How to Do Deep Research with an AI Desktop Agent in 5 Minutes

We have all been there. You need to research something - maybe comparing laptop options, finding the best flights, or understanding a new topic for work. You open your browser, start searching, and before you know it you have 20 tabs open, you have been reading for an hour, and you still do not have a clear answer.

Research is one of those tasks that feels like it should be simple but almost never is. Every source gives you slightly different information. Comparing options means switching between tabs constantly. And by the time you have gathered everything, you still need to sit down and make sense of it all.

What if you could just tell your computer what you want to know, and it did all of that work for you?

That is exactly what an AI desktop agent does. You describe your research question in plain English, and the agent opens websites, reads content, extracts the relevant data, and pulls it all together into a clear summary. What normally takes an hour or more can happen in about 5 minutes.

This tutorial will show you exactly how it works, step by step.

Manual Research vs. Agent-Assisted Research

Let's use a real example to show the difference. Say you want to compare flights to Tokyo next week.

The Manual Way

1. Open Google Flights, enter your dates, scroll through options
2. Open Kayak in another tab to compare prices
3. Open Skyscanner for a third comparison
4. Check each airline's website for baggage policies and seat selection costs
5. Look up reviews for unfamiliar airlines
6. Open Google Maps to check which Tokyo airport is closer to your hotel
7. Compare all the results, factoring in layovers, total travel time, and hidden fees
8. Try to remember which tab had that one good deal you saw 20 minutes ago

Total time: 45 minutes to 2 hours. Total tabs open: 15 to 25. Likelihood of missing something: high.

The Agent-Assisted Way

1. Tell your AI agent: "Compare flights from San Francisco to Tokyo next week. I want the cheapest options, the fastest options, and the best value considering baggage and layovers. Check Google Flights, Kayak, and Skyscanner."
2. Watch as the agent opens each site, searches for flights, extracts prices and details
3. Read the summary the agent puts together with all options compared side by side

Total time: about 5 minutes. Tabs opened and closed for you: as many as needed. Likelihood of missing something: much lower, because the agent checks systematically.

What You Will Need

• A Mac computer running macOS 13 (Ventura) or later
• Fazm installed on your Mac (free and open source - we will cover installation if you have not done it yet)
• A web browser - Safari, Chrome, Firefox, or any browser you normally use

If you have never used an AI desktop agent before, check out our complete beginner's guide to using an AI desktop agent first. It covers installation and basic setup in detail.

Step 1: Set Up Fazm (If You Have Not Already)

If Fazm is already installed, skip ahead to Step 2.

1. Go to fazm.ai and click Download
2. Open the downloaded file and drag Fazm to your Applications folder
3. Launch Fazm and grant the permissions it asks for (Accessibility and Screen Recording)
4. You will see a small floating toolbar on your screen - that means Fazm is ready

The whole process takes about 2 minutes.

Step 2: Frame Your Research Question

The quality of your research results depends heavily on how you phrase your question. Here are some principles:

Be specific about what you want to know. Instead of "research laptops," try "compare the MacBook Air M4, Dell XPS 14, and ThinkPad X1 Carbon on price, battery life, and display quality."

Mention your priorities. Instead of "find me a hotel in Paris," try "find hotels in Paris near the Eiffel Tower, under 200 dollars per night, with good reviews for cleanliness."

Specify the sources if you have preferences. You might say "check Wirecutter, RTINGS, and Amazon reviews" to guide the agent toward sources you trust.

State the output format you want. Say "summarize in a comparison table" or "give me your top 3 recommendations with pros and cons."

Step 3: Give the Command

Activate Fazm using push-to-talk (press and hold the right Option key) and speak your research request. Or type it into the Fazm toolbar if you prefer.

Let's walk through a few real examples:

Example 1: Comparing Flights

"I need to fly from Chicago to Tokyo sometime next week. Compare options on Google Flights and Kayak. Show me the three cheapest options and the three fastest options. Include the airline, layover cities, total travel time, and baggage allowance for each."

Here is what the agent does:

1. Opens your browser to Google Flights
2. Enters your departure city, destination, and dates
3. Scans the results and records flight details
4. Opens Kayak and repeats the search
5. Compares all the options
6. Presents a structured summary with the cheapest and fastest choices

You will see all of this happening on your screen in real time - the agent is clicking, scrolling, and reading just like you would, except much faster.

Example 2: Product Research

"I am looking for a robot vacuum under 500 dollars. Check Wirecutter's latest recommendation, Amazon's top-rated options, and The Verge's reviews. Compare the top 3 choices on price, suction power, battery life, and whether they have a self-emptying base."

