OpenAI is giving free ChatGPT users limited access to its Deep Research tool without the need to pay for it. In addition, the company has expanded the tool's limits for all users by rolling out a lightweight version of it powered by its o4-mini model. It says the o4-mini Deep Research feature produces slightly shorter responses, but is "nearly as smart, more cost-efficient and delivers similarly high-quality results" as the original version. OpenAI previously released the tool for use by paying Pro, Plus, Team, Edu and Enterprise subscribers. But even they have a limited number of Deep Research queries per month.

On Wednesday, at the 2017 Google I/O developer conference in Mountain View, CA, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that the company is rethinking all of its products with a renewed focus on machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). One recent example of the company's use of machine learning is in Google Home, the company's smart speaker powered by Google Assistant, which uses deep learning to allow multiple users to share a single Google Home unit. Pichai also announced that the machine learning-driven Smart Reply feature is coming to Gmail on iOS and Android as well. One of the big announcements at I/O was Google Lens, a set of vision-based computing capabilities that seeks to understand what a user is looking at with their smartphone's camera, and help them take action based on that information. For example, a user can take a picture of a flower, and Lens will tell the user the kind of flower it is, Pichai said.

With a better connected future in its sights, Google announced a Developers Preview of Android Things, a new platform for the Internet of Things (IoT). By handing the reins of the OS to developers, the company promises to put "the power of Google" at their fingertips -- while the developers put Android in exciting new devices for the connected life in return. SEE ALSO: Google's driverless cars will now have to prove themselves as a real business Android Things will give developers a comprehensive platform to design and develop new IoT devices using the popular OS as a starting point. As the Developers page says: "if you can build an app, you can build a device." Imagine the Google Home as an enticing gateway for developers here: With that device as a home base and the open Android Things platform to build new products, Google is providing a strong foundation for the new IoT-connected household.