Per Reuters, the AI-powered search startup, backed by investors including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and SoftBank, is looking to scale its operations as demand for AI-driven search continues to grow.

The company, which provides real-time search results by scanning the internet, has quickly increased its market value. In mid-2024, Perplexity was valued at $3 billion, a figure that jumped to $9 billion by December. 

If the latest funding round materialises, the valuation will double again, placing Perplexity as one of the most valuable AI startups.

With the rise of AI-powered tools, Perplexity has been enhancing its platform to compete with Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The startup recently teased Comet, a web browser designed to handle complex queries, automate tasks, and make independent decisions. 

Its Deep Research feature further strengthens its offering by scanning multiple sources to generate comprehensive reports.

Competition in the AI search sector is increasing. OpenAI has integrated search into ChatGPT, while Google has rolled out AI Overviews within its search engine—though not without controversy due to factual errors. Anthropic, another AI company, has also introduced a search-enabled chatbot, increasing the pressure on Perplexity to differentiate itself.

Nonetheless, Perplexity has been warned by news organisations, including Forbes and Wired, for allegedly repurposing content without proper attribution. 

In response, the company introduced a revenue-sharing model, pledging to compensate publishers when their content is cited in AI-generated responses that generate ad revenue.

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This tool, available now to Pro users of ChatGPT, can perform multi-step research on a range of topics, commendably reducing the time it takes to gather and synthesise data from multiple online sources. 

The company states that deep research can complete tasks in minutes, which would typically take hours for a human to do.

This new feature leverages OpenAI’s upcoming o3 model, which is optimised for web browsing and data analysis. Users can prompt the system, and it will scour the internet for relevant text, images, and PDFs, compiling them into comprehensive reports. 

These reports are intended to be detailed and at the level of a research analyst’s work. According to OpenAI, deep research helps in finding hard-to-get information, making it particularly useful for professionals in fields like finance, science, policy, and engineering.

The tool is also intended to assist those who need thorough research for personal or consumer decisions, such as buying appliances or cars. All outputs are well-documented, with clear citations and summaries of the reasoning behind each conclusion, ensuring that users can verify the information.

While the tool has good prospects, OpenAI has acknowledged that it is still in the early stages of development and has limitations. 

For example, deep research may struggle with distinguishing between reliable information and unverified claims, and it occasionally struggles to convey uncertainty in its findings. 

Nonetheless, the tool could help in achieving OpenAI’s goal of developing Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).

Users can now access deep research via the web version of ChatGPT, with mobile and desktop apps to follow within the next month. For now, the feature is available to Pro users, with access to Plus and Team users expected soon. 

OpenAI plans to enhance the tool’s abilities and performance, hoping to make it faster and more cost-effective over time.

Deep research is the second major release from OpenAI this year, following the launch of its Operator tool in January, which handles tasks like making to-do lists or planning vacations. OpenAI has stated that it will continue enhancing deep research through further updates.

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