Artificial Intelligence (AI)

An introduction to generative AI and its use in teaching, research, and publishing.

AI and Academic Research

AI tools can be used to support different aspects of the research process, including:

Hypotheses Generation: AI can automatically generate research questions based on a given dataset or topic that can serve as starting points for researchers to refine and develop into hypotheses.
Literature Review: AI can accelerate the literature review process by analyzing and summarizing a body of literature on a topic, identifying relevant trends, patterns, and gaps in existing knowledge.
Data Analysis: AI can aid in processing and analyzing large datasets, making it easier to identify emerging trends, correlations, outliers, and other patterns.
Experiment Design: AI algorithms can assist researchers in designing experiments by suggesting variables, methodologies, and potential outcomes based on existing data.
Communication of Findings: AI can assist in drafting, proof-reading, and editing research papers.
Collaboration and Networking: AI-driven recommendation systems can help researchers connect with peers, collaborators, and experts in their field, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Note: Use of AI is fraught with complications involving accuracy, bias, academic integrity, and intellectual property and may not be appropriate in all academic settings. Students are strongly advised to consult with their instructor before using AI-generated content in their research or coursework.

AI Research Tools

Perplexity
AI-powered search engine that responds to questions by summarizing relevant sources from the internet with inline citations. Perplexity's paid Pro Search includes additional features such as an interactive search mode that asks you clarifying questions to guide the AI search process and find the best answer for you.
Consensus
A search engine that uses AI to search over 200 million scientific papers from Semantic Scholar and deliver reliable, evidence-based answers tied to actual studies. It also provides summaries of the top articles it analyzes, making it easier to understand complex research.
Elicit
AI search assistant for researchers and academics that helps conduct literature reviews by identifying relevant research papers on a topic and summarizing key points.
Scite
AI platform that helps researchers find and understand research articles through Smart Citations. scite uses access to full-text articles and its deep learning model to tell you how many times an article was cited and context of the citation (i.e., whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence).
Research Rabbit
Described as “Spotify of research”, users can create collections of academic papers that the software can learn from to give them relevant recommendations. It also visualizes scholarly networks in graphs, so it’s possible follow the work of specific authors or topics.
Scholarcy
AI summarization tool that reads your research articles, reports, and book chapters and extracts key information to create a summary flashcard identifying study participants, data analyses, main findings, and limitations.
ChatPDF
AI chatbot designed to help researchers read, analyze, and extract answers from research papers. Simply upload a file and ChatPDF will generate a short summary of the paper and provide examples of questions it can answer based on the full text.
Semantic Scholar
Free, AI-powered research tool for scientific literature. Semantic Scholar helps researchers understand a paper at a glance by extracting meaning and identifying connections from within papers. Indexes over 200 million academic papers sourced from publisher partnerships, data providers, and web crawls.
Iris.ai
AI tool designed to aid researchers in scientific discoveries. The service uses natural language processing and machine learning algorithms to comprehend the context of a research project and suggest pertinent literature. It helps navigate and find data sources without relying on specific keywords, making it significantly more efficient than traditional search engines.
Scispace
AI-driven platform for exploring, understanding, and publishing research papers. It offers a comprehensive searchable database of over 270 million papers, authors, topics, journals, and conferences. It also provides a variety of features such as a manuscript editor, citation generator, plagiarism checker, and an AI copilot to summarize any research paper.
Paper Digest
AI-based article summarization service that aims to help researchers quickly grasp the core ideas of a paper and help them decide whether it is worth reading.
You.com
A search engine built on artificial intelligence that provides users with a customized search experience while keeping their data 100% private.

Want to see a more comprehensive list of AI-powered research tools? Check out Ithaka S+R's Generative AI Product Tracker.