OpenAI Launches Its Next Agent Named 'Deep Research'

On Sunday, OpenAI launched Deep Research in ChatGPT, a new agentic capability that conducts multi-step research on the Internet for complex tasks. After a prompt, OpenAI's next agent finds, analyzes, and synthesizes hundreds of online sources to create a comprehensive report at the level of a research analyst. The user can attach files or spreadsheets to add context to his question. Once it starts running, a sidebar appears with a summary of the steps taken and sources used. It's powered by a version of the upcoming OpenAI o3 model optimized for web browsing and data analysis. It leverages reasoning to search, interpret, and analyze massive amounts of online text, images, and PDFs. "The ability to synthesize knowledge is a prerequisite for creating new knowledge. For this reason, deep research marks a significant step toward our broader goal of developing AGI, which we have long envisioned as capable of producing novel scientific research," said the company. Deep Research has been built for people who do intensive knowledge work in areas like finance, science, policy, and engineering and need thorough, precise, and reliable research. It can be equally helpful for discerning shoppers looking for hyper-personalized recommendations on purchases that require careful research, like cars, appliances, and furniture. Every output is fully documented, with precise citations and a summary of its thinking, making it easy to reference and verify the information. It is particularly effective at finding niche, non-intuitive information that would require browsing numerous websites. Deep research may take 5 to 30 minutes to complete, taking the time needed to dive deep into the web. "Deep Research’s ability to conduct extensive exploration and cite each claim is the difference between a quick summary and a well-documented, verified answer usable as a work product," said OpenAI. OpenAI said it’s making deep research available to ChatGPT Pro users today, limited to 100 queries per month, with support for Plus and Team users coming next, followed by Enterprise. Google announced a similar AI feature with the same name less than two months ago.

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Meta Will Spend $65 Billion on Data Centers, Hiring Up, and Building an AI Engineer

Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced it would spend $65 billion this year to expand its AI data center infrastructure, ramp up hiring, and bolster its position against OpenAI and Google to dominate the technology. The company also plans to build an AI engineer that will start writing its code. Meta is deploying one gigawatt of computing power online and building a $10 billion, four million-square-foot data center in Louisiana, the latest of its 27 data centers worldwide. The company expects to end the year with more than 1.3 million graphic processing units, commonly known as GPUs. "This will be a defining year for AI," Zuckerberg [in the picture above] said in a Facebook post. Meta's announcement comes just days after President Trump announced that OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle would form a venture called Stargate and invest $500 billion in AI infrastructure across the U.S. Also, last week, President Trump signed an executive order aiming “to sustain and enhance America’s dominance in AI to promote human flourishing, economic competitiveness, and national security.” Earlier this month, Microsoft said it was planning to invest about $80 billion in 2025 to develop data centers, while Amazon.com has said its 2025 spending will go beyond $75 billion in 2024. Elon Musk said he built a data center in just a few months in Memphis, Tenn., increasing its computing capacity to one million GPUs. Meta has emerged as a significant player in the AI race with its AI assistant — with 600 million monthly active users — the Ray-Ban smart glasses, and its open-source approach based on Llama AI models. 13 examples that will blow your mind (Don't miss the 5th one): pic.twitter.com/U5yElFgXaM — Poonam Soni (@CodeByPoonam) January 25, 2025 Operator from OpenAI can basically straight up use cloud software to do anything. Here it’s using Box to build out an entire file and folder structure then adding research into each doc. Imagine waking up to work being done for you by AI Agents. pic.twitter.com/94AAxIKYyv — Aaron Levie (@levie) January 24, 2025 Using Operator to do sales!! pic.twitter.com/p1cmkZME4p — Helena Zhang (@helenaeverley) January 24, 2025 AI Agents have unlimited attention span and you can run them in parallel. Here's an example of using Operator to watch a live video feed and noting every time it sees a black vehicle in the stream. The generalizability means you can bring automation to anything. pic.twitter.com/W0dxvKsRAx — Aaron Levie (@levie) January 27, 2025

AI Will Generate Better Student Learning Outcomes as Teaching Models Change, Says AAC&U

