Over the weekend, OpenAI has released two important updates to its ChatGPT chatbot: Deep Research feature and an update to the o3-mini model.
Deep Research
Deep Research allows ChatGPT to analyze hundreds of websites and online sources to generate reports at the research analyst level. This tool can process not only text queries but also uploaded files, including PDFs and spreadsheets.
The response is generated in 5 to 30 minutes, with a progress report and links to the sources used. According to OpenAI, this feature accomplishes in tens of minutes the work that would take a human many hours.
At the same time, the company admits that the tool can commit mistakes, including inventing facts or misinterpreting information.
Currently, the feature is available only to ChatGPT Pro subscribers for $200 per month with a limit of 100 requests.
The company plans to expand access to this feature to Plus and Team users, and later to Enterprise users, and is working to reduce the cost of the model to increase the number of available queries.
Deep Research is currently not available to users in the UK, Switzerland, and the European Economic Area.
o3-mini
In addition, OpenAI has introduced an updated o3-mini model, which is faster and more accurate than its predecessor o1-mini. According to A/B testing, the o3-mini is 24% faster, with an average response time of 7.7 seconds compared to 10.16 seconds. It is able to perform tasks in science, math, and coding almost at the level of more expensive models.
This model is available for free to all ChatGPT users. To use it, click the Reason button below the message window.
o3-mini is also integrated with ChatGPT Search, which allows it to search for relevant information and useful links on the Internet. For Plus and Team ChatGPT users, the o3-mini usage limit has been increased from 50 to 150 messages per day.
This is the first time that a model that can “reason” has been made available free of charge to ChatGPT users.
These updates come amid growing competition in the AI market. Recently, the Chinese company DeepSeek introduced the R1 model, which quickly became popular, and its chatbot surpassed ChatGPT in the ranking of free App Store apps worldwide.
OpenAI and Microsoft, which is the largest investor in ChatGPT, are investigating the possible unauthorized acquisition of data by a group associated with DeepSeek.
Earlier, Microsoft provided all Copilot users with free access to OpenAI's o1 model. Previously, this feature was only available to Copilot Pro or ChatGPT Plus subscribers for $20 per month.
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