OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has launched a "deep research" tool designed to conduct multi-step research tasks at a professional analyst level.
Six notes:
- Released on Feb. 2, Deep Research can analyze and synthesize information from hundreds of online sources — including PDFs, images and text — to generate comprehensive research reports. "It accomplishes in tens of minutes what would take a human many hours," OpenAI said.
- Users can access the tool through the "deep research" function in ChatGPT's message composer by entering a research prompt. Depending on complexity, reports take between five and 30 minutes to generate and include citations.
- "Deep research is built for people who do intensive knowledge work in areas like finance, science, policy, and engineering and need thorough, precise and reliable research," the company said, adding,"It can be equally useful for discerning shoppers looking for hyper-personalized recommendations."
- Unlike chatbots, AI experts classify this type of technology as an "AI agent," meaning it can interact with software and other internet services to complete tasks.
- Initially, Deep Research will be available to ChatGPT Pro subscribers, OpenAI's $200-per-month plan that grants access to its latest models. OpenAI expects to expand availability to its $20-per-month Plus plan in the coming weeks, pending safety reviews.
- OpenAI acknowledged that the tool can struggle to distinguish between authoritative information from rumors and often fails to accurately convey when it is uncertain about its findings. "It's still early and has limitations," the company said.
Read more here.