Over the years, I’ve spent a lot of my time poking and prodding AI agents to find out what makes them tick. I’ve also developed a keen sense for what is actually useful and what is just shiny tech hype.
My curiosity led me to try out ChatGPT’s newest feature, Deep Research. I must admit, I was genuinely impressed. Before we get into why, let’s take a moment to explain what this feature is all about and how it works.
Deep Research will be the brilliant librarian you’ve always wanted to be paired with in school. It can gather, analyse, and repackage a huge amount of information in a useful and fun way. Deep Research is not a quick Q&A. This can be anything from five minutes up to a theoretically full half-hour. It will then provide detailed, accurate insights tailored to your specific query.
After spending a lot of hours with it, I genuinely believe it is the best part of ChatGPT at this time. If you’re not sure if it’s worth the hype I’ve compiled a few reasons why you might want to dip a toe into Deep Research.
The perfect vacation
It’s taken me more time than I care to admit to scrolling through travel blogs and Reddit threads to find outdated TripAdvisor reviews to plan a simple vacation. Deep Research is very good at planning vacations. This is especially true if you are looking for something different than the usual tourist traps. Deep Research’s response to my test question “Plan a two-week trip to Portugal, emphasizing local culture, hidden gems, authentic cuisine, and avoiding crowds.”
was truly impressive. After about 20 minutes it returned with a carefully-planned itinerary full of interesting recommendations. For example, a quiet day spent exploring historic fishing villages on Portugal’s Silver Coast, and tasting fresh seafood at lesser-known restaurants. It also included thoughtful details, like attending a small town festival celebrating traditional crafts. It also provided practical logistics, including ideal transport options and suggestions for lodging outside major tourist hubs.
Then I tried again with “What’s the best month to visit Costa Rica for wildlife viewing, especially if you’re hoping to see sea turtles?”
Deep Research produced another thorough report. It summarized nesting and hatching season of different turtle species, and described weather conditions and tourism patterns month by month. It gave useful tips on where to look for volunteer opportunities in conservation projects.
Health Help
Deep Research is a real help if you have ever had a headache in the middle of the night and found out that it was a rare tropical illness.
It can take a lot of digging to find reliable online health information that applies to your hypochondriac moments. Deep Research allows you to personalize your answers and avoid the less sensible suggestions, such as fighting viruses with crystals. This is also true for lifestyle-related health questions. Instead of sensational headlines and expert opinions, Deep Research returned a comprehensive, measured overview of clinical research. It highlighted potential benefits such as weight loss and improved metabolism. It balanced this with a thoughtful warning about certain groups that should avoid fasting. For example, pregnant women and those with chronic health conditions.
Hobbying
Starting a new hobby is exciting, until you realize that the first step usually involves wading through conflicting YouTube advice or outdated instructional articles. Deep Research is your patient and knowledgeable guide.
“Create a beginner’s guide for someone who wants to start baking bread from scratch, including common mistakes to avoid.”
I asked the AI
It took around 15 minutes to get the report. I assume this is because people were writing about their baking experiences in 2020.
I still had a comprehensive yet accessible bread-baking book that included troubleshooting advice for issues such as overly dense dough and uneven rising. It included simple starter recipes, explained yeast fermentation in plain English, and gave advice on inexpensive equipment.
Purchase power
An infinite ocean of online shopping options can overwhelm even the most determined person. I love the idea that a personal shopper can provide their recommendations on what to purchase.
I asked Deep Research to do, “Compare the top-rated robot vacuums under $300, considering user reviews, battery life, cleaning ability, and ease of maintenance.”
Deep Research dug into the specs, reviewed customer reviews, and filtered out the noise to produce a report that was helpful. It was able to clearly explain the differences between top models. I knew within minutes which vacuum would keep the floors pristine without draining my wallet. You can finally eliminate some of the shopping stress with Deep Research.
Nerding Out
All of us have fallen down rabbit holes on the internet to satisfy our curiosity. We emerge bleary-eyed, but fascinated hours later. Deep Research is a more efficient and satisfying method to satisfy your intellectual itch. It’s one of the most enjoyable parts of ChatGPT.
I was thinking of early printing in comparison to today’s digital content flood, so I asked Deep Research “Give an accessible but detailed overview of how the printing press influenced European society and culture in the 15th century.”
after half an hour Deep Research produced a summary that highlighted key historical events throughout the Renaissance and Reformation. It explained how printed texts democratized information, sparked literacy, and even reshaped religion and politics.
I decided I wanted to have some nerdy craziness on a fascinating subject without fully understanding it. I asked that the AI “Simplify and explain quantum computing and its possible impacts in everyday life over the next decade.”
ChatGPT produce a report to help me understand quantum bits and entanglement. It took a surprising shorter time than a printing press request. It was a compact TED Talk that was tailored to me. It speculated on future applications such as drug discovery, cybersecurity and even traffic patterns.
Deep Research has its limitations, but they aren’t insurmountable. It can sometimes stumble, delivering overconfident but incorrect answers. Deep Research relies on publicly accessible internet content, so controversial or rapidly changing topics can present challenges. But these shortcomings do not overshadow the immense value and ease-of-use this feature offers.
With a world overloaded with questionable and digital noise and information, having a reliable and thorough tool like ChatGPT deep Research feels like having an ever-ready, brilliant assistant at your beck-and-call.
I tried Deep Research in ChatGPT and it was like a super-smart but slightly absent-minded library from a children’s story
Eric Hal Schwartz has been a freelance writer at TechRadar for more than 15 years. He has covered the intersection of technology and the world. He was the head writer of Voicebot.ai for five years and was at the forefront of reporting on large language models and generative AI. Since then, he has become an expert in the products of generative AI, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude. He also knows Google Gemini and all other synthetic media tools. His experience spans print, digital and broadcast media as well as live events. He’s now continuing to tell stories that people want to hear and need to know about the rapidly changing AI space and the impact it has on their lives. Eric is based out of New York City.
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