OpenAI Rolls Out Deep Research to All Paid Users – But Is It Enough to Beat Gemini
But what exactly is this Deep Research, and how can you use it? More importantly, how does it compare to similar tools from Google Gemini, Perplexity, and Grok? Let’s break it down.
What Is Deep Research and How to Use It?
Normal Search mode on ChatGPT searches internet to provide real-time info. WhereasDeep Research, an extension of that, searches tens of sources and compiles a detailed report. So, if you want to learn about a specific topic in detail, conduct market research, or make big purchase decisions, you can use this feature and ChatGPT will generate a report. Basically, it summarizes everything on the internet related to that topic in a structured format. OpenAI useso3 reasoning modelto analyze and compile the report.
For example, if you ask a regular chatbot: “What are the health benefits of intermittent fasting?” it will simply summarize the surface level info. But if you use Deep Research, it will actually go online, scan research papers, articles, YouTube videos, Reddit threads, and blogs, then give you a structured facts and informations with sources linked at the bottom. In fact, it dwells down and searches deeper based on the information it found online.
Using Deep Research is easy. Here’s how you can try it:
That’s it! Instead of manually searching the web, opening multiple tabs, and piecing together information, which can take hours or even days to compile manually can now be done in few minutes.
Every AI Now Has Its Own Deep Research Model
Deep Research isn’t unique to OpenAI. Other AI models also have similar tools, but each works slightly differently.
Google’sGemini Advancedwas actually the first to introduce deep research. Similarly, it also searches 100s of sources to create a detailed report. However,Deep Researchruns on Gemini 1.5 Pro which is a general purpose language model rather than a reasoning model. So even though it searches the same info, there is not much reasoning going into compiling that report. Compared to ChatGPT, Gemini keeps repeating the same info again and again and also we found various examples where it misunderstood the information.
However, it is worth noting that you getunlimited searches with Gemini Deep Researchunlike ChatGPT.
Then we havePerplexity AI, which takes a different approach. Instead of spending time synthesizing a report, itprioritizes speedand pulls data from multiple sources instantly. When I tried “What is the latest research on sleep deprivation?”Perplexityinstantly fetched results from WebMD, NIH, and Wikipedia, and compiled a quick report in just 3 minutes. This is far from ChatGPT’s 5 to 30 minutes of report.
And now there’sGrok(Elon Musk’s AI), which recently added its own Deep Research feature, powered byGrok 3.Like OpenAI’s Deep Research, Grok also uses a reasoning model, but early testing suggests it isn’t as thorough. When I tested “What are the effects of social media on teenage mental health?”Grokprovided a decent summary but didn’t scan as many sources as ChatGPT’s model. It also feltmore opinionatedrather than deeply analytical.
In our experience overall, if you want a fast responses with cited sources, you can use Perplexity. But comparing to Gemini or Grok, ChatGPT does arguable better research most of the time and also compiles the report with it’s latest reasoning model.
Ravi Teja KNTS
Tech writer with over 4 years of experience at TechWiser, where he has authored more than 700 articles on AI, Google apps, Chrome OS, Discord, and Android. His journey started with a passion for discussing technology and helping others in online forums, which naturally grew into a career in tech journalism. Ravi’s writing focuses on simplifying technology, making it accessible and jargon-free for readers. When he’s not breaking down the latest tech, he’s often immersed in a classic film – a true cinephile at heart.
