OpenAI recently announced that it will extend its Deep Research capability to all ChatGPT Plus, Team, Education and Enterprise users. This feature is regarded by many experts as the most transformative AI assistant since ChatGPT. According to official news, these users will receive 10 in-depth research queries per month, while Pro users will enjoy the privilege of 120 inquiries per month.
In-depth research utilizes OpenAI's upcoming o3 model to significantly enhance AI's capabilities in complex research tasks. Unlike traditional chatbots that provide instant response, in-depth research can independently search hundreds of online resources, analyze text, images and PDF files, and generate comprehensive reports similar to professional analysts.
At the same time, changes in the AI competitive environment are accelerating. China's DeepSeek has become a new competitor, and they openly sourced the DeepSeek-R1 model through a MIT license, challenging the subscription-based business model. Compared with OpenAI's payment strategy, DeepSeek adopts an open approach, allowing more applications to be developed and promoted.
This kind of market competition has triggered a collision of different technical concepts. In addition to OpenAI and DeepSeek, Anthropic's Claude3.7Sonnet also breaks through by emphasizing transparent reasoning processes. Perplexity recently integrated DeepSeek-R1 into its research tools to provide services at more competitive prices, further confirming the market potential of open technology.
OpenAI founder Sam Altman mentioned in the announcement that in-depth research “maybe worth $1,000 per month for some users”, reflecting the diversity of technology value. To protect the benefits of the high-end market, OpenAI restricts free users to only conduct two queries per month, giving Plus and Pro users different query quotas to maintain the attractiveness of their high-end products.
In-depth research performed particularly well in the "Last Exam for Humanity" benchmark test, with an accuracy rate of 26.6%, far exceeding other competitors. This technology has obvious advantages in improving efficiency, but it also faces the challenge of collaborating with human experts. When integrating in-depth research, enterprises need to re-examine their information workflow and explore more effective ways to utilize it.