OpenAI Introduces Deep Research: A Breakthrough in Agentic AI for Complex Online Research
OpenAI is unveiling Deep Research, a cutting-edge agentic capability that enables ChatGPT to autonomously conduct complex, multi-step research tasks online. This powerful feature reportedly accomplishes in minutes what might take human researchers hours or even days.
Describing Deep Research as a major milestone on the path to artificial general intelligence (AGI), OpenAI highlights its significance:
“The ability to synthesize knowledge is a prerequisite for creating new knowledge,” says OpenAI. “For this reason, Deep Research marks a significant step toward our broader goal of developing AGI.”
Advanced Research, Simplified
Deep Research empowers ChatGPT to autonomously gather, analyze, and synthesize information from hundreds of online sources. With just a single user prompt, it can generate comprehensive reports on par with those produced by professional research analysts, according to OpenAI.
Powered by a specialized variant of OpenAI’s upcoming “o3” model, the tool is designed to eliminate the time-consuming effort of manual information gathering. Whether conducting a competitive analysis of streaming platforms, an in-depth policy review, or personalized recommendations for a new commuter bike, Deep Research aims to provide precise, reliable, and efficient results.
Importantly, every output includes full citations and transparent documentation, ensuring users can verify findings with ease.
Unlocking Niche Insights Across Industries
Beyond traditional research applications, Deep Research excels at uncovering non-obvious, high-value insights, making it particularly valuable in fields such as finance, science, policymaking, and engineering. OpenAI also envisions it benefiting everyday users—whether someone is searching for highly personalized product recommendations or deep-diving into a niche topic.
With Deep Research, OpenAI is pushing the boundaries of what agentic AI can achieve, bringing autonomous, high-quality research capabilities to businesses, professionals, and everyday users alike.
Deep Research: A New Agentic Capability for Advanced Analysis
OpenAI’s latest agentic AI feature operates seamlessly within the ChatGPT interface. Users can initiate Deep Research by selecting the option in the message composer and entering their query. To provide additional context, they can also upload supporting files or spreadsheets.
Once launched, the AI embarks on a rigorous multi-step research process, which typically takes 5 to 30 minutes. A real-time sidebar keeps users informed on the AI’s progress, detailing actions taken and sources consulted. Users can continue with other tasks and receive a notification when the final report is ready.
Comprehensive, Well-Documented Reports
Deep Research delivers results as detailed, well-cited reports, prioritizing accuracy and depth. In the coming weeks, OpenAI plans to enhance these outputs with embedded images, data visualizations, and graphs, adding further clarity and context.
Unlike GPT-4o, which specializes in real-time, multimodal conversations, Deep Research is designed for thorough analysis. Its ability to rigorously cite sources, synthesize complex data, and provide research-grade insights sets it apart from AI tools that focus on quick summarization.
Engineered for Complex, Real-World Challenges
Deep Research is built on sophisticated training methodologies designed to handle real-world browsing and reasoning tasks across diverse fields. Its model was trained through reinforcement learning, enabling it to autonomously plan, backtrack, and refine its approach as new information emerges.
Key capabilities include:
✅ Analyzing user-uploaded files for deeper contextual understanding
✅ Generating and iterating on graphs using Python
✅ Embedding media such as generated images and web pages
✅ Providing precise citations, linking exact sentences or passages from sources
By combining structured reasoning, adaptive problem-solving, and in-depth analysis, Deep Research emerges as a powerful AI agent for tackling complex real-world problems across industries.
Deep Research Sets New Records in AI Competency Evaluations
OpenAI rigorously tested Deep Research across a broad set of expert-level assessments known as “Humanity’s Last Exam.” This extensive benchmark consists of over 3,000 questions spanning disciplines such as rocket science, linguistics, ecology, and classical studies, evaluating an AI’s ability to solve complex, multi-step problems.
The results were groundbreaking, with Deep Research achieving a record-breaking 26.6% accuracy, far surpassing other leading AI models:
- GPT-4o: 3.3%
- Grok-2: 3.8%
- Claude 3.5 Sonnet: 4.3%
- OpenAI o1: 9.1%
- DeepSeek-R1: 9.4%
- Deep Research: 26.6% (with browsing + Python tools)
Deep Research also established a new state-of-the-art performance on the GAIA benchmark, which tests AI capabilities in real-world reasoning, multimodal fluency, and tool use. It topped the leaderboard with an unprecedented score of 72.57%.
Challenges and Limitations
Despite its impressive performance, OpenAI acknowledges that Deep Research is still in its early stages and comes with notable limitations.
- While hallucinations occur at a significantly reduced rate compared to previous GPT models, the system can still misinterpret information or make incorrect inferences.
- Distinguishing authoritative sources from speculative content remains a challenge, occasionally leading to overconfidence in uncertain findings.
- Users may encounter minor formatting errors in reports and citations, as well as delays in initiating complex tasks.
OpenAI expects these issues to improve over time through iterative updates and user feedback.
Gradual Rollout & Future Expansion
OpenAI is launching Deep Research in phases, starting with Pro users, who will receive up to 100 queries per month. The feature will soon expand to Plus and Team tiers, with Enterprise access following.
Currently, residents in the UK, Switzerland, and the European Economic Area cannot access the feature, but OpenAI is actively working on expanding availability.
In the coming weeks, OpenAI plans to bring Deep Research to both mobile and desktop platforms. The long-term vision includes:
✅ Integrating subscription-based and proprietary data sources for deeper, more personalized insights
✅ Expanding multimodal capabilities, embedding richer media and interactive visualizations
✅ Merging Deep Research with “Operator,” OpenAI’s agentic AI for real-world task execution, enabling seamless integration between asynchronous online research and real-world actions
With Deep Research, OpenAI is pushing the boundaries of autonomous AI-driven research, offering users a powerful tool for complex, multi-step analysis at an unprecedented level of sophistication.
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