A powerful new AI tool, Deep Research, is now available to all free ChatGPT accounts. When you activate the Deep Research button in the chat window, it turns ChatGPT into a virtual research assistant that will create informative, detailed short papers on virtually any topic you provide.

Here is what Deep Research created when we asked it about the effect of Ohio’s recent House Bill 5 on adoption procedures: [Download PDF]

Deep Research answers are very different from standard answers because ChatGPT expands its existing knowledge by performing web searches and reviewing the results. After it gathers relevant information, it produces a mini-research paper, including citations!

Does It Still Lie?

The elephant in the room when lawyers meet AI tools like ChatGPT is hallucinations. Hallucinations refer to the occasional happenstance where Chat just says things it thinks are appropriate, even though they are patently untrue.

The short answer is yes, hallucinations still happen with Deep Research. However, it does not happen nearly as often. When it does, it’s typically due to conflicting information found on the web.

Based on our experience, we found the vast majority of information provided through Deep Research to be accurate and useful, but as always, we urge users to verify any information before relying on it.

How to Use Deep Research Effectively

Initiate Your Research

• Open ChatGPT and enter your research topic into the chat.
• Select the Deep Research button under the chat window.
• Click the up arrow or hit Return

Clarify Your Intent

• Deep Research will ask you some clarifying questions. Provide specific, detailed answers to guide the tool. This significantly improves the accuracy and usefulness of your resulting paper.

Wait for Results

• Unlike standard ChatGPT responses, which draw from pre-existing training data, Deep Research actively searches the internet to gather fresh, up-to-date information. Expect your results to take between 5 to 15 minutes.
• There’s no need to keep the chat open; you can switch tasks, close your browser, or even shut down your computer. Your completed research will await you upon your return.

Tips

Be Specific

• Deep Research excels at single-subject, clearly defined queries. For example, asking “How does Ohio’s House Bill 5 affect the forms required for legal adoption in Ohio?” will yield better results than the more general “How does Ohio’s House Bill 5 affect Ohio adoptions?”

Use for Current or Emerging Topics

• Because Deep Research gathers real-time information from the web, it’s especially useful for timely, topical, or emerging issues where current data matters.

The Legal Perspective

The introduction of AI-driven tools like Deep Research drastically reduces the time and effort required to gather comprehensive, current information.

Many programmers now use AI tools to prototype software concepts before building them. The legal world can leverage Deep Research in a similar way to get a brief overview of a law or procedure before pursuing a more in-depth understanding. This democratizes access to sophisticated research, enabling smaller firms and solo practitioners to compete effectively by providing high-quality legal services without the resources typically associated with extensive manual research.

Bonus Tip – Roll Your Own Podcast

We’re big fans of Google’s NotebookLM here at Puritas Springs. It is a versatile tool capable of creating concise summaries and podcasts from any document and text that you upload. At the risk od sounding cliche, combining NotebookLM with Deep Research to create an audio review of any subject is a real game changer.

Here’s how to create a customized podcast on any subject in about 15 minutes:

1. Use ChatGPT’s Deep Research to generate a detailed paper on your chosen topic.
2. Copy the content of your completed Deep Research paper.
3. Copy the text into the Add Source tool in NotebookLM.
4. Click on Create Audio Overview. NotebookLM will convert it into a podcast in about 2 minutes.

If you’re an auditory learner or constantly on the go, being able to create specific audio content based on thorough research can be a real game-changer.

Here is the podcast NotebookLM created from the HB5 Research Paper we had Chat make for us: [LINK]