ChatGPT vs. Perplexity: Sam Altman Praises Aravind Srinivas’ Deep Research AI, Says ‘Proud of You’
The conversation between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas recently sparked attention after OpenAI introduced its new Deep Research feature for ChatGPT. Altman praised Srinivas for developing a competing Deep Research tool, built on China’s DeepSeek AI, noting its speed and cost advantages over OpenAI’s version.
The Exchange: From ChatGPT’s Update to Perplexity’s Deep Research
The discussion began when Altman announced a ChatGPT update based on the GPT-4o model, calling it “pretty good” but promising further improvements. He posted on X:
“We put out an update to ChatGPT (4o). It is pretty good. It is soon going to get much better, team is cooking.”
🔗 Source
Srinivas responded with curiosity, asking, “Sorry, what’s the update?” Altman clarified, stating that among other things, ChatGPT now offers the best search product on the web.
Srinivas, excited about Perplexity’s own Deep Research launch, cheekily replied:
“Lol, I just mogged you yesterday. Check this out.” – linking to a post about Perplexity’s new tool.
Rather than reacting negatively, Altman referenced their Paris AI Summit conversation, where Srinivas had personally apologized for past “mean tweets.” Demonstrating good sportsmanship, Altman replied:
“Since you nicely apologized to me in person for all the mean tweets last week, I’m going to let this go 🙂 Keep cooking out there! Proud of you.”
ChatGPT’s Deep Research vs. Perplexity’s Deep Research
Perplexity’s Deep Research tool is designed to simulate human research by conducting multiple searches, reading through hundreds of sources, and compiling a comprehensive, shareable report. Users can also export reports as PDFs.
While ChatGPT’s Deep Research is focused on higher accuracy, Perplexity positions its tool as faster and more affordable, though slightly less precise. According to the Humanity’s Last Exam rankings, ChatGPT holds a lead in accuracy, but Perplexity claims to outperform competitors like Gemini Thinking, o3-Mini, Grok 2, and Claude 3.5 Sonnet.
Speed, Cost, and Query Limits
Srinivas argues that Perplexity’s Deep Research is “an order of magnitude faster and cheaper” than ChatGPT’s offering. Additionally, Perplexity provides 500 daily queries for paid users, compared to ChatGPT Pro’s 100 queries, with both platforms offering limited free queries.
While ChatGPT continues refining its Deep Research feature, Perplexity is making a strong case for speed and affordability, intensifying the competition in AI-powered research tools.
Who do you think is leading in AI-driven research?