A national survey of 338 university presidents and other senior leaders about generative AI conducted by AAC&U and Elon University finds that these tools will enhance and customize learning and create better student learning outcomes as teaching models change. In addition, most university presidents and senior leaders think the tools will improve students' research skills, creativity, and writing ability. The survey, conducted Nov. 4-Dec. 7, 2024, covered the current situation on their campuses, their struggles, the changes they anticipate, and the sweeping impacts they foresee. The results covered in a new report, Leading Through Disruption (PDF), were released at the annual AAC&U meeting, held January 22–24 in Washington, DC. [Picture above: opening of the conference]. The main finding points out that the spread of AI tools in education has disrupted key aspects of teaching and learning on the nation’s campuses and will likely lead to significant changes in classwork, student assignments, and even the role of colleges and universities in the country. Other outcomes indicate: High student adoption of GenAI, lower faculty uptake: at least half of students use the tools while fewer than half of faculty use them The most common uses by academic leaders are for writing and communications, information gathering and summarization, idea generation, and data analysis. Unpreparedness: Majorities of these college and university leaders believe their institutions are unprepared to use GenAI. Cheating has increased on campuses since GenAI tools have become widely available, but detection doesn't work correctly. Most leaders say that spreading GenAI tools will affect students' academic integrity. Decreased attention spans: 66% think GenAI will diminish student attention spans, including 24% who think the tools will significantly impact this. The challenges often for avoiding adoption include faculty unfamiliarity with or resistance to GenAI, distrust of GenAI tools and their outputs, and concerns about diminished student learning outcomes. “The overall takeaway from these leaders is that they are working to make sense of the changes they confront and looking over the horizon at a new AI-infused world they think will be better for almost everyone in higher education,” said Lee Rainie, director of Elon University’s Imagining the Digital Future Center. C. Edward Watson, vice president for digital innovation at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), said, "The fact that 44% of institutions have already created AI-specific courses shows both the urgency and opportunity before us. The challenge now is turning today's disruption into tomorrow's innovation in teaching and learning.” A persistent concern on campus relates to jobs. These college and university leaders say some reductions in employment levels could occur. Still, it will mostly be minor: 29% say they expect reductions in the number of staff at their schools (only 3% say it will be primary). In comparison, 11% expect reductions in faculty and teaching assistants (only 1% say it will be significant).

Hugging Face Researchers Launch a Community Project to Fully Open-Source DeepSeek's R1

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OpenAI Issued Its First AI Agent, Which Takes Control of Web Browsers and Performs Actions

OpenAI yesterday introduced a research preview of its general-purpose AI agent, an operator that can take control of a web browser and independently perform some actions. It costs $200 per month on a pro subscription plan for paid users in the U.S. This move is OpenAI's first attempt in the upcoming agentic economy, with tools that automate and take actions on behalf of humans. "The Powering Operator is a Computer-Using Agent (CUA), a model that combines GPT-4o's vision capabilities with advanced reasoning through reinforcement learning. CUA is trained to interact with graphical user interfaces (GUIs)—the buttons, menus, and text fields people see on a screen—just as humans do. This gives it the flexibility to perform digital tasks without using OS- or web-specific APIs," the San Francisco–based research lab explained. Operator combines advanced GUI perception with structured problem-solving. It breaks tasks into multi-step plans and adaptively self-corrects. The model seeks user confirmation to enter login details or respond to CAPTCHA forms. In other words, Operator can use buttons, navigate menus, and fill out forms on a web page much like a human would. OpenAI says it’s collaborating with companies like DoorDash, eBay, Instacart, Priceline, StubHub, and Uber to ensure that Operator respects these businesses’ terms of service agreements. These are some of the prompts that OpenAI provided to illustrate the reach of Operator. • "Search Britannica for a detailed map view of bear habitats. Now please check out the black, brown and polar bear links and provide a concise general overview of their physical characteristics, specifically their differences. Oh and save the links for me so I can access them quickly." • "I want one of those target deals. Can you check if they have a deal on poppi prebiotic sodas? If they do, I want the watermelon flavor in the 12fl oz can. Get me the type of deal that comes with this and check if it's gluten free." • "I am planning to shift to Seattle and I want you to search Redfin for a townhouse with at least 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and an energy-efficient design (e.g., solar panels or LEED-certified). My budget is between $600,000 – $800,000 and it should ideally be close to 1500 sq ft." Last week, OpenAI released Tasks, giving ChatGPT simple automation features such as setting reminders and scheduling prompts to run at a set time every day. "The next challenge space we plan to explore is expanding the action space of agents," said OpenAI. OpenAI has been slow to develop an AI agent compared to rivals like Google or Anthropic.   Have been playing with OpenAI's "Operator" agent all weekend. Some early thoughts: 1) The fact that it's already hosted and you can just start using it means it'll be more widely used than Claude's "Computer Use" feature. 2) Operator will be able to make websites that haven't… — dharmesh (@dharmesh) January 25, 2025

Elon Musk Cast Doubt on Stargate's Initiative to Create $100 Billion in AI Infrastructure

Elon Musk cast doubt on President Trump's first significant tech investment announcement when he announced a joint venture between OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle to create at least $100 billion in computing infrastructure to power artificial intelligence. Mr. Musk said that the venture, dubbed Stargate, did not have the financing to achieve the promised investment levels. "They don’t have the money," Mr. Musk wrote in reply to an OpenAI post on the announcement. "SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority." President Trump claimed that those companies decided to spend up to $500 billion building data centers, making the United States a global leader in the technology, beating out China. Stargate already has $100 billion in hand, as SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle, and MGX, an investment group in the United Arab Emirates that focuses on AI, provided the financing. Elon Musk has been battling with OpenAI’s chief executive, Sam Altman. Mr. Musk, who helped found the company, has sued OpenAI and Mr. Altman for antitrust violations. Mr. Altman took to X Wednesday morning to refute Mr. Musk’s assertions.

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Sunday, November 23, 2025

Education technology today is marked by rising AI adoption among educators and innovative personalized learning approaches.

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Today in AI & EdTech

Sunday, November 23, 2025

AI is transforming the education technology landscape as more teachers adopt intelligent tools, driving forward and adaptive learning experiences.

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