Openai has announced a new “light” version of its Chatgpt Deep Research, which is now available for Chatgpt Plus, Team and Pro users. From today, free Cat Users can also use this update.
The light-in-depth search tool works on a version of the O4-Mini of Openai model. OPENAI says that it is not as capable as the full version, but it is cheaper to manage, which means that the company can increase the limits of use for everyone.
The light tool is made to give concise research reports by scanning the web and compiling information on a requested subject. OPENAI says that the responses of this new tool will generally be shorter but will keep the depth and quality that users expect.
If a user reaches the limit of the original depth search tool, Chatgpt will automatically go to the light version for other requests, such as reported by Techcrunch.
Openai shared use limits for each plan. Free users can use the light tool up to five times a month. In addition, team users get 10 full deep research tasks and 15 light tasks each month.
Professional users obtain up to 250 tasks per month, divided uniformly between the two versions. Users of the company and education will obtain the light tool next week, with the same limits as the users of the team.
Disclosure: Ziff Davis, the mother company of ExtremeTech, filed a complaint against Openai in April 2025, alleging that it violated Ziff Davis Copyrights in the training and exploitation of its AI systems.