The Rise of Deep Research

In partnership with

Welcome Back to XcessAI

Hello AI enthusiasts and business leaders,

We’ve explored the waves of AI disruption in many forms - language models, autonomous agents, open-source innovation, and quantum computing. But today’s topic strikes directly at the core of white-collar knowledge work.

OpenAI recently unveiled a new capability called Deep Research. While it might sound like just another research assistant, the underlying concept is far more ambitious: this is an autonomous AI agent that can reason, plan, and execute multi-step research tasks across the internet - independently.

If that sounds like something that could change the way analysts, consultants, lawyers, or even executives work, you're absolutely right.

Let’s unpack what this means for businesses, what’s truly different about this new capability, and how managers should prepare.

Before we dive in: if you enjoy this newsletter and want to support us, please click on our sponsor link above or below. It costs nothing and helps us!

What Is Deep Research?

Think of it as an AI researcher that doesn’t just answer a question, but plans how to answer it, figures out where to look, decides how to organize the findings, and produces a cohesive result.

Unlike basic AI chatbots that respond with a single-pass answer, Deep Research works autonomously in the background, browsing sources, synthesizing information, and coming back with a comprehensive report. You don’t prompt it step-by-step—it does that planning itself.

In the demo shared by OpenAI, Deep Research handled a query like:

Instead of generating an instant answer, it created a plan, sourced information from credible sites, and assembled a full summary report, just like an entry-level analyst might.

We’re witnessing the emergence of AI that can independently handle sophisticated cognitive workflows.

How Is This Different from Existing AI Tools?

There are plenty of AI writing assistants and summarizers out there. But Deep Research isn’t just about summarization. It combines several layers of capabilities:

• Planning: It generates a structured approach to answering the query.

• Autonomous browsing: It uses browser-based tools to gather data live from the internet.

• Synthesis and reasoning: It cross-references, evaluates, and organizes findings into a useful narrative.

In other words, it's performing live, goal-directed research.

That leap - from passive model to active researcher - makes this a potential game-changer for any industry that relies on desk research, market intelligence, compliance checks, or technical due diligence.

Implications for Business and Strategy

So how does this change the game for business leaders?

🔍 1. Research-Driven Roles Will Be Rewritten

If you employ people to “look things up,” summarize findings, and prepare research briefs—expect AI agents like Deep Research to do that faster, more consistently, and 24/7. This doesn't replace human judgment, but it compresses the time from question to insight.

⚙️ 2. Productivity Could Skyrocket

Imagine asking a research question in the morning and having a synthesized, well-structured report by lunch - without assigning it to a team. This massively reduces bottlenecks in planning, competitor analysis, or strategic decisions.

🧠 3. Knowledge Work Becomes More Judgment-Oriented

As AI takes on more execution work (e.g. collecting data, and organizing sources), the human role shifts toward interpreting results, making decisions, and asking better questions. Soft skills and critical thinking become even more valuable.

🌐 4. Strategic Differentiation Moves to Implementation

If AI tools give everyone access to the same level of baseline research, the advantage no longer comes from information gathering, but from how quickly and creatively you act on it.

What Does Deep Research Cost and Who Are the Alternatives?

As of now, Deep Research is not yet fully available to most users. While OpenAI has demoed its capabilities, the underlying tools (like browsing and autonomous planning) are only accessible through ChatGPT Team and Enterprise plans — not the standard ChatGPT Plus subscription.

This means that for individuals and small businesses, true Deep Research functionality isn’t available yet, though OpenAI has signaled it’s coming to GPT-4o in the future. In the meantime, tools like Perplexity Pro offer a practical alternative for real-time research needs.

Key Competitors in the Space:

• Perplexity Pro ($20/month)
  A strong competitor that combines LLM-powered research with live web browsing, citations, and concise summaries—often used by analysts, writers, and academics.

• Arc Browser’s AI-powered browsing assistant
  A newer entrant focused on real-time information gathering as users browse, still in early stages but promising for AI-assisted workflows.

• Anthropic’s Claude with web access (enterprise-focused)
  Known for its safety-first approach and long-context reasoning, Claude can perform similar research tasks, though its web access is still being rolled out in tiers.

• Bing Copilot (free with Microsoft Edge)
  Useful for quick lookups and casual research, though limited in structure and reasoning depth compared to Deep Research or Perplexity.

What’s the Value Proposition?

With pricing in the range of $20/month, these tools cost less than a single hour of a human researcher’s time - yet can deliver research summaries, comparisons, and planning frameworks on-demand.

