On Monday, OpenAI, a US tech leader, unveiled a new ChatGPT feature named “deep research” during an important high-level meeting in Tokyo, prompted by the growing competition posed by China’s DeepSeek chatbot in the AI field.
DeepSeek, a rising star in artificial intelligence from China, has caused a stir in Silicon Valley due to its high performance and cost-effectiveness, pushing U.S. developers to accelerate their efforts. In contrast, OpenAI has been a prominent name since ChatGPT brought generative AI into the limelight in 2022. OpenAI’s recently unveiled “deep research” tool aims to execute comprehensive online research tasks in mere minutes—tasks that would generally require a human several hours to finish.
“Deep research acts as an autonomous agent that can independently perform tasks,” OpenAI explained in a statement. “Users can prompt ChatGPT, which will then gather, analyze, and synthesize information from hundreds of online sources to produce detailed reports akin to those created by a research analyst.”
During a live-streamed presentation, OpenAI researchers demonstrated how the “deep research” tool could aggregate and synthesize web data to recommend ski equipment for a vacation in Japan, showcasing its practical applications.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is in Tokyo for discussions with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son. These meetings are part of the Stargate initiative, which President Donald Trump announced will inject up to $500 billion into the U.S. AI infrastructure.
Further plans include a forum with Altman and Son, hosting approximately 500 businesses in Tokyo. As the Nikkei Business Daily notes, the forum will announce strategies for boosting Japan’s AI capabilities, such as building AI data centres and the power plants required to support them.
Altman also expressed interest in developing “a new kind of hardware” that leverages AI in collaboration with Apple’s former chief design officer, Jony Ive. However, he suggested that producing a prototype might take years.
Altman acknowledged DeepSeek’s capabilities amid these developments, noting it as a significant competitor. However, he remarked that while DeepSeek is impressive, it does not introduce a new level of capability. This acknowledgement comes as OpenAI recently indicated concerns over Chinese firms attempting to replicate its advanced AI technologies, which has led to intensified cooperation with U.S. regulatory bodies.
