Weekly AI Technology Overview: OpenAI ChatGPT Search, Deep Research, DeepSeek Advances, and Industry Insights

OpenAI announced that ChatGPT Search is now fully open to all users without requiring an account, positioning it as a direct competitor to traditional search engines like Google and Bing with faster, minute‑level information retrieval.

OpenAI also introduced Deep Research, an AI research assistant embedded in ChatGPT that automates complex online multi‑step research tasks, delivering comprehensive reports in minutes for professionals in finance, science, policy, and engineering.

NetEase Youdao announced a full embrace of DeepSeek‑R1, enhancing its AI learning assistant “Youdao Xiao P” with deeper reasoning capabilities and improved personalized problem‑solving, while related products such as Hi Echo and QAnything will also integrate DeepSeek’s inference abilities.

Figure, a Silicon Valley robotics startup, declared the termination of its partnership with OpenAI to focus on developing its own autonomous AI system for humanoid robots, promising a breakthrough demonstration within 30 days.

Researchers from Stanford and the University of Washington developed a low‑cost AI inference model called s1, training it for under $50 using the Alibaba Qwen model as a base, achieving performance comparable to OpenAI’s o1 and DeepSeek’s R1.

OpenAI is evaluating locations across multiple U.S. states for its “Stargate” data‑center project, viewing it as critical to maintaining America’s lead in the global AI race, with plans to announce additional sites in the coming months.

China’s market regulator launched an antitrust investigation into Google, coinciding with recent U.S. tariff measures, and the case is being viewed within the broader context of Sino‑U.S. trade tensions.

Analytics show that DeepSeek’s daily U.S. traffic at the end of January surpassed Google Gemini, and its global visits were three times higher than Gemini’s, highlighting its rapid user adoption.

Renowned AI scientist Steven Hoi (Xu Zhuhong) joined Alibaba as Vice President, leading AI‑to‑Consumer research on multimodal foundation models and agents.