OpenAI announces new 'deep research' tool for ChatGPT
On February 3rd, US tech giant OpenAI launched a ChatGPT tool called "deep research," ahead of high-level meetings in Tokyo, amidst the heated AI race fueled by China's DeepSeek chatbot.
DeepSeek – a newcomer in the field of artificial intelligence – has caused a stir in Silicon Valley thanks to its high performance and low cost, prompting AI developers in the US to call for an accelerated pace of research.
OpenAI, the company that made ChatGPT an icon of generative AI in 2022, says its new tool can "complete in a few dozen minutes what humans take hours."
"In-depth research is a new OpenAI feature that can work independently for you – you simply input a request, and ChatGPT will search, analyze, and synthesize hundreds of online sources to generate a comprehensive report at the level of a research analyst," OpenAI said in its statement.
In a live video announcement, OpenAI researchers demonstrated how the tool aggregates data from web searches to provide shopping suggestions for ski equipment for a vacation in Japan.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was in Tokyo to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba later on February 3rd, along with Masayoshi Son, head of the Japanese technology investment giant SoftBank Group.
SoftBank and OpenAI are part of the Stargate initiative announced by US President Donald Trump, which aims to invest up to $500 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure in the US.
Mr. Ishiba is expected to travel to Washington this weekend for his first face-to-face meeting with Mr. Trump.
'A new type of hardware'
On the afternoon of February 3rd, Mr. Altman and Mr. Son will hold a forum in Tokyo attended by approximately 500 businesses. There, they are expected to announce plans to strengthen Japan's AI infrastructure.
According to the Nikkei business newspaper, the plan includes building AI data centers and power plants to operate them, but the specific scale of investment is unclear.
Additionally, Altman stated that he wants to develop "an entirely new type of hardware" using artificial intelligence, in collaboration with Jony Ive – Apple's former chief design officer.
However, according to Nikkei, Altman said it would take several years to unveil a prototype of the product.
Altman also acknowledged that DeepSeek is "a good model," showing the fierce competition in the field of AI reasoning, but he insisted that DeepSeek's capabilities "are nothing new."
DeepSeek's powerful performance has fueled accusations that China has reverse-engineered advanced US AI technology, including the technology that powers ChatGPT.
Last week, OpenAI warned that Chinese companies are actively seeking to replicate its advanced AI models, prompting closer collaboration with the US government.
