I Paid $200 for ChatGPT Pro—Here’s the TRUTH for Researchers

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Many researchers and students are asking the same question right now: is ChatGPT Pro worth it? I wanted to explore this myself because the idea of having a tool that claims to be “research-grade” is a big promise. In this video, I share what happened when I tried ChatGPT Pro in different research scenarios, but I also want to step back and think about what this means for how we approach our work as academics, PhD students, or anyone starting out on a research career.

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When you look at ChatGPT Pro vs Plus, the pricing difference is obvious, but the real issue is value. If you are going to spend more, does it give you something that actually changes the way you work? For me, this is not just about saving time. It is about whether these AI tools for research can reduce the mental load that comes with reading, comparing, and critiquing vast amounts of literature. Even small improvements in those areas can make a big difference over years of academic work.

Using ChatGPT Pro, I noticed that it goes deeper into reasoning and tries to create structured outputs that feel more like what a professional researcher might expect. That is both a strength and a weakness. Sometimes it provides more depth than I need, and sometimes it creates friction because it overthinks the task. This raised an important point for me: how much do we want AI to think like us, and how much do we simply want it to provide quick, usable answers?

I also think it is worth asking what role ChatGPT and similar models should play in the academic process. Should they be used only as support tools, or could they eventually be trusted with higher-level tasks like peer review or cross-paper synthesis? These are questions that go beyond whether ChatGPT Pro is worth it today and move into what kind of academic culture we want to build in the next few years.

This video is not about replacing researchers but about testing the limits of what these systems can currently do. I believe that if we understand both the advantages and shortcomings of tools like ChatGPT Pro, we can make better decisions about when to rely on them and when to step back and do the work ourselves.
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▼ ▽ TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Intro
00:31 ChatGPT Pro
01:28 Creating Literature Review
03:13 Cross Paper Synthesis
05:59 Peer Review
09:48 Can it do images?
12:49 Outro