OpenAI introduced a new ChatGPT feature called “deep research” on Monday, coinciding with high-level discussions in Tokyo, while China’s DeepSeek chatbot intensifies the competition in artificial intelligence.
DeepSeek’s entry into the AI landscape has created a stir in Silicon Valley, with its purported cost-effectiveness and efficiency prompting American developers to accelerate their efforts.
OpenAI, which brought generative AI to public attention in 2022 through ChatGPT, announced that their latest tool “accomplishes in tens of minutes what would take a human many hours”.
The company elaborated, “Deep research is OpenAI’s next agent that can do work for you independently — you give it a prompt, and ChatGPT will find, analyze, and synthesize hundreds of online sources to create a comprehensive report at the level of a research analyst.”
During a live-streamed demonstration, OpenAI researchers displayed the tool’s capability to process web search data to recommend ski equipment suitable for a Japanese snow holiday.
OpenAI’s Sam Altman is scheduled to meet Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in Tokyo on Monday, alongside SoftBank Group’s chief Masayoshi Son.
OpenAI and SoftBank are participants in the Stargate initiative, announced by US President Donald Trump, which aims to invest up to $500 billion in AI infrastructure across the United States.
Son’s presence at Trump’s inauguration preceded the announcement that SoftBank would spearhead the US AI infrastructure development project, collaborating with cloud computing leader Oracle.
Ishiba is scheduled to travel to Washington for his first face-to-face meeting with Trump later this week.