You.com Unveils ARI: The AI Research Agent that Creates Professional Reports in Minutes

Search engine and AI company You.com announced its new professional-grade research agent, ARI. Pronounced Ah-ree, this tool promises to create comprehensive research reports in minutes at a fraction of the typical cost.

More specifically, it can search through as many as 400 references at a time. It also goes beyond data collection and analysis by generating visual elements, such as interactive diagrams, graphs, and data visualizations.

“When every employee has instant access to comprehensive, validated insights that previously required teams of consultants and weeks of work, it changes the speed and quality of business decision-making,” said Richard Socher, co-founder and CEO of You.com. “ARI represents a paradigm shift in how organizations operate, moving from periodic, expensive research projects to continuous, real-time strategic intelligence available across the enterprise.”

While ARI isn’t publicly available yet (interested users can join a waitlist), its pricing ranges from $15/month for individual users to custom enterprise-level packages.

The main purpose of ARI is to save time and money. In the official blog post, the You.com team noted that its customers “currently spend thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars on research that takes weeks.”

“Whether you’re a CEO making decisions, a financial analyst preparing market research, a journalist covering a new topic, or a consultant preparing for clients, ARI delivers accurate answers faster,” it read.

ARI’s capabilities have potential across several industries:

• Consulting: Analyze market reports, financials, patents, and sentiment data for faster due diligence
• Financial Services: Integrate earnings calls, SEC filings, and market data for improved investment decisions
• Healthcare: Synthesize clinical trials, medical journals, and patient data for evidence-based care
• Media: Examine audience data, trends, and competitive coverage to identify unique story angles/predict emerging trends

In a video demo, Socher and co-founder and CTO Bryan McCann showcased ARI’s capabilities with a complex question: “What is the market for civilian supersonic air travel?” The result was a visually rich, fully cited, several-page report complete with interactive visuals.

I decided to test You.com’s current research capabilities myself, which only offer a glimpse of what ARI will deliver on a grander scale. I plugged in a topic I’m fairly well-versed in and saw immediately how its transparent research methodology is worth noting. Within seconds, I watched as its chain of thought unfolded, from initial reasoning to creating a fully fleshed outline with context.

What may also set it apart from other AI tools is its citation system. Many LLM users have been burned by AI hallucinations, but ARI is refreshing because users can see exactly where each claim originated — even distinguishing between different claims from the same source.

You.com’s Socher has already made some bold claims. As a former chief scientist at Salesforce, he has seen firsthand what kinds of developments AI has — and is capable — of making. One of them may play a role in the end of the Google Search monopoly.

“This sort of insane, untouchable monopoly that Google had for 20 years, those days are over. I don’t think any company will have such a strong monopoly for such a long time anymore because users are getting faster to switch and more eager to try out things,” said Socher.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has expressed similar views, noting: “I don’t do Google searches anymore.”

Is this really the end of Google Search? Google would probably disagree.

It’s investing heavily in its Search Generative Experience (SGE) to improve user experience. Google’s AI Overviews snippet, powered by its own LLM, Gemini, is one example of how the search giant is adapting to user trends. Google also still maintains an advantage in providing real-time information, like weather forecasts and sports scores, which are common areas where AI searches can sometimes lack.

You.com isn’t the only challenger to Google’s search dominance. Perplexity AI has gained some major traction with its answer engine that, similar to ARI, provides sourced responses to complex queries.

Perplexity offers a consumer-friendly interface backed by a broad knowledge base, likely best suited for searches like “What happened in the stock market today?” or “Best hotels for families in Tokyo,” versus ARI’s deep industry analysis capabilities.

There may not be an LLM that is one-size-fits-all. Instead, the future may mean choosing between a few different tools to get the job done. Still, it’s fascinating to take a seat and watch the AI race unfold.