AI research tools side by side: choosing and checking

What it is

Guide 08 explains deep research: a mode that searches many sources over several minutes and writes a report with links to them. This guide compares how six assistants offer it, plus one tool that works only from your own documents.

The modes differ in three practical ways: whether they show you a research plan before starting, which sources they can reach (the web, files you upload, your email or shared drives), and how much you can steer them while they work.

Think of choosing between researchers at an agency. All can write a report; what matters is which libraries each can enter, whether they share their plan first, and how easily you can check their notes.

Why it matters

• The right tool depends on where your information lives, not on which tool is "smartest".
• Some modes reach your work email and files: useful, and a data risk.
• A visible plan lets you correct the direction early.
• Every tool can misread or misquote a source, so the checking routine stays the same.

How to do it

1. Use only the research tools your organisation has approved.
2. Decide which sources the question needs: public web only, your own files, or both.
3. Pick a mode that reaches those sources (see the table).
4. Write a brief with question, scope, preferred sources and format (see guide 08).
5. Review any plan or clarifying questions, and correct them.
6. Check the key claims with the routine in the example below.
7. Decide yourself, and note which sources you relied on.

Example

The tools, as their makers describe them (as of November 2026; check the maker's page):

Gemini Notebook is Google's current name for NotebookLM. Use it when you need a grounded answer, one built only from documents you chose (see guide 37).

A checking routine for any report:

1. List the 3 to 5 claims my decision depends on.
2. For each, open the cited source. Does it say this,
   in these words, for this date and place?
3. Note the source type: official, independent,
   seller's own marketing, or anonymous.
4. Ask the tool: "Which claims rest on a single source?
   Which sources disagree?"
5. Mark anything I could not confirm as unconfirmed.

Common mistakes

• Choosing by reputation. Fix: choose by which sources the question needs.
• Leaving work sources switched on for a public question. Fix: switch off email and drive sources you do not need.
• Skipping the plan. Fix: when a plan appears, read it; one comment can save a wasted report.
• Treating "no answer found" as "no answer exists". Fix: some sources sit behind logins or paywalls the tool cannot read.

Try it this week

1. Pick a non-confidential question, such as "what are the rules for [topic] in [country]?" (2 minutes).
2. Find which of these tools your organisation has approved and which sources it can reach (3 minutes).
3. Run the question with a short brief, reviewing the plan if one appears (do something else while it works).
4. Apply the checking routine to three claims and note how many held up (10 minutes).

Going further

• ChatGPT reports include an activity history and can be downloaded as Markdown, Word or PDF.
• Gemini can turn a finished report into an audio overview or export it to Docs.
• Claude's Research mode can use connector tools without asking each time, so keep them read-only (see guide 40).
• Perplexity chooses its models for you in Research mode and says most tasks take under three minutes.
• Research modes use up your allowance faster than normal chat, or have their own limits; check your plan.

Key words

• Research mode: a setting that searches many sources and writes a report.
• Research plan: the steps a tool proposes before it starts, which you can sometimes edit.
• Source: where information comes from, such as a web page, file or email.
• Grounded answer: an answer built only from sources you provided, with references to them.
• Unconfirmed claim: a point you could not trace to a reliable source.

Sources

Examples and figures in this guide are illustrative. AI tools change often: check what your organisation's approved tools offer today. Use approved tools only, and a person checks and decides.

Prefer to print or share it? Download this guide as a PDF (285 KB), or the complete AI Field Guide (2.5 MB).