ChatGPT

Trial guide

AI-assisted guidance · Updated 2026-10-08 · Not a hands-on benchmark

For a research brief, evaluate ChatGPT on the traceability of its claims, not the fluency of its answer. Its search feature can return linked sources; the useful output is a short list of decisions supported by pages you can open and inspect.

Good fit

A first pass at a question with a defined audience and scope: for example, collecting the requirements for a small team’s next software purchase. Start with a question you can independently verify before trying a broad market report.

Poor fit

A final authority for facts that you cannot check. A polished paragraph or a citation alone does not establish that the source supports the claim. If you need a reproducible dataset, keep the original records outside the chat.

Steps

1. Choose one narrow research question and write three acceptance criteria before opening the chat. Specify the region and date if they affect the answer.
2. Use web search and ask for a claim-by-claim evidence table. Keep vendor statements separate from your own decision criteria.
3. Open each cited page. Record whether it supports the exact claim, whether its date is relevant, and which questions remain unanswered.
4. Turn only the supported findings into a brief. Keep a separate list of unknowns and the links you will revisit before acting.

Research [question] for [audience] as of [date]. Return five claims with a primary source link and the relevant date for each. Separate source facts from your inference. If a source does not answer a question, mark it unknown. Finish with the three checks I should perform myself.

Success criteria

A useful trial produces a brief whose important claims can each be traced to a supporting passage. Count unsupported claims and the minutes needed to verify them. Compare those costs with researching the same question directly; do not score answer length as productivity.

Limitations

Search and other features have plan limits. Confirm the current limits in your account before making a recurring workflow depend on them. This guide does not promise a particular free allowance or subscription price.

• OpenAI: searching the web with ChatGPT

Full evaluation workflow