The agent will:

1. Navigate to Wirecutter and find their robot vacuum recommendations
2. Go to Amazon and check top-rated robot vacuums in the price range
3. Visit The Verge for their latest reviews
4. Cross-reference the information
5. Give you a comparison of the top picks

Example 3: Topic Research for Work

"I need to understand the basics of carbon credits for a presentation. Find 3 reliable sources that explain how carbon credits work, who buys them, and whether they are effective. Keep the explanation at a high school reading level."

The agent will search for authoritative sources, read through them, and distill the key points into a clear, accessible summary.

Example 4: Local Research

"Find the 5 best-rated Italian restaurants within 2 miles of downtown Portland. Check Google Maps and Yelp. For each one, tell me the rating, price range, whether they take reservations, and what reviewers say about their pasta dishes specifically."

The agent navigates to each platform, searches the area, filters results, and compiles exactly what you asked for.

Step 4: Review and Refine

Once the agent presents its findings, you can ask follow-up questions to dig deeper:

• "Tell me more about the second option"
• "What are the downsides of the cheapest flight?"
• "Are there any newer models that just came out?"
• "Check one more source - look at what Reddit users say about this product"

This back-and-forth is one of the biggest advantages over manual research. Instead of opening more tabs yourself, you just ask the agent to look into whatever additional details you need.

Tips for Getting the Best Research Results

1. Start Broad, Then Narrow Down

If you are not sure exactly what you are looking for, start with a general question and then refine:

First: "What are the main types of home security cameras?"

Then: "Now compare the top-rated indoor cameras with local storage - no cloud subscription required"

This two-step approach often gets better results than trying to be too specific from the start.

2. Ask for Sources

Always ask the agent to note where it found its information. This makes it easy to verify anything that seems surprising or to share the sources with someone else.

"Research the pros and cons of heat pumps vs traditional furnaces. Include links to your sources."

3. Request Structured Output

When comparing multiple options, ask for a specific format:

"Put the comparison in a table with columns for name, price, key features, and drawbacks"

Structured output makes it much easier to make decisions based on the research.

4. Use It for Ongoing Research

Research does not have to be a one-time event. You can ask the agent to check on things periodically:

"Check if the price has dropped on that Samsung TV we looked at last week on Amazon"

5. Combine with Other Tasks

One of the most powerful things about a desktop agent is that it can take action on research results:

"Research the cheapest flight to Tokyo next week, and if there is one under 800 dollars, open the booking page so I can purchase it"

"Find the best-reviewed Thai restaurant near me on Yelp and open their reservation page"

The research flows naturally into action without you having to copy-paste or switch contexts.

What Kinds of Research Work Best?

AI agents are particularly good at research tasks that involve:

• Comparing options across multiple websites (products, services, prices, flights)
• Gathering specific data points (specs, ratings, prices, availability)
• Summarizing long articles into key takeaways
• Checking multiple sources for the same information
• Fact-checking by cross-referencing different websites

They are less ideal for:

• Deeply subjective decisions where personal taste matters more than data
• Cutting-edge research on topics so new that reliable sources do not exist yet
• Highly sensitive research that you would rather not have visible on screen (remember, the agent sees what is on your screen)

Common Questions

How does the agent know which information is reliable?

The agent reads from the sources you direct it to, or from top search results. It does not independently judge the credibility of sources the way a human expert would. That is why specifying trusted sources (Wirecutter, Consumer Reports, government websites) in your request leads to better results.

Can it access paywalled content?

If you are logged into a site with a subscription (like a news site or research database), the agent can read content that is visible on your screen. It does not have its own subscriptions or accounts - it sees exactly what you would see.

Does it save the research results?

The agent presents results on screen, but it can also save them for you. Just ask: "Save these findings to a text file on my Desktop" or "Copy this summary so I can paste it into my document."

Can it research in languages other than English?

Yes. You can ask the agent to search foreign-language websites and translate the findings, or to conduct the entire research process in another language.

Is my research private?

Fazm runs locally on your Mac. The agent sees your screen to interact with websites, but it does not store your browsing history or search queries on external servers.

Try It Right Now

Here is a 5-minute challenge: think of something you have been meaning to research but keep putting off. Maybe it is comparing phone plans, finding a good recipe for dinner tonight, or understanding how your retirement account fees compare to alternatives.

Open Fazm, describe what you want to know, and let the agent do the legwork. You might be surprised at how much time you have been spending on tasks that can be handled in a fraction of the time.

For a complete walkthrough of getting started with Fazm, including installation and your first commands, check out our beginner's guide to AI desktop agents.