OpenAI Expands Deep Research AI Amid Growing Competition from Free Rivals

OpenAI, the American startup, has announced the expansion of its Deep Research AI tool to all paying customers. Initially launched in February, this tool facilitates ChatGPT in autonomous web browsing, information gathering, and data analysis, ultimately producing a comprehensive research report. The advantage of Deep Research relates to its capacity to analyze extensive web content promptly, surpassing human capabilities in information processing.

This functionality, described by OpenAI as an essential tool for "knowledge workers" such as financial analysts and engineers, is underpinned by the advanced o3 inference model. During rigorous data set testing, Deep Research significantly boosted its score to 26.6%, in stark contrast to the approximately 9% scores of earlier models like o1 and DeepSeek R1.

Before this announcement, the tool was exclusively available to ChatGPT Pro users at a monthly fee of $200. Now, users of ChatGPT Plus, Team, and educational or corporate accounts can access it with some limitations. These new users are restricted to 10 Deep Research queries per month, while Pro subscribers see an increase from 100 to 120 monthly queries.

Since its initial release, OpenAI has enhanced Deep Research's ability to interpret and reference user-uploaded documents and incorporate images with citations in its outputs. However, the expansion has spurred questions among users due to the contrasting business model of Elon Musk's xAI, which offers a comparable tool, Grok 3, without charge.

Unlike OpenAI’s tool, Grok 3 searches not just web pages but also real-time data from the social media platform X, providing a unique edge. Many users have voiced plans to switch to Grok 3 once it fully develops, as it remains freely accessible until "system load becomes unsustainable," according to xAI statements.

This competitive landscape is further complicated by the presence of Perplexity, which also released its Deep Research tool in February. Matching closely with o3’s performance in precision at 21.1%, Perplexity offers a varied pricing model, allowing five queries per day for free and extensive usage at $20 per month.