Anything Your Deep Research Can Do, Mine Can Do Better
The AI Research Wars Have Begun—But Should Marketers Even Care?
A few months ago, Google launched "Deep Research." OpenAI followed suit. Then Perplexity entered the fray. And now, xAI’s Grok 3 has rolled out "DeepSearch." These companies are in an arms race to build the ultimate AI-powered research assistant. But while they battle for dominance, marketers and business leaders are left asking the real question: Which one should I use?
The short answer? It doesn’t matter. Not in the way you think it does.
The AI Tools Are Converging
The reality is, all of these tools are starting to look and act the same.
Google’s Deep Research is locked behind the labyrinth of Gemini subscription tiers. OpenAI’s lowercase "deep research" (how's that for differentiation?) delivers in-depth reports but is tucked away inside a pricey Pro plan. Perplexity’s Deep Research runs free with daily limits and a Pro upgrade. And Grok’s DeepSearch? Available for Premium+ subscribers on X (formerly Twitter), built with Musk’s signature "bigger is better" ethos—backed by a 200,000-GPU supercomputer.
At a glance, they each offer something unique. But when you break it down, they all do the same fundamental thing: autonomously scan the web, synthesize findings, and produce research reports. The only real differences? Where they source information, how fast they work, and how much they cost.
The Details: A Quick Breakdown of Each Tool
To make sense of all this, here’s a quick rundown of what each AI research tool actually does:
- Google Deep Research (built into Gemini): Contextual insights from Google’s vast index, but locked behind a tangled mess of subscription tiers that prevent business and enterprise users from accessing it. Kind of mind-boggling.
- OpenAI’s deep research (inside ChatGPT): Uses GPT-4 Turbo and o3 models to autonomously conduct research with better accuracy than standard web browsing. Works great, but only if you’re willing to pay $200/month.
- Perplexity’s Deep Research: A free research assistant (with limits) that autonomously generates reports, but its stability is hit-or-miss. Some users, including me, have seen it crash mid-research.
- xAI’s Grok 3 with DeepSearch: The newest contender, available to Premium+ subscribers on X, Grok.com, and xAI’s mobile app, but I'm not in the X ecosystem—and fine with that for now.
My Pick – But You Do You
At the moment, my tool of choice is OpenAI’s deep research. Why? Not because it’s definitively "the best," but because it works for me.
Google’s mess of tiers and delayed rollouts kept me from even trying their tool. Perplexity crashes too often when I need it most. And Grok? No FOMO happening here.
And that’s okay. Because the right AI tool isn’t about hype—it’s about what fits your workflow.
The Copycat Game
What’s happening here isn’t a sign of rapid innovation—it’s a classic example of competitive mimicry. AI companies are operating in a predictable cycle:
- One company releases a feature.
- Another company tweaks it and rolls out their version.
- The cycle repeats.
We saw it with chatbots. We saw it with AI-generated images. Now, we’re seeing it with research tools. And yet, social media explodes every time a new model is announced, with endless hot takes on which one is "the winner."
The truth? Generative AI is commoditizing. The tools aren't diverging; they’re converging. The AI that wins won’t be the one with the most hyped-up release—it’ll be the one that integrates seamlessly into your workflow.
Stop Overthinking. Start Experimenting.
So, if you’re a marketer or business leader looking at this AI research arms race, here’s the best approach:
- Don’t get caught up in FOMO. The AI landscape shifts too fast for any single tool to hold the crown for long.
- Try them for yourself. The best AI isn’t the one with the flashiest demo or atop some leaderboard—it’s the one that delivers the most value to your business.
- Recognize that these tools will only get more alike. As AI capabilities become standardized, expect pricing, branding, and integrations to be the true differentiators.
At the end of the day, the AI research tool that matters is the one that works for you. The hype will fade. The tools will blur together. The real winners? The humans who put them to the best use.
