Google may ship a "freemium" version of Gemini's paywalled Deep Research AI tool to all users — but with critical limitations

Like most AI-powered chatbots, Google Gemini ships with an advanced tool designed to provide users with in-depth and well-researched responses to complex questions.

As spotted by Android Authority, code strings in Gemini suggest Google's Deep Research tool is slated to ship for free users soon (via Android Central). The expected change was spotted in the Google app, version 16.8.31.

Google's Deep Research feature is exclusively limited to users subscribed to the company's $20 Advanced monthly plan. However, this arrangement might change soon, giving free users access to the paywalled feature.

However, while Android Authority suggests the tool will ship for free users soon, its usability might be stunted by several limitations.

Google has its own Deep Research AI

Deep Research is essentially an AI tool with advanced capabilities that can conduct a multi-step study across the public-facing Internet and solve complex tasks. Google claims that what the AI agent can accomplish in 10 minutes would ordinarily take several hours for a human.

This isn't the first time Google has shipped its paywalled AI luxuries to improve its free Gemini tier, either. The company has shipped features previously limited to Gemini Advanced users over the past few months, including a conversational "Gemini Live" mode.

So, Deep Research leverages AI to gather information on complex topics for comprehensive responses with longer response times, but ultimately saving time for users, similar to OpenAI's Deep Research feature, which shipped in February.

OpenAI, the ChatGPT maker, has touted its Deep Research tool as an equivalent to a personal research analyst. More recently, key players in the AI landscape, including Microsoft and OpenAI, are seemingly becoming more inclined toward these kinds of reasoning models that may not necessarily be quick to blurt out answers, but rather take a while longer to generate well-curated and thoroughly researched responses to the most complex questions.

OpenAI already shipped Deep Research to ChatGPT Plus subscribers. However, users will be limited to 10 Deep Research queries for $20/month, and the tool was previously limited to ChatGPT Pro users for $200/month.

Microsoft also recently announced that it would offer OpenAI's paywalled Voice and Think Deeper features to all Copilot users for free without usage caps. Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman touted OpenAI's Think Deeper feature as "truly magical," allowing Copilot free users to get in-depth advice and delve deeper into a complex topic.