Google Deep Research: What is it, how is it different from other AI tools?

What is Google Deep Research?

Google, in its blog post, said that Deep Research uses AI to explore complex topics on a user’s behalf and comes up with answers in an easy-to-read manner. According to Google, the tool is a first look at how Gemini is getting better at tackling complex tasks to save users’ time.

Deep Research can be a user’s personal AI research assistant. “Under your supervision, Deep Research does the hard work for you. After you enter your question, it creates a multi-step research plan for you to either revise or approve. Once you approve, it begins deeply analysing relevant information from across the web on your behalf,” reads the post on Google’s blog.

How does it work?

Deep Research can be best described as a research team that can analyse over 50 websites, compile findings, and create easy-to-read reports with citations—all at once. While ChatGPT straight away does the research and presents the results, Google Deep Research shows the user a research plan allowing them to edit it to get the desired results.

Gemini Advanced users can head to the top left-hand side, click on the drop-down menu, and select 1.5 Pro with Deep Research. When a user inputs a research query, the tool will build a step-by-step research plan. It will also allow you to edit the plan if needed. The tool conducts research by scouring multiple websites at the same time. The progress of the output can be tracked by the purple indicator.

It creates a report complete with citations, and this can be later exported to Google Docs, where you can also interact with the report. The output generated can potentially be equivalent to a report that consulting firms make by spending days and hours.

How to make the best of it?

In order to make the best of the Deep Research tool, users are advised to keep their prompts simple and clear. They should be specific about the expected outcomes, they should double-check sources if needed, and they should use the edit plan feature to customise the research parameters. Keeping pre-made templates can come in handy for the research work using this tool.

The tool takes a user’s questions and assesses its subcomponents, searches the web in real time, offers citations, and creates reports. Users can also leverage access across their Gmail, Drive, Docs, and YouTube to get more personalised insights. Based on its broad use cases and features, Deep Research can be the ideal tool for small companies looking for market research and competitor analysis.

As of now, it is free for the first month. However, it may be priced at $20 a month when it is combined with Gemini Advanced. Google also has plans to make Deep Research available in the mobile app in early 2025.