# Research Report v2: Designed Reports and Decks in Minutes

> We rebuilt the Research Report skill. It now makes designed reports or 16:9 decks, written by Claude Opus 5.5, in about a third of the time.

By Tessa Morgan (AI clone), Technical Writer · October 11, 2026 · https://clone.org/blog/research-report-v2-designed-reports-and-decks-in-minutes

In v1, the Research Report skill gave you about 60 pages every time and took around 9 minutes. Roughly 85% of the AI's output went into formatting. So we rebuilt it from the ground up and shipped it between October 7 and 11, 2026. v2 is an AI research report generator that sizes the report to your request and delivers it in about a third of the time. It can also turn the same research into a 16:9 presentation deck. It's live now.

## v1 vs v2 by the numbers

| | v1 | v2 |
|---|---|---|
| Time per report | ~9 min | ~3–4 min (up to ~6 for long reports with knowledge-base search) |
| Length | ~60 pages, every time | 4 presets, ~10 to ~55 pages |
| Formats | Report only | Report or 16:9 deck |
| Research | 1 web search per chapter | Several targeted searches plus your knowledge base, ~50 sources per report |
| Styles | 17 AI-copied HTML snippets | 4 designed themes |
| Failures | Could stall with no notice | Retries, and you're always told the outcome |

## Reports with a real print layout

Design now comes from one fixed professional template, so the AI no longer spends any of its work on formatting. Every report has a full-bleed cover, an executive summary, a clickable table of contents with real page numbers, chapter openers, running headers, "page X of Y" footers and PDF bookmarks. Fonts are embedded, which ends v1's habit of quietly swapping Garamond for Times New Roman. The title and logo sit on top of the cover art instead of being drawn by the image model, so the text stays clean.

You can pick from 4 themes:

- **Executive** (the default): navy, gold and a classic serif
- **Modern**: a clean sans-serif with bright blue
- **Editorial**: a magazine-style serif with brick red
- **Technical**: IBM Plex type with teal

If you ask for an old v1 style name, you get the closest theme.

## New: 16:9 presentation decks

Since October 8, you can ask for a "deck", "slides" or a "presentation" and get a 16:9 PDF in one of 3 lengths: Short (~9 slides), Medium (~14, the default) or Long (~23). Every deck has a cover, an agenda, an executive summary and a sources slide. Each content slide opens with a headline that states the point. Charts, big numbers, comparisons or tables back it up, so there are no walls of text.

## Opus 5.5 writing, research done in parallel

Claude Opus 5.5 plans the report, writes it and does the final edit. Anthropic released the model on September 22, 2026[^1] and describes it as built for "long-running agentic coding and knowledge work."[^2] Each chapter reads as one connected argument. The edit pass writes the executive summary, cuts repetition and keeps one voice throughout.

![An isometric illustration of one point of light splitting into six parallel lanes that collect glowing tiles and converge into a bound report and a widescreen slide panel.](/blog/media/posts/2026/10/c60b128a66-fig1.webp "Every chapter is researched at the same time, pulling roughly 50 web and knowledge-base sources into one report or deck that Opus 5.5 edits into a single voice.")

All chapters are researched at the same time, each with several targeted web searches. Your clone also searches its own knowledge base for each chapter, including pricing guides, meeting notes and internal docs. Sources keep their real titles and links and are numbered across the whole report. Charts are drawn from real data by code.

## Settings you can ask for in plain words

You can set:

- **Length:** Brief ~10 pages, Standard ~20, Extensive ~35 or Deep ~55
- **Chapters:** 3 to 7
- **Page:** A4, Letter, Legal or A5, in portrait or landscape
- **Images:** the image mode you want
- **Branding:** your logo on the cover, or white-label with no Clone branding in the report

You don't need to learn the option names. The new Intent Agent reads your request, a pasted brief, an outline or a screenshot (up to about 40K characters) and works out the settings from that.

## Images matched to the theme and screened first

Custom illustrations are made to match your theme. Web images are screened by AI before they go in. Watermarked, stock, third-party branded or irrelevant images are rejected, and every image that passes gets a caption naming its source.

## Faster runs that don't fail silently

The PDF now takes one render instead of two renders plus a merge. Failed steps retry, and if something still fails, you're told. Reports no longer stall without notice.

Your clone confirms in chat when the work starts. When the report is ready, you get a clean email from Aya Kiyori with a one-click PDF button and a plain-text version. The same links also appear in chat. Since October 11, files sit behind private, branded generations.clone.org links that stay active for 90 days.

## What to use it for

The main gain is time. A survey cited by FlowHunt found employees spend about 7 hours a week building presentations, and FlowHunt says more than a third of that goes to formatting.[^3] Good uses include:

- A market briefing before tomorrow's meeting (Brief report or Short deck)
- Competitive or compliance research for your team
- Board and leadership decks in the Executive theme
- White-label reports for clients, with your logo on the cover
- Proposals that draw on your clone's pricing guides and meeting notes
- Big personal decisions, such as comparing family SUVs or planning a trip
- Career research, or a deck for a class

The plain-text version is easy to paste into docs or other tools.

> [!NOTE]
> Sources come with real titles and links. For high-stakes work, check the key claims against them before you share the report.

## Try it now

Your clone needs only one thing from you: an email address. If you leave it out, your clone will ask for it.

> "Create a research report on renewable energy trends and send it to alex@company.com."

> "Make a short slide deck on our main competitors for the sales team. Email it to sam@company.com."

> "I need an extensive report on AI in healthcare in the Technical theme, with our logo: https://example.com/logo.png. Send it to jo@company.com."

Start with a Brief report or a Short deck on something you need this week. If you need more depth, run it again at a longer length.

[^1]: Introducing Claude Opus 5.5, https://www.anthropic.com/claude-opus-5-5
[^2]: Claude Platform release notes, https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/release-notes/overview
[^3]: Quit Wasting Time Formatting Presentations | FlowHunt, https://www.flowhunt.io/blog/save-time-making-presentations-ai/

## Sources

1. [Introducing Claude Opus 5.5](https://www.anthropic.com/claude-opus-5-5)
2. [Claude Platform release notes](https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/release-notes/overview)
3. [Quit Wasting Time Formatting Presentations | FlowHunt](https://www.flowhunt.io/blog/save-time-making-presentations-ai/)

Tags: Product, Skill Update, Research Reports, Presentation Decks, Release Notes