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Im not sure who first compared ChatGPT to Cliff Clavin, the garrulous mailman/barfly from TVs Cheers. Its so an apt comparison that many people probably came up with it independently. Cliff did know a lot of stuffafter all, he was a Jeopardy almost-winner. Yet he was also a blowhard who didnt seem to realize when he was speaking outside the bounds of his expertise. If you were paying attention, you knew that his seeming level of confidence was unrelated to the value of what he had to say. Even as AI companies have managed to reduce their chatbots’ tendency to hallucinate, a certain degree of Clavin-ism has remained endemic to the category. But Ive been playing with a new ChatGPT feature called deep research, which OpenAI announced last week. Instead of just being glib and eager to please, it weaves together facts and analysis into results with real substance. Its not perfect, but it ranks with Googles NotebookLM among the most impressive AI research tools Ive tried. I dont believe Ive encountered a single hallucination in the tens of thousands of words its generated in response to my queries thus far. At the moment, taking advantage of deep research requires deep pockets: The feature is debuting as part of ChatGPT Pro, which costs $200 a month. (I treated myself to a one-off upgrade for February to try it outfingers crossed that Fast Company reimburses me.) If further testing goes as expected, OpenAI says, it will come to the $20/month ChatGPT Plus in a month or so. Once it does, I expect to use it frequently. OpenAIs blog post about deep research offers background on how it works, accompanied by charts showing its performance in various AI benchmarks. In use, what it feels like is a new kind of chatbot that actually does its homework. Far less dependent on a hermetically sealed LLM than most, it comes up with answers to questions in something closer to the way a human research assistant would, by consulting sources around the web in real time and synthesizing them into a cohesive whole. Its a much more fleshed out, immediately useful example of agentic AI than Operator, another recently introduced ChatGPT feature thats able to trawl the web on its users behalf. By human standards, deep research does its work swiftly, but its hardly instantaneous: OpenAI says to expect the process to take 5 to 30 minutes per query. As it chugs away, it usually displays a running list of notes. For example, following a request I made involving fast-food history, it noted Searched for McDonald’s number of locations in the 1960s. Once in a while, these snippets are mystifying non sequiturs: At one point, it told me If necessary, I will escalate to HR for guidance. Overall however, they make the feat of generating AI text feel less like a magic trick and more like a computational process we mere mortals might comprehenda welcome change from AIs often opaque nature. I threw a bunch of projects at deep research, such as writing a competitive analysis of the market for image editing software, explaining how mechanical watches work, comparing instant-photography technologies from Polaroid and Kodak, and chronicling attempts to suppress free speech in the U.S. from 1900 to 1950. In every instance, it came back with detailed responses full of well-chosen facts and crisp analysis, on a different plane of readability and quality than standard AI bot fare. It also provided Wikipedia-like citations for its work, a boon for full disclosure and an aid to further reading on a subject. Impressive though deep research is, certain types of requests revealed its weak spots. As with most generative AI bots, it has a relentlessly positive attitude that gets in the way of anything requiring critical appraisal: I tried to get it to be more blunt by asking about the most forgettable pop culture pap imaginable, and it always insisted everything was a cult favorite. And while OpenAI touts the feature as being able to provide hyper-personalized recommendations on purchases that typically require careful research, the more I knew about a product area, the less impressed I was by its advice. Its suggestions of cameras for street photography, for example, were muddled by some prices that were way, way off. And when I asked it about tablets capable of replacing a laptop, it waxed enthusiastic about the 2022 iPad Prosapparently unaware that Apple replaced them last year. ChatGPTs deep research feature really does go deeper than the average chatbotand it cites its sources clearly. Thanks to the features running notes and citations, some of its other current limitations are obvious. For instance, it often tried to read sources that might have been valuablesuch as Consumer Reportsand gave up because they were paywalled. It also doesnt seem to perform what I would consider truly dazzling feats of online derring-do, such as fishing material out of obscure PDFs salted away in the Internet Archives many nooks and crannies. OpenAIs blog-post announcement mentions expansion plans that encompass specialized data sources and subscription-based . . . resources, implying that deep research could get meaningfully better without reqiring foundational advances in its AI. Oh, and one other thing: It kept asking me if Id like its answers to include charts and diagrams. I always said yes, but it never provided any. It would be nice if it eventually got this option it mistakenly believes it already has. In 1984, the famously demanding technologist and visionary Alan Kay deemed the original Macintosh to be the first personal computer good enough to be worth criticizing. Even with its current rough edges, deep research might be the first general-purpose AI-enhanced research tool to clear that barboth a breakthrough right now and, with any luck, a preview of even better things to come. Youve been reading Plugged In, Fast Companys weekly tech newsletter from me, global technology editor Harry McCracken. If a friend or colleague forwarded this edition to youor if youre reading it on FastCompany.comyou can check out previous issues and sign up to get it yourself every Wednesday morning. I love hearing from you: Ping me at hmccracken@fastcompany.com with your feedback and ideas for future newsletters. Im also on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads. More top tech stories from Fast Company OpenAI shouldnt accept Elon Musks $97 billion bid to buy itThe eye-popping bid is too cheap to be taken seriously. But with Musk near the Trump White House, what happens next is anyones guess. Read More What exactly is the point of the AI Action Summit?As representatives convene in Paris this week to discuss the future of AI, tech companies are moving beyond discussion and taking decisive action. Read More How Apple could work with DeepSeek to pull ahead in the AI raceDeepSeek made American tech giants seem vulnerable, but it could be a boon to Apple. Heres why. Read More This website combines Wikipedia and TikTok to fight doomscrollingWikiTok users can swipe through an endless stream of Wikipedia article stubs, discovering random facts and interesting information along the way. 