plan that costs $20 per month. Back in December, Altman even replied to an X user who asked Altman to "do a deep research feature like Gemini but better," with "kk," suggesting that the newly released Deep Research feature is OpenAI's answer to Google. Also: What is sparsity? DeepSeek AI's secret, revealed by Apple researchers Recently, xAI also launched its own AI research agent, called DeepSearch. X Premium and Premium+ users have access to DeepSearch now, with all capabilities being rolled our to all Grok users with limits. The X Premium membership is $8 per month or $84 per year, while the Premium+ membership is $40 per month or $395 per year, according to X. Microsoft also announced a feature capable of more thorough reasoning called Think Deeper, which allows users to leverage OpenAI's O1 reasoning model to deliver higher-quality responses to complex prompts. However, unlike Gemini, OpenAI's and Grok's agents, it doesn't have agentic capabilities or access to the internet. The biggest perk is that the experience is entirely free.

OpenAI drops Deep Research access to Plus users, heating up AI agent wars with DeepSeek and Claude

"Deep Research is now rolling out to all ChatGPT Plus, Team, Edu, and Enterprise users," the company announced on its official X account. According to the announcement, these users will initially receive 10 deep research queries per month, while Pro tier subscribers will have access to 120 queries monthly. Deep Research, powered by a specialized version of OpenAI's upcoming o3 model, represents a significant shift in how AI can assist with complex research tasks. Unlike traditional chatbots that provide immediate responses, Deep Research independently scours hundreds of online sources, analyzes text, images, and PDFs, and synthesizes comprehensive reports comparable to those produced by professional analysts. The AI research arms race: DeepSeek's open challenge meets OpenAI's premium play The timing of OpenAI's expanded rollout is hardly coincidental. The generative AI landscape has transformed dramatically in recent weeks, with China's DeepSeek emerging as an unexpected disruptor. By open-sourcing their DeepSeek-R1 model under an MIT license, they've fundamentally challenged the closed, subscription-based business model that has defined Western AI development. What makes this competition particularly interesting is the divergent philosophies at play. While OpenAI continues to gate its most powerful capabilities behind increasingly complex subscription tiers, DeepSeek has opted for a radically different approach: give away the technology and let a thousand applications bloom. This strategy echoes earlier eras of technology adoption, where open platforms ultimately created more value than closed systems. Linux's dominance in server infrastructure offers a compelling historical parallel. For enterprise decision-makers, the question becomes whether to invest in proprietary solutions that may offer immediate competitive advantages or embrace open alternatives that could foster broader innovation across their organization. Perplexity's recent integration of DeepSeek-R1 into its own research tool -- at a fraction of OpenAI's price point -- demonstrates how quickly this open approach can yield competing products. Meanwhile, Anthropic's Claude 3.7 Sonnet has taken yet another path, focusing on transparency in its reasoning process with "visible extended thinking." The result is a fragmented market where each major player now offers a distinctive approach to AI-powered research. For enterprises, this means greater choice but also increased complexity in determining which platform best aligns with their specific needs and values. From walled garden to public square: OpenAI's calculated democratic pivot When Sam Altman writes that Deep Research "probably is worth $1,000 a month to some users," he's revealing more than just price elasticity -- he's acknowledging the extraordinary value disparity that exists among potential users. This admission cuts to the heart of OpenAI's ongoing strategic balancing act. The company faces a fundamental tension: maintaining the premium exclusivity that funds its development while simultaneously fulfilling its mission of ensuring "artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity." Today's announcement represents a careful step toward greater accessibility without undermining its revenue model. By limiting free tier users to just two queries monthly, OpenAI is essentially offering a teaser -- enough to demonstrate the technology's capabilities without cannibalizing its premium offerings. This approach follows the classic "freemium" playbook that has defined much of the digital economy, but with unusually tight constraints that reflect the substantial computing resources required for each Deep Research query. The allocation of 10 monthly queries for Plus users ($20/month) compared to 120 for Pro users ($200/month) creates a clear delineation that preserves the premium value proposition. This tiered rollout strategy suggests OpenAI recognizes that democratizing access to advanced AI capabilities requires more than just lowering price barriers -- it necessitates a fundamental rethinking of how these capabilities are packaged and delivered. Beyond the surface: Deep Research's hidden strengths and surprising vulnerabilities The headline figure -- 26.6% accuracy on "Humanity's Last Exam" -- tells only part of the story. This benchmark, designed to be extraordinarily challenging even for human experts, represents a quantum leap beyond previous AI capabilities. For context, achieving even 10% on this test would have been considered remarkable just a year ago. What's most significant isn't just the raw performance but the nature of the test itself, which requires synthesizing information across disparate domains and applying nuanced reasoning that goes far beyond pattern matching. Deep Research's approach combines several technological breakthroughs: multi-stage planning, adaptive information retrieval, and perhaps most crucially, a form of computational self-correction that allows it to recognize and remedy its own limitations during the research process. Yet these capabilities come with notable blind spots. The system remains vulnerable to what might be called "consensus bias" -- a tendency to privilege widely accepted viewpoints while potentially overlooking contrarian perspectives that challenge established thinking. This bias could be particularly problematic in domains where innovation often emerges from challenging conventional wisdom. Moreover, the system's reliance on existing web content means it inherits the biases and limitations of its source material. In rapidly evolving fields or niche specialties with limited online documentation, Deep Research may struggle to provide truly comprehensive analysis. And without access to proprietary databases or subscription-based academic journals, its insights into certain specialized domains may remain superficial despite its sophisticated reasoning capabilities. The executive's dilemma: How Deep Research rewrites the rules of knowledge work For C-suite leaders, Deep Research presents a paradox: a tool powerful enough to redefine roles throughout their organization but still too limited to be deployed without careful human oversight. The immediate productivity gains are undeniable -- tasks that once required days of analyst time can now be completed in minutes. But this efficiency comes with complex strategic implications. Organizations that integrate Deep Research effectively will likely need to reimagine their information workflows entirely. Rather than simply replacing junior analysts, the technology may create new hybrid roles where human expertise focuses on framing questions, evaluating sources, and critically assessing AI-generated insights. The most successful implementations will likely view Deep Research not as a replacement for human judgment but as an amplifier of human capabilities. The pricing structure creates its own strategic considerations. At $200 monthly for Pro users with 120 queries, each query effectively costs about $1.67 -- a trivial expense compared to human labor costs. Yet the limited volume creates artificial scarcity that forces organizations to prioritize which questions truly merit Deep Research's capabilities. This constraint may ironically lead to more thoughtful application of the technology than a purely unlimited model would encourage. The longer-term implications are more profound. As research capabilities that were once restricted to elite organizations become widely accessible, competitive advantage will increasingly derive not from information access but from how organizations frame questions and integrate AI-generated insights into their decision-making processes. The strategic value shifts from knowing to understanding -- from information gathering to insight generation. For technical leaders, the message is clear: the AI research revolution is no longer coming -- it's here. The question is not whether to adapt but how quickly organizations can develop the processes, skills, and cultural mindset needed to thrive in a landscape where deep research has been fundamentally democratized.

