OpenAI has introduced a new deep research capability in ChatGPT, which the company describes as a new agentic capability that conducts multi-step research on the internet for complex tasks. According to OpenAI, the new AI agent uses reasoning to synthesise large amounts of online information and complete multi-step research tasks for users. “It accomplishes in tens of minutes what would take a human many hours,” OpenAI said on February 2, 2025.
OpenAI Founder Sam Altman announced the launch on microblogging site X, stating, “Today we launch deep research, our next agent….this is like a superpower; experts on demand..it can go use the internet, do complex research and reasoning, and give you back a report…it is really good, and can do tasks that would take hours/days and cost hundreds of dollars.”
“You give it a prompt, and ChatGPT will find, analyse, and synthesise hundreds of online sources to create a comprehensive report at the level of a research analyst,” OpenAI explained.
Capabilities and Applications
Powered by an optimised version of OpenAI’s upcoming O3 model, Deep Research independently searches, Interprets, analyses, and synthesises vast amounts of online data— including text, images and PDFs—making it a valuable tool for professionals in finance, science, policy, and engineering, according to the company.
“The ability to synthesise knowledge is a prerequisite for creating new knowledge. For this reason, deep research marks a significant step toward our broader goal of developing AGI (Artificial General Intelligence), which we have long envisioned as capable of producing novel scientific research,” OpenAI added.
“It can be equally useful for discerning shoppers looking for hyper-personalised recommendations on purchases that typically require careful research, like cars, appliances, and furniture,” the Microsoft-backed company said.
Unlike standard AI responses, Deep Research delivers fully documented reports with clear citations and reasoning summaries, ensuring reliability. Users can request detailed analyses—ranging from competitive market insights to personalised shopping recommendations—by selecting the Deep Research option in ChatGPT. The tool autonomously browses the web, adapts its search based on findings, and compiles a comprehensive report, which may take 5 to 30 minutes to complete.
OpenAI positions Deep Research as a bridge between quick AI summaries and in-depth, verifiable analysis, marking a significant step toward Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). Future updates will introduce embedded images, data visualisations, and richer analytic outputs for enhanced clarity.
Kevin Weil, OpenAI’s Chief Product Officer, highlighted the tool’s capabilities at the Washington event, stating, “It can handle complex research tasks that might typically take a person anywhere from 30 minutes to 30 days.” Deep Research can complete such tasks in as little as five to 30 minutes, depending on complexity.
Explaining limitations, OpenAI noted 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. It may struggle with distinguishing authoritative information from rumours, and currently shows weakness in confidence calibration, often failing to convey uncertainty accurately.
Availability and Future Updates
“Deep research in ChatGPT is currently very compute intensive. The longer it takes to research a query, the more inference compute is required,” the company said. Initially, the model will be accessible to OpenAI’s USD 200-a-month Pro users with up to 100 queries per month, with plans to extend availability to the USD 20-a-month Plus tier and Team users, followed by Enterprise, pending safety evaluations within the next month.
OpenAI said the company is still working on bringing access to users in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and the European Economic Area. Deep research is available now on ChatGPT web and will be rolled out to mobile and desktop apps within the month.
This launch follows the recent release of another OpenAI tool capable of performing online tasks like grocery shopping and restaurant reservations.
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