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With the integration of GenAi into our study routine, many tools have emerged to help us in different ways. I have used ChatGPT, ChatPdf, and NotebookLM (specifically the podcast feature), yet one of my favorite discoveries has been Consensus Ai.

While many AI tools focus on generating content or completing specific tasks, Consensus AI stands out by extracting information from academic articles to answer your research question. The goal is to simplify the research process for users, by allowing them to ask complex answers and get supported simplified answers. Instead of spending hours scrolling through google to