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Welcome to Pressing Questions, Fast Companys work-life advice column. Every week, deputy editor Kathleen Davis, host of The New Way We Work podcast, will answer the biggest and most pressing workplace questions. Q: How can I get over decision paralysis?A: I feel this one. I think we all do. By most estimates, the average person makes around 35,000 decisions per day. Most of those are small choices like what to wear, what to have for lunch, what to post on social media. Hopefully you’re not paralyzed by those choices. But you also shouldnt discount them completely. If you spend too much time mulling over the less consequential parts of life, you can end up with decision fatigue. Decision fatigue leaves your brain too tired to make the choices that really matter. Its why some of the most successful people either automate or outsource those thousands of little choices (and why former President Obama always wore the same types of suits). After you cut down on the mental load of those thousands of small choices, you will hopefully have a bit more space to think about lifes big decisions: Should you leave your job? Should you get divorced? Should you have a child? Where should you go on vacation? Narrow your options That last example might not seem as high stakes, but it serves as a good example of one of the things that makes people feel stuck in decision-making: too many choices.When your options are unlimited, its easy to feel overwhelmed and want to give up. Here it might help to narrow it down by thinking about what time of year you are traveling, what type of trip you want, your budget, who is traveling with you, if you want to fly or drive, etc. Hone down those smaller choices and youll be left with far fewer options. Ask for impartial advice In the vacation example, you probably want to get the input of the other people you are travelling with. With other decisions that impact others in your life, like job change or moving, factoring in the needs and opinions of those impacted is certainly important. But, after you have that information, if the final choice is yours, you can still feel stuck. Thats when it might be good to ask someone who doesnt have a stake in the outcome.Trying to decide on the best all inclusive resort for a spring break trip? Post the question in your local parenting group. Trying to decide which couch would look best in your living room? Post the pictures side by side and let people vote. Trying to decide if you should change careers? Talk to a friend who knows you well. Ask yourself the right questions I love a good pro/con list, and its a staple of decision-making. The problem is it weighs everything equally. When deciding to move, for example, the pro of having a bigger yard isnt really comparable to the con of adding an hour to your commute or leaving your kids beloved school. That’s why asking yourself questions that probe a little deeper can help you arrive at a better decision. Try questions like: Does this take you closer to your goals? How do you think youll feel about this decision in five years? Is this something that you think you should do vs. something that you actually want to do? Check your gut (and your whole body) Another good piece of advice when it comes to decision-making? Pretend that youve made your choice and sit with it for a few hours or overnight (the classic sleep on it approach). If you imagine youve already told your boss that you quit and you feel lighter, its a pretty good indication of what you should do. When a decision is important, you can feel it physically. Leadership consultant Diana Chapman says the best decisions are accompanied by a whole-body ‘yes‘”: When youve made the best decision you feel it in your whole bodyhead, heart, and gut.Still cant decide? Heres some more advice: 3 simple ways to become less anxious and more decisive Try these neuroscience-backed tactics to train your brain to make better decisions Your ultimate decision-making guide to help you make better choices faster 5 ways to prevent decision fatigue from ruining your productivity
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After decades of fielding questions about travel points, loyalty programs, and rewards credit cards, youd think that Brian Kellythe founder of The Points Guywould tire of the subject. Instead, hes more energized than ever, a passion he channeled into his new book, How to Win at Travel. In 300-plus pages, Kelly delivers more than just strategies for maximizing credit cards and points. Hes created a travel bible of sorts, one that makes planning and logistics as rewarding as the trip itself. Brian Kelly [Photo: Brandon Launerts/courtesy Simon & Schuster] Its a book built for every kind of traveler, from those working towards their first bucket-list trip to people trying to stretch points for a family of five. Think of it as a choose-your-own-adventure book, Kelly says. Here, he tackles some of the peskiest travel dilemmas: what to do when your flight goes sideways, when to cash in your points, how to stay on the right side of locals, and more. In your book, you note that we’re in the “platinum age” of travel, a departure from what people considered the Golden Age of travel. What do you mean by that? People