DeepSeek-R1 Has the Killer Feature I Was Missing: Search With Reasoning

Sure, DeepSeek-R1 is free (for now), and ChatGPT’s o1 costs $20/month. But I’m choosing DeepSeek-R1 because ChatGPT’s reasoning model isn’t hooked up to search, and DeepSeek-R1 is!

DeepSeek-R1 has certainly made a splash, but have you tried its search feature? Photo credit: Paris Bilal for Unsplash+; used with permission (Unsplash+ license).

I find myself not using large language models (LLMs) mostly for quick brainstorming and rapidly comparing options or ideas.

For that reason, I prefer to use “reasoning” LLMs with a separate chain-of-thought process (like ChatGPT’s o1 or DeepSeek-R1).

As a PC gamer, I didn’t have a strong opinion recently when my wife was comparing the XBox Series X digital edition with the PS5 Pro.

Unfortunately, without search, LLMs are going to be pretty much useless for this problem — they’ll deny that a PS5 Pro even exists.

“The PS5 Pro has not been officially announced by Sony as of late 2023.”
— “Should I buy a PS5 Pro or Xbox Series X?” (DeepSeek-R1, without search)

That’s because LLMs use knowledge bases that are 6, 12, or more months out of date; they don’t know anything about current events.

Of course, ChatGPT did recently launch a search feature, but it’s not available with the…