OpenAI has just made its new Deep Research agent accessible to desktop ChatGPT users on all tiers, meaning that you’re able to unlock the capability for as little as $20 per month with its Plus plan.
ChatGPT’s new research feature, which was previously only available to Pro users, brings the AI chatbot up to speed with its competitor Google’s Gemini, which also currently only offers the feature in its web app.
With OpenAI only launching its deep research feature at the start of February, it wouldn’t be remiss of you to still be learning all about its potential. If you’re interested in fully understanding the agent, we explain everything you need to know: How it works, how to use it, who it’s best for, and its potential risks.
What Is OpenAI’s New Deep Research Feature?
Not one to be shy of a product update, OpenAI has just rolled out a suite of exciting features for its ChatGPT users. As part of this upgrade, the AI trailblazer has rolled out its Deep Research agent to all Plus, Team, Edu, and Enterprise users.
Built using OpenAI’s generative AI o3 model which is optimized for web browsing and data analysis, the Deep Research agent is a specialized AI feature that allows ChatGPT to perform in-depth research on a given topic, by autonomously searching the web.
This just in! View
the top business tech deals for 2025 👨💻
According to an official release note from OpenAI, the feature is able to accomplish in ten minutes what would take humans many hours, by conducting “multi-step research on the internet for complex tasks.”
The agent’s ability to synthesize knowledge so effectively by searching, interpreting, and analyzing massive amounts of text, images, and PDFs on the internet represents a breakthrough in AI learning, and brings OpenAI closer to achieving its long-term goal of developing artificial general intelligence (AGI).
Who Will Benefit the Most From OpenAI’s New Research Feature?
OpenAI’s Deep Research feature will be ideal for anyone carrying out intense knowledge work, that don’t have hours upon hours to invest in the process. The tool offers clear citations to its sources as well, making it easy for users to verify and reference information.
For this reason, we think the research tool will be best suited to:
- Professionals carrying out research in areas like finance, policy, science, and engineering
- Academics that require citations when researching
- Shoppers in need of precise and reliable information
Users don’t have unrestrained access to the agent, however. Currently, ChatGPT Plus, Team, Enterprise, and Edu subscribers are allowed 10 deep research queries per month. ChatGPT Pro users have less fettered access to the tool, with OpenAI bumping the limit up from 100 to 120 queries per month.
How to Use Deep Research With ChatGPT
Fortunately, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to use OpenAI’s deep research feature. All you need to do is follow these steps:
- Open ChatGPT
- Select ‘deep research’ in the message composer
- Enter a descriptive prompt
- If relevant, attach files or spreadsheets for additional context
- Wait for ChatGPT to produce the summaries (it can take a couple of minutes)
Voila! Using ChatGPT’s research tool is really that simple. If you’re also using the chatbot for document analysis, we break down how to use ChatGPT to read and analyze PDF documents here.
Is OpenAI’s Deep Research Feature Too Persuasive?
While OpenAI’s Deep Research agent is impressive, ChatGPT isn’t the only chatbot to offer the feature. Competitors like Gemini, Grok, and xAI have also rolled out their own version of the tool for paid users, while Perplexity AI lets you use it for free.
However, while OpenAI has expanded access to Deep Research, it’s decided against bringing the research tool to its developer API over concerns about “real-world persuasion risks.” In a recent whitepaper released by OpenAI, the company explained it is actively working on refining its methods to evaluate and address the potential for AI models to be used for harmful persuasion in real-world scenarios.
“While we work to reconsider our approach to persuasion, we are only deploying this model in ChatGPT, and not the API,” – OpenAI’s whitepaper
AI chatbot makers have frequently landed themselves in hot water for the role they play in the generation of convincing misinformation. But according to the recent whitepaper, we may not have to worry about the persuasive abilities of OpenAI’s new feature just yet, as tests concluded that the Deep Research agent was worse at persuading GPT-4o to tell it a codeword than GPT-4o itself.
