AI Tools
Just as AI tools have transformed search on the internet, the research process has been impacted with new strategies, challenges, and opportunities. We can divide AI tools into a few basic categories:
| Tool | Example | Use |
|---|---|---|
| General purpose AI | Claude, ChatGPT | Good at basic summarizing, translating jargon, brainstorming, refining research questions, and generating keywords for traditional search tools. Not tied to scholarly ecosystems, so higher risks of hallucinations and other issues. |
| Specialized Academic AI | Ai2 Asta | Platforms tied to scholarly literature databases specifically designed for research tasks. |
| Database helpers | AI-assisted search | Generates boolean or keywords from plain language queries to improve search performance in traditional databases. |
General Purpose LLMs
Most people are now familiar with general purpose AI chat interfaces, such as those from the major platforms:
- Anthropic Claude AI
- Google Gemini
- OpenAI ChatGPT
- Proton Lumo - privacy focused platform, using a variety of open models.
- Microsoft Copilot - uses other models integrated into Microsoft 365 ecosystem. Accessible via U of I account.
- Perplexity AI - less of a general purpose tool, it uses other models in an answer and research focused tool with citation of sources.
VandalChat
U of I maintains its own “sovereign” AI infrastructure running on University hardware and managed by Research Computing and Data Services, so no data is sent to non-campus entities. Advanced users can access it via the MindRouter interface to set up APIs. However, a general purpose AI chat assistant interface is available:
Features:
- Good for drafting and editing writing, explaining concepts, summarizing and asking questions about your documents, working with data, writing code, brainstorming, and translating.
- Deep Research is a first-pass research assistant intended to help users discover sources, understand a topic, and identify avenues for further investigation. Craft your query, give it time to work–you will get emailed a PDF report later.
- VandalChat does not have any special access to U of I information, policies, procedures, etc. or the Library’s resources.
Specialized Research Tools
- Gemini Notebook (NotebookLM) - research assistant grounded in specific sources you select/upload.
- Ai2 Asta - scholarly research assistant that combines literature understanding and data-driven discovery.
- Research Rabbit - analyzes and follows citation chains to uncover landscape of research. Search from an article, keyword, or Zotero library.
- Elicit AI - Literature discovery, extracts data across papers, builds comparison tables.
- Semantic Scholar - AI academic search recommendations.
- Consensus AI - scholarly search tool that attempts to summarize methods and evolution of research questions.
- Scite - attempts to show whether citations support or contradict claims.
Database Helpers
- Primo Research Assistant - AI tool built in to the Library’s catalog, that translates natural language chat interface into search in the catalog’s resources. Provides real sources and summaries, however, may be limited due to searching only a small set of resources.