OpenAI expands Deep Research access to Plus users, heating up AI agent wars with DeepSeek and Claude

According to an announcement on OpenAI's official X account, Plus, Team, Education and Enterprise users will initially receive 10 deep research queries per month, while Pro tier subscribers will have access to 120 queries monthly. Deep Research, which is powered by a specialized version of OpenAI's upcoming o3 model, represents a significant shift in how AI can assist with complex research tasks. Unlike traditional chatbots that provide immediate responses, Deep Research independently scours hundreds of online sources, analyzes text, images and PDFs and synthesizes comprehensive reports comparable to those produced by professional analysts. The AI research arms race: DeepSeek's open challenge meets OpenAI's premium play The timing of OpenAI's expanded rollout is hardly coincidental. The generative AI landscape has transformed dramatically in recent weeks, with China's DeepSeek emerging as an unexpected disruptor. By open-sourcing their DeepSeek-R1 model under an MIT license, the company has fundamentally challenged the closed, subscription-based business model that has defined Western AI development. What makes this competition particularly interesting is the divergent philosophies at play. While OpenAI continues to gate its most powerful capabilities behind increasingly complex subscription tiers, DeepSeek has opted for a radically different approach: Give away the technology and let a thousand applications bloom. This strategy echoes earlier eras of technology adoption, where open platforms ultimately created more value than closed systems. Linux's dominance in server infrastructure offers a compelling historical parallel. For enterprise decision-makers, the question becomes whether to invest in proprietary solutions that may offer immediate competitive advantages or embrace open alternatives that could foster broader innovation across their organization. Perplexity's recent integration of DeepSeek-R1 into its own research tool -- at a fraction of OpenAI's price point -- demonstrates how quickly this open approach can yield competing products. Meanwhile, Anthropic's Claude 3.7 Sonnet has taken yet another path, focusing on transparency in its reasoning process with "visible extended thinking." The result is a fragmented market where each major player now offers a distinctive approach to AI-powered research. For enterprises, this means greater choice, but also increased complexity in determining which platform best aligns with their specific needs and values. From walled garden to public square: OpenAI's calculated democratic pivot When Sam Altman writes that Deep Research "probably is worth $1,000 a month to some users," he's revealing more than just price elasticity -- he's acknowledging the extraordinary value disparity that exists among potential users. This admission cuts to the heart of OpenAI's ongoing strategic balancing act. The company faces a fundamental tension: Maintaining the premium exclusivity that funds its development while simultaneously fulfilling its mission of ensuring that "artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity." Today's announcement represents a careful step toward greater accessibility without undermining its revenue model. By limiting free tier users to just two queries monthly, OpenAI is essentially offering a teaser -- enough to demonstrate the technology's capabilities without cannibalizing its premium offerings. This approach follows the classic "freemium" playbook that has defined much of the digital economy, but with unusually tight constraints that reflect the substantial computing resources required for each Deep Research query. The allocation of 10 monthly queries for Plus users ($20/month) compared to 120 for Pro users ($200/month) creates a clear delineation that preserves the premium value proposition. This tiered rollout strategy suggests OpenAI recognizes that democratizing access to advanced AI capabilities requires more than just lowering price barriers -- it necessitates a fundamental rethinking of how these capabilities are packaged and delivered. Beyond the surface: Deep Research's hidden strengths and surprising vulnerabilities The headline figure -- 26.6% accuracy on "Humanity's Last Exam" -- tells only part of the story. This benchmark, designed to be extraordinarily challenging even for human experts, represents a quantum leap beyond previous AI capabilities. For context, achieving even 10% on this test would have been considered remarkable just a year ago. What's most significant isn't just the raw performance, but the nature of the test itself, which requires synthesizing information across disparate domains and applying nuanced reasoning that goes far beyond pattern matching. Deep Research's approach combines several technological breakthroughs: multi-stage planning, adaptive information retrieval and, perhaps most crucially, a form of