Will Agents Power the Next Generation of Search?
Perplexity Guide, OpenAI's Deep Research and more.
Google's global internet search market share has fallen below 90% for the first time since 2015. What’s changing? AI has changed. ChatGPT Search, Perplexity and a bevy of more advanced tools means an Ads backlash to Google search is very real in 2025.
Also there’s the reasoning models and their research agents and browser tools. Perplexity has its own assistant on Android, and has the capability to “see” what’s on your screen. Perplexity is trying everything from integrating crypto to trying to merge with the sale of TikTok U.S.
OpenAI’s new Deep Research, is a clone of Google’s own Deep Research product, yes they even have the same name! This tool is integrated into ChatGPT and utilizes advanced AI capabilities to perform in-depth analysis and synthesis of information from various online sources. Meanwhile, OpenAI and Perplexity are facing their fair share of lawsuits.
Deep Research is powered by the o3 Model
OpenAI’s Deep Research is available to ChatGPT Pro users, limited to 100 queries per month.
“Powered by a version of the upcoming OpenAI o3 model that’s optimized for web browsing and data analysis, it leverages reasoning to search, interpret, and analyze massive amounts of text, images, and PDFs on the internet, pivoting as needed in reaction to information it encounters.” - OpenAI blog
ChatGPT is officially the “Amazon Prime of consumer B2C AI”. Their bundling of features and products into their flagship product seems to be working. While Perplexity’s app and product is great, OpenAI is winning most (the large majority) of the spoils in terms of paid revenue growth. Anthropic is more defined for Enterprise AI, so in reality Google is their only real western competitor of that level of scale and product diversification.
I don’t have to tell you that this doesn’t bode tremendously well for the American AI leadership position when there is so little actual competition in the West. OpenAI’s Deep Research does exactly what you expect it can: (maybe still 🤯 for some folk).
Deep Research by OpenAI
Multi-Step Research: Deep Research can handle complex inquiries that require multiple steps, allowing users to ask detailed questions and receive thorough answers.
Dynamic Reasoning: The AI can reason dynamically, adapting its approach based on the information it finds, which enhances the accuracy and relevance of the results.
Citation and Reporting: The tool generates reports that not only summarize findings but also cite the sources, providing users with a reliable reference for their research.
Time Efficiency: Tasks that would typically take hours can be completed in as little as 5 to 30 minutes, significantly improving productivity for users engaged in intensive knowledge work
Give it a prompt and ChatGPT will find, analyze & synthesize hundreds of online sources to create a comprehensive report in tens of minutes vs what would take a human many hours.
The talented
has a guide on Deep Research you can view here.
Video: 20:15, Deep Research Demo by OpenAI via X
I don’t personally resonate with OpenAI’s approach to employee led tutorials or demos for a product launch, but worth a look:
So apparently tools like Deep Research are enough to convert some more folk to the $200 tier of ChatGPT’s Pro subscription.
OpenAI's new Deep Research for ChatGPT can be used for example, to create research papers, though Google Gemini 2.0 has a very similar feature. This means millions of students might have new ways to “cheat” using these reasoning agent research tools. It’s super bizarre considering the lack of ethical guidelines, however students (around the world) are one of OpenAI’s best customers for obvious reasons.
Deep Research will be rolled out first in the U.S., Switzerland, or the European Economic Area. OpenAI somehow tries to make the argument that research agents like Deep Research are a step towards AGI. The copywriting is pretty weak in their marketing. But what is a reasoning model good for if it can’t do a bit of online research for us? The free version of genspark is probably what I use the most personally, instead of Google. So obviously DeepSeek and ByteDance and Alibaba are capable of making Deep Research clones as well as OpenAI copying Google here. However, if the o3 model is the best, presumably OpenAI’s version will be of the highest quality, for now.
But it’s mostly just a way to upsell their most expensive subscription. For most people, Perplexity should be the better route to a valid Google alternative. Certainly reasoning models like DeepSeek and the equivalents at Google and OpenAI will spin out new kinds of search and research products.
The truth is vanilla Google search will never be the same given the diversification and splintering of search and research tools that Generative AI will usher in and more attacks on its Search Advertising monopoly of over 90% are likely.
Perplexity is the most promising search & research AI startups we’ve seen in years. The amount of value it’s giving white collar professionals is only going to increase.
Perplexity AI is an innovative conversational search engine that leverages large language models (LLMs) to provide accurate and real-time answers to user queries. Unlike traditional search engines, Perplexity AI not only retrieves information but also synthesizes it, offering summarized responses that are easy to understand with citations.
Utility in Generative AI? 🛠️
Let’s Dive Deeper into Perplexity
We’ve written quite a lot about Perplexity already:
I asked
(Nick Potkalitsky) for a more advanced guide in how he uses Perplexity, since his expertise in education shines bright with how professionals and students are really using these tools. I like the way Nick thinks about AI and his deep philosophical approach to it, so I keep inviting him to write guest posts with us. His guides are among my favorites:
Articles from Educating AI
DeepSeek: How China's AI Breakthrough Could Revolutionize Educational Technology
Gen-AI x Gen-Z/Alpha
The Manifesto Moment: Examining Education's Response to AI
Read Educating AI Newsletter 🎓
How to Use Perplexity in your daily workflow
Our Perplexity guide with
did also go viral for that time period:
Today we get to read Nick’s next guide on Perplexity use, I often do share these deep dives with all free readers at a later date (usually on a Friday or Saturday).
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