OpenAI releases AI agent designed to act like a research analyst

OpenAI is releasing a new artificial intelligence tool that is designed to carry out time-consuming online research for users about everything from complex science questions to car recommendations – expanding the start-up’s portfolio of AI agents that act on a person’s behalf.

The service, called Deep Research, will be available to certain paying customers through OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot online, the company said in a blog post on Sunday. In response to a prompt, the tool will scour words, images and PDFs online, as well as files uploaded by the user, to create an in-depth report.

OpenAI compared the feature to a research analyst and said it is meant to do in “tens of minutes” what would typically take a person “many hours.”

Deep Research is the second AI agent that San Francisco-based OpenAI has released this year. Last month, OpenAI introduced Operator, which can help book flights, plan grocery orders and even complete purchases for users. Both services are initially available just to those who pay US$200 per month for OpenAI’s recently introduced ChatGPT Pro option.

The roll-outs are part of a broader industry push toward agents, or AI software that can complete multi-step tasks for users with minimal supervision. OpenAI-backer Microsoft and rival Anthropic have launched their own takes on agent software, as have a number of other start-ups.