computational self-correction that allows it to recognize and remedy its own limitations during the research process. Yet, these capabilities come with notable blind spots. The system remains vulnerable to what might be called "consensus bias" -- a tendency to privilege widely accepted viewpoints while potentially overlooking contrarian perspectives that challenge established thinking. This bias could be particularly problematic in domains where innovation often emerges from challenging conventional wisdom. Moreover, the system's reliance on existing web content means it inherits the biases and limitations of its source material. In rapidly evolving fields or niche specialties with limited online documentation, Deep Research may struggle to provide truly comprehensive analysis. And, without access to proprietary databases or subscription-based academic journals, its insights into certain specialized domains may remain superficial despite its sophisticated reasoning capabilities. The executive's dilemma: How Deep Research rewrites the rules of knowledge work For C-suite leaders, Deep Research presents a paradox: It's a tool powerful enough to redefine roles throughout their organization, but is still too limited to be deployed without careful human oversight. The immediate productivity gains are undeniable -- tasks that once required days of analyst time can now be completed in minutes. But this efficiency comes with complex strategic implications. Organizations that integrate Deep Research effectively will likely need to reimagine their information workflows entirely. Rather than simply replacing junior analysts, the technology may create new hybrid roles where human expertise focuses on framing questions, evaluating sources and critically assessing AI-generated insights. The most successful implementations will likely view Deep Research not as a replacement for human judgment but as an amplifier of human capabilities. The pricing structure creates its own strategic considerations. At $200 monthly for Pro users with 120 queries, each query effectively costs about $1.67 -- a trivial expense compared to human labor costs. Yet, the limited volume creates artificial scarcity that forces organizations to prioritize which questions truly merit Deep Research's capabilities. This constraint may ironically lead to more thoughtful application of the technology than a purely unlimited model would encourage. The longer-term implications are more profound. As research capabilities that were once restricted to elite organizations become widely accessible, competitive advantage will increasingly derive not from information access but from how organizations frame questions and integrate AI-generated insights into their decision-making processes. The strategic value shifts from knowing to understanding -- from information gathering to insight generation. For technical leaders, the message is clear: The AI research revolution is no longer coming -- it's here. The question is not whether to adapt but how quickly organizations can develop the processes, skills and cultural mindset needed to thrive in a landscape where deep research has been fundamentally democratized.

Perplexity AI Brings Deep Research to Sonar API, OpenAI Rolls Out New Features

OpenAI announced that all ChatGPT free users will have access to an Advanced Voice version powered by GPT-4o mini. Perplexity AI has announced that its latest research tool, Deep Research, is now available through its Sonar API. The company expects developers to create a variety of custom research agents and workflows using Sonar. Deep Research autonomously conducts in-depth research and analysis. It performs multiple searches, reviews hundreds of sources, and compiles findings into comprehensive reports. Moreover, Perplexity AI will host its first developer meetup on March 17 at its headquarters. "Learn about our Sonar API offerings, meet the Perplexity team, and mingle with other developers," the company said in a post on X. Limited spots are available for the event, and interested participants can RSVP at https://pplx.ai/devmeetup. OpenAI has announced that Deep Research is rolling out to all ChatGPT Plus, Team, Edu, and Enterprise users. "Since the initial launch, we've made some improvements to Deep Research: embedded images with citations in the output and better understanding and referencing of uploaded files," OpenAI stated. "Deep research out for ChatGPT plus users! One of my favourite things we have ever shipped," OpenAI chief Sam Altman wrote on X. Users in the Plus, Team, Enterprise, and Edu tiers will receive 10 Deep Research queries per month, while Pro users will now have 120 queries per month. OpenAI also announced that a version of Advanced Voice powered by GPT-4o mini is rolling out to all ChatGPT free users for daily preview across platforms. "The natural conversation pace and tone are similar to the GPT-4o version while being more cost-effective to serve," OpenAI added.