This dramatically lowers the barrier for individual professionals, consultants, and SMBs to access high-quality research output—and raises the bar for how fast and well-informed decision-making should be.

Which GPT Models Support Deep Research?

• GPT-4o (the default for Plus users)
  ✅ Fast, multimodal (text, image, audio)
  ❌ No web browsing, so it can’t do Deep Research using real-time sources (yet)

• GPT-4.5 (Orion)
  ✅ Great for natural conversation and vision tasks
  ❌ No web access or autonomous research features
  🔍 Ideal for static knowledge-based tasks, not live web analysis

• GPT-4 (Turbo)
  ✅ Supports browsing, code interpreter, file uploads
  ✅ Can simulate Deep Research behavior with autonomous planning + live data
  🚫 No longer available to standard Plus users
  ✅ Still available to Team and Enterprise plans ($25–$200+/user/month)

So What Can You Do Right Now?

If you're a Plus user today, here are your options:

1. Wait for GPT-4o to get browsing

   • OpenAI says browsing and tools are coming soon to GPT-4o. When that happens, full Deep Research functionality should return for Plus users.

2. Upgrade to Team or Enterprise

   • Starting at ~$25/user/month (Team) or ~$200/user/month (Enterprise), these tiers give you access to GPT-4 (Turbo) with browsing and other advanced tools.

   • Ideal for professionals or teams who want serious AI research capabilities now.

3. Use a Purpose-Built Research Tool

   • Perplexity Pro ($20/month) is a strong alternative with real-time web browsing, citations, and structured research summaries. It’s ideal for business users, analysts, and content creators.

4. Use GPT-4o for Simulated Research

   • You can still ask GPT-4o to write detailed overviews using its training data (up to Oct 2023), but it won’t access current sources or cite live links.

Action Plan for Businesses

Here’s how forward-thinking leaders can respond now:

✅ 1. Audit Your Information Workflows

Identify areas where employees spend time gathering, organizing, and synthesizing information. These are prime targets for automation through AI research agents.

✅ 2. Pilot and Benchmark

Start with small pilot projects using Deep Research (or similar tools like Perplexity Pro or Arc’s AI browsing assistant). Compare speed, accuracy, and utility versus traditional methods.

✅ 3. Train Your Teams on Prompt Engineering and Tool Synergy

Employees who know how to delegate tasks effectively to AI - i.e. through smart prompts - will have a major edge. Make this a skill set within your teams.

✅ 4. Establish Guardrails and Oversight

AI research tools can hallucinate or misinterpret sources. Maintain a human-in-the-loop approach, especially for compliance, regulatory, and high-stakes decisions.

✅ 5. Build a “Research + Reasoning” Culture

The most competitive teams will be those who can ask the right questions, interpret AI-generated insights, and translate them into action - not just those who get answers fast.

What Comes Next?

Deep Research is one of the clearest signals yet that white-collar automation is accelerating. Not with clunky robotic scripts - but with autonomous agents capable of mimicking how junior professionals approach problems.

And OpenAI isn’t alone. Competitors like Anthropic and Perplexity are moving quickly in this space. Soon, AI agents won’t just answer your questions—they’ll proactively suggest what you should be asking.

This raises important questions:

• How do we ensure quality and bias control in AI-driven research?

• Who owns the output of AI research?

• How do companies differentiate in a world where anyone can access intelligent research assistants?

Final Thoughts: From Research to Action

AI-powered agents like Deep Research aren’t here to replace thinking - but they compress the distance between curiosity and clarity. For businesses, that means faster cycles of innovation, better-informed decisions, and leaner teams. For leaders, it means the time to experiment, adapt, and lead with AI is now.

What question would you ask your new AI research analyst? Let’s discuss.

Until next time,
Stay curious and keep exploring the future of AI.

Fabio Lopes
XcessAI

Partner Spotlight

Click on our sponsor of the week and support XcessAI!

Before you leave: if you enjoy this newsletter and want to support us, please click on our sponsor link below. It costs nothing and helps us!

Learn AI in 5 minutes a day

This is the easiest way for a busy person wanting to learn AI in as little time as possible:

1. Sign up for The Rundown AI newsletter

2. They send you 5-minute email updates on the latest AI news and how to use it

3. You learn how to become 2x more productive by leveraging AI

Sign up to start learning.

P.S.: Sharing is caring - pass this knowledge on to a friend or colleague. Let’s build a community of AI aficionados at www.xcessai.com.

Don’t forget to check out our news section on the website, where you can stay up-to-date with the latest AI developments from selected reputable sources!

Read our previous episodes online!