The original Deep Research agent, which debuted earlier this year, was one of OpenAI’s most powerful AI tools. It could crawl the web, pull info from hundreds of sources, and compile detailed research briefs with citations. Until recently, though, it was only available to Pro and Enterprise users. Now, a lighter version is being offered to everyone using ChatGPT, even if they’re on the free plan.

OpenAI is now bringing its Deep Research feature to everyone, including free ChatGPT users, by rolling out a new lightweight version powered by the o4-mini model. This version isn’t just a stripped-down demo. It’s a smart, scaled-back research agent that still delivers rich, sourced responses but now reaches a much wider audience.

What’s different about the o4-mini powered version?

The new version trades a little depth for more speed and reach. It uses OpenAI’s o4-mini model instead of the more compute-heavy o3 model. That makes it cheaper to run and lets OpenAI hand out more research queries to more users. The trade-off? Responses are a bit shorter, but they still include citations and real-time web browsing.

Even though it’s called a “lightweight” model, it’s not short on capability. The AI still performs multi-step reasoning, understands context, and digs up relevant info from the open web. The main difference is that it wraps things up quicker, using fewer words.

Why this matters

OpenAI’s Deep Research tool is more like an AI research analyst that can help users with complex decision-making tasks, whether you’re comparing grad schools, evaluating business opportunities, or planning a move. And now that the tool is no longer locked behind a paywall, even casual users can experience a taste of agent-level AI work..

As the rollout continues, OpenAI says Enterprise and education users will soon get access at the Team tier level. The tool is already live on ChatGPT’s web version and will soon land on the mobile apps as well.

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