The decades-long stalemate in scientific research tools has finally been broken. OpenAI has made a strong entry with GPT-5.2 and is using the free Prism to tell the world: future scientific research does not need to waste time on fragmented old tools!
After a QA round yesterday, Ultraman finally threw out his trump card.
Late at night, OpenAI officially unveiled its next-generation research tool—Prism, powered by GPT-5.2 and designed specifically for writing and collaboration.
It is a cloud-based, "AI-native" LaTeX workspace with no limit on projects or the number of collaborators.
The most convenient thing is that GPT-5.2 is embedded in the project.
It can see the structure, formulas, references, and context of your entire paper, and is available whenever you need it for research.
To put it simply, it's a powerful research tool for researchers and students.
Leave the paper editing to Prism, and it will handle everything smoothly from the first line of the abstract. Humans only need to act as the reviewing machine that keeps clicking "continue".
It can also directly convert uploaded whiteboard images into TikZ images with one click and insert them at the cursor position.
Prism can also manage references, summarizing all research related to the paper.
Even the final review process is handled entirely by AI.
As a result, the OpenAI team even spontaneously created a paper introducing Prism.
The release of Prism may be a key move by OpenAI to focus its efforts on scientific research.
An AI expert commented, "In the future, when conducting research with Prism, every paper will have a ChatGPT co-author."
Overnight, OpenAI killed Overleaf, the paper-writing powerhouse.
Starting today, all users with a ChatGPT personal account can use it for free. Soon, Prism will also be available to ChatGPT Business, Enterprise, and Education.
Prism End-of-Life Research Tools
A paper can be completed in one sentence
Over the past year, AI has begun to accelerate scientific research in various fields.
Advanced inference systems like GPT-5 are expanding the boundaries of mathematics, accelerating experimental analysis of human immune cells, and even speeding up the iteration of molecular biology.
However, reality is harsh.
Many routine scientific research tasks, such as drafting papers, revising arguments, managing formulas and citations, and communicating with collaborators, remain fragmented and isolated by various non-interoperable tools.
Researchers had to constantly switch between editors, PDF readers, LaTeX compilers, reference management software, and standalone chat software.
This not only loses the context, but also ruthlessly interrupts precious concentration.
Researchers often have to switch back and forth between editors, PDFs, LaTeX compilers, reference management software, and standalone chat software, which not only causes them to lose context but also disrupts their concentration.
Prism is OpenAI's first step in addressing this "fragmentation" pain point.
Powered by GPT-5.2, reshaping scientific research workflows
Specifically, it is built on Crixet, a cloud-based LaTeX platform acquired by OpenAI.
Leveraging the state-of-the-art mathematical and scientific reasoning model GPT-5.2, OpenAI integrates drafting, revision, collaboration, and publication preparation into a single, cloud-based LaTeX native workspace.
Therefore, GPT-5.2 is no longer an independent tool separate from the writing process, but rather directly integrated into the project's workflow.
It can read the paper's structure, formulas, citations, and surrounding context.
This allows OpenAI to integrate AI in a mature and robust writing environment in a way that most naturally fits the research workflow.
Using Prism, researchers can gain the following superpowers:
Engage with GPT-5.2 Thinking: Explore ideas, test hypotheses, and reason about complex scientific questions in the current context.
Drafting and editing in a global context: AI can assist in writing and editing by combining the entire document (including surrounding text, formulas, citations, charts, and overall structure).
Intelligent literature search and integration: Search for relevant literature (such as arXiv) based on the content of the current manuscript, and automatically suggest text modifications based on newly discovered related work.
Intelligent processing of formulas and diagrams: AI can create, reconstruct, and reason about formulas, citations, and diagrams, and understand how these elements are related in a paper.
Instantly convert sketches into LaTeX: Directly convert formulas or diagrams on a whiteboard into LaTeX code, saving you hours of tedious work adjusting images pixel by pixel.
Seamless real-time collaboration: Collaborate with co-authors, students, and mentors in real time, with any edits, comments, and revisions syncing instantly.
Direct document editing: Edit documents directly according to instructions, completely eliminating the need to copy and paste back and forth between standalone editors and chat tools.
Voice editing: Supports simple modifications via voice without interrupting the writing or review process.
No limit on the number of participants, zero barriers to co-writing papers
The essence of scientific research is collaboration.
The creation of a paper often embodies the hard work of co-authors, students, supervisors, and reviewers, transcending institutional and geographical limitations.
Prism supports unlimited collaborators , allowing research teams to work together without any seat restrictions or access barriers .
Because it is cloud-based, users do not need to configure a LaTeX environment locally, which makes team collaboration easier than ever before.
By reducing version conflicts, manual merging, and repetitive mechanical work, Prism freed teams from tedious file management, allowing them to focus their energy on the research itself.
Completely free, a powerful research tool for everyone.
Another core mission of Prism is to lower the barriers to entry and make scientific tools more accessible.
Prism is completely free.
Anyone with a ChatGPT account can start writing immediately, with no subscription fees and no seat restrictions.
OpenAI aims to make high-quality scientific tools readily available, enabling researchers from all institutions, disciplines, and career stages to fully participate in the scientific process.
In the future, more powerful AI advanced features will be rolled out gradually through ChatGPT's paid plans.
Why launch it now?
By 2025, AI will have completely transformed software development.
The scientific field will also undergo the same transformation in 2026.
AI will substantially accelerate scientific discovery in multiple dimensions, and reducing obstacles in daily scientific research is a key aspect of this.
Prism is a pioneer on the path to that future.
OpenAI looks forward to learning from every researcher who uses Prism and working together to create tools that can accelerate science.
Let us work together to usher in a new era of science.
References:
https://openai.com/prism/
This article is from the WeChat official account "New Zhiyuan" , author: New Zhiyuan, editor: Peach is sleepy, published with authorization from 36Kr.