are wistful for aviation in the 1960s, a time when people dressed up to fly. They were served meals on china with silver cutleryweve all seen the pictures. But the truth is travel at that time was less convenient overall, and inaccessible except for the very rich. And everyone was smoking! Today, travel is safer, much less expensive, and we have tons of options. On top of that we have this points ecosystem, open to everyday people, that can unlock elite travel status. In your book, you write, “Loyalty is less about travel and more about personal finance and harnessing the power of your spending. Can you explain? Points and travel can be an entry point into better finances, by paying your cards every month, bringing up your credit score, and so on. Youre starting with a reward thats positive reinforcement for being smart about your financial health. What are three of your top tips for redeeming points and miles today? The first is to use technology to your advantage. The company Point.Me searches for flights based on your points across 33 loyalty programs on more than 150 airlines. [Brian Kelly is an investor in Point.Me.] Also, let the deals determine where you go. Even if youre not flexible on your dates, you dont have to travel where everyone else is going. In fact, its often better not to. Third, dont hoard your points. They become less valuable over time. When you rack up these huge balances, youre just losing money to inflation. When it comes to booking award travel with an airline, you know a lot of next-level tricks. Can you tell us about zone-based and distance-based airline rewards, and how you can use them to your advantage? These are the two types of rewards airlines use. For distance-based rewards, the math is pretty simple. The longer distance you fly, the more miles you pay, though distances are grouped together, so you can maximize these rewards when the price doesnt exactly correlate to the distance of the flight. Zone-based rewards often have something that I call sweet spots. Turkish Airlines, for example, includes Hawaii in the same zone as the Continental U.S. So even though its much farther to, say, fly New York to Honolulu, so you can often fly there for the same number of miles as you would traveling a much shorter distance, like New York to Boston. What are “awards holds,” and when do you use them? Awards tickets can come and go in an instant, and its frustrating when you miss a deal. Some airlines, like Air France, American, and Lufthansa, allow you to hold your ticket for a certain number of days. It costs anywhere from $0 to $35. This permits you to make your other travel reservations and get your life in order before you book. In the past, we’ve seen credit cards offer travelers big points bonuses, which help you along the path to free travel. Are there ways to anticipate great offerings? In general, the industry is moving toward more personalized offers. So dont ignore snail mail and promotional emails from credit card companies. Some might think it’s tedious to go through all that mail. I think of it as a treasure hunt. You also advise people to sign up for memberships to organizations that have travel benefits. What are some that people might not know about? AARP memberships, which start at $15 a year, offer great travel deals, and most people dont know that you dont need to be over 55 to join. I also love the American Bar Association, from $129 a year. Its also open to a wider range of professionslike paralegals, law students, policymakersthan you might think, and the membership means steep discounts on loads of luxury hotels. When it comes to booking travel, you dont love online travel agencies, like Expedia or Priceline, which are known as OTAs. Why not? How should travelers use them? OTAs revolutionized the travel industry 20 years ago, and I still use them to compare travel deals before I book. But when you book with an OTA, you are their customer. They own you. They dont even pass your email along to airlines or hotels. So when things go wrong, youve inflicted a world of pain on yourself because you cant go to the hotel or airline for help. Youve agreed to the OTAs terms, and often their customer service is lacking, if it exists at all. What are your top tips for what you call turning off the friction of travel? Book through the right travel channeldirectly or with a travel agent that has deep relationships with the hotels youre staying in and the destination youre visiting. Also make sure your contacts are up to date, so your airline or hotel can contact you easily if something goes wrong. If you fly with certain airlines often, read their contract of carriage. Having a basic understanding of your rights can o a long way when youre working with an agent in person or over the phone. What kinds of information can you find in the contract of carriage? Theres the flat tire rulea grace period if youre delayed or late for a flightand airlines will book you free of charge on the next available flight. Its also good to know which partner airlines are available to you, so you can search options from those airlines before speaking with a gate agent about rebooking. I always pull up specific flights and have all of the information ready before speaking with an agent. As of October of last year, the Department of Transportation also finally required airlines to automatically refund passengers if their flights are canceled. Theyre still not required to compensate you, though. European and Canadian airlines are. For that reason, its worth flying on a European or Canadian airline when flying from the U.S. When flying back into the U.S., our airlines are beholden to European rules so compensation is on the table. Any advice for avoiding long lines at the airport? Definitely get Global Entry. Many rewards credit cards offer it as a travel perk, and now kids under 18 can get it for free. Clear can also be worth it, but not always. It depends on the airports you frequent. And if your flight plans go sideways, consider calling the foreign-language customer service line while waiting to speak to a gate agent. Its the same service but often has a much shorter wait time.
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