OpenAI just rolled out a surprisingly practical update to ChatGPT's deep research feature - a full-screen document viewer that treats AI-generated reports like actual documents you'd want to read. The enhancement comes as the company continues refining its research assistant capabilities, adding navigation tools that suggest OpenAI's betting users want more than just chat bubbles for complex information.
OpenAI is making its deep research tool feel less like a chatbot and more like an actual research assistant. The company quietly pushed out an update that adds a dedicated full-screen viewer for the AI-generated reports that ChatGPT compiles when you ask it to dig deep on a topic.
The interface overhaul is straightforward but meaningful. When ChatGPT finishes churning through web sources to build a research report, you can now pop it open in a separate window that looks like you're reading an actual document. A table of contents sits on the left side, letting you jump between sections. Source citations stack up on the right, making it easier to trace where the AI pulled its information. The whole thing feels more like reading a research brief than scrolling through chat messages.
According to OpenAI's release notes, the update is rolling out now. A demo video the company posted shows the viewer in action, with users clicking through report sections while keeping the source panel visible. It's a small change that addresses a real usability problem - nobody wants to read a 5,000-word research document formatted like a chat thread.
Deep research launched last year as one of ChatGPT's more ambitious features. Unlike the standard back-and-forth chat, it sends the AI on an extended web crawl to compile comprehensive reports on whatever topic you throw at it. The tool will spend several minutes browsing sources, synthesizing information, and organizing findings into structured documents. It's been available to ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers, positioning itself as an alternative to hours of manual research.
