The Research Revolution in My Pocket
It’s been a months since OpenAI released their deep research tool, and I’ve been using it extensively. For those who haven’t tried it yet, deep research is a specialized AI feature that allows ChatGPT to perform in-depth research on a given topic by autonomously searching the web. What makes it particularly powerful is its ability to accomplish in minutes what would take humans many hours, by conducting multi-step research on the internet for complex tasks.
The tool is available to ChatGPT Plus, Team, Edu, and Enterprise users with a limit of 10 deep research queries per month, while Pro users get access to 120 queries monthly. It’s designed for people who do intensive knowledge work in areas like finance, science, policy, and engineering - but I’ve found it incredibly useful for everyday research needs too.
How It’s Changed My Research Process
Before deep research, my typical research process involved opening multiple browser tabs, reading through various sources, taking notes, and then trying to synthesize everything into a coherent understanding. It was time-consuming. Now, I can simply ask deep research a complex question, and it will:
- Break down the question into smaller, manageable parts
- Search extensively through available online sources
- Verify information across multiple references
- Extract specific details from large documents
- Compare information across sources
- Provide well-documented conclusions with citations
The result is a comprehensive, well-structured report that I can use as a starting point for deeper exploration. What’s particularly impressive is that it shows its work through a visible chain of thought, making it easy to follow its reasoning and verify its sources.
Real-World Applications I’ve Found Useful
Researching Health Issues and Drug Interactions
When my parent started experiencing some nervous system issues, I used deep research to quickly understand the condition. It compiled information from medical journals, research papers, and health websites to give me a comprehensive overview of similar symptoms, potential causes, and treatment approaches.
My parent had some health issues too, we wanted to check for drug interactions with their current medications, deep research was invaluable again. What impressed me most was its ability to find specific information about uncommon drug combinations and flag potential concerns. It provided citations to reputable sources like medical journals and official health websites, which I could then share with their healthcare provider.
This saved me countless hours of anxiety-inducing Google searches and helped me ask more informed questions during medical appointments. While it’s obviously not a replacement for professional medical advice, it helped me become a more informed advocate for my parents’ health.
Holiday Research Made Effortless
Planning holidays (and day trips) used to involve hours of research across dozens of websites. With deep research, I simply described the type of holiday I was looking for, my budget constraints, and preferences, and it returned a comprehensive report with:
- Destination options with pros and cons for each
- Accommodation recommendations across different price points
- Transportation options and estimated costs
- Must-see attractions and hidden gems
- Local customs and practical tips
- Potential weather concerns and best times to visit
What would have taken me days of research was condensed into a 10-minute wait while deep research compiled information from travel blogs, official tourism websites, and review platforms. The tool even flagged contradictory information it found across different sources, allowing me to investigate further where needed.
Job Search and Company Research
When I started looking for new opportunities recently, deep research transformed my approach to job applications. Instead of surface-level company research, I could get comprehensive insights into:
- Company culture and values based on employee reviews and public statements
- Recent business developments and strategic directions
- Leadership team backgrounds and management styles
- Industry challenges and how the company is positioned
- Salary ranges and benefits compared to industry standards
This allowed me to tailor my applications more effectively and ask insightful questions during interviews that demonstrated genuine interest and understanding of the company. Interviewers were noticeably impressed by my knowledge of their organizations, giving me a competitive edge.
Software Library and Obscure Requirements
As a developer, I often need to evaluate and understand new libraries or tackle obscure technical requirements. Deep research has been a game-changer here too. Recently, I needed to implement a specific feature with some unusual constraints, and deep research helped me:
- Find libraries that met my specific requirements
- Compare implementation approaches across different frameworks
- Identify potential performance bottlenecks and workarounds
- Discover obscure documentation and GitHub discussions about edge cases
- Understand compatibility issues with my existing tech stack
What impressed me most was its ability to synthesize information from technical documentation, GitHub issues, Stack Overflow discussions, and blog posts into a coherent understanding of the problem and potential solutions. It even highlighted contradictory advice from different sources, allowing me to make more informed decisions.
Getting the Most Out of Deep Research
Through my experience, I’ve learned some strategies to maximize the value of deep research:
Be Specific and Comprehensive in Your Queries
The more specific and detailed your query, the better the results. Instead of asking “Tell me about drug interactions,” try “What are the potential interactions between medication X and medication Y for someone with condition Z?”
Ask for Multiple Perspectives
When researching complex or controversial topics, explicitly ask for different viewpoints or approaches. This helps ensure you’re getting a balanced view rather than just the most common perspective.
Request Citations and Verification
While deep research provides citations by default, you can specifically ask it to focus on peer-reviewed sources or to verify claims across multiple sources for more sensitive topics.
Use It as a Starting Point, Not the Final Word
The tool is incredibly powerful, but it’s still important to verify critical information, especially for health, legal, or financial decisions. Use it to get a comprehensive overview, then dig deeper into specific areas as needed.
Resources That Have Helped Me
Several resources have been invaluable in helping me get the most out of deep research:
Knowledge Navigator provides excellent strategies for formulating effective research queries.
This thread by Labenz offers practical tips for using deep research for complex topics.
This comprehensive guide walks through advanced techniques for getting more nuanced and accurate results.
The Future of Research
What excites me most about tools like deep research is how they’re democratizing access to information. Complex research that once required specialized knowledge or academic access is now available to anyone with a subscription. This has profound implications for education, healthcare, business, and personal decision-making.
However, as IBM Senior Research Scientist Marina Danilevsky cautioned, “If we’re not careful, AI will turn into a research parrot—it’ll repeat what’s already out there instead of digging deeper.” This highlights the importance of using these tools critically and being aware of their limitations.
As these tools continue to evolve, I expect we’ll see even more specialized research capabilities emerging. The combination of deep research with domain-specific knowledge models could transform fields like medicine, law, and engineering by making expert-level research accessible to practitioners at all levels.
For now, I’m enjoying the hours saved and the deeper insights gained from having this powerful research assistant at my fingertips. If you haven’t tried it yet, I highly recommend giving it a go - it might just transform how you approach learning and problem-solving.
Have you used deep research or similar tools? contact me on twitter
The other thing to mention is we’re creating a 2 tier society, one that can afford to pay for the best tools and one that can’t. Even for the ones that can afford it, the more you pay for the research (or other AI tools)the better the results which could be a problem for the less fortunate.