OpenAI Unveils ‘Deep Research’ Tool Amid Rising AI Competition
On Monday, US tech company OpenAI introduced a new ChatGPT tool called “Deep Research” just before key meetings in Tokyo. This comes as China’s AI chatbot, DeepSeek, gains attention and increases competition in the AI industry.
DeepSeek, a new AI competitor, is making waves in Silicon Valley with its strong performance and reportedly lower costs. This has pushed US companies to speed up their AI development efforts.
OpenAI, known for launching ChatGPT in 2022, said its new tool can complete research tasks in minutes that would usually take humans hours.
“‘Deep Research’ is OpenAI’s latest AI assistant that works independently. You provide a prompt, and ChatGPT searches, analyzes, and summarizes information from hundreds of online sources to create a detailed report, similar to what a research analyst would do,” the company explained.
During a live demo, OpenAI researchers showed how the tool can analyze web search results to recommend ski equipment for a trip to Japan.
Altman’s Visit to Japan & AI Investments
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is in Tokyo to meet Japan’s Prime Minister, Shigeru Ishiba, along with Masayoshi Son, the head of SoftBank. OpenAI and SoftBank are both involved in the Stargate project, a $500 billion AI infrastructure investment plan in the US, backed by former President Donald Trump.
Ishiba is also expected to visit Washington later this week for his first in-person meeting with Trump.
Later on Monday, Altman and Son will host a forum in Tokyo with 500 business leaders. They are likely to announce plans to strengthen Japan’s AI infrastructure by building AI data centers and power plants to support them. However, details about the investment size have not been disclosed.
New AI Hardware & DeepSeek’s Impact
Altman told the Nikkei business daily that he is working on a new kind of AI-powered hardware in collaboration with Jony Ive, Apple’s former chief design officer. However, he said it may take years before a prototype is revealed.
Regarding DeepSeek, Altman acknowledged that it is a strong AI model but claimed that its capabilities are not groundbreaking. Meanwhile, DeepSeek’s success has led to accusations that it may have copied or reverse-engineered US AI technology, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Last week, OpenAI warned that Chinese companies are actively trying to replicate its AI models, leading to closer cooperation between OpenAI and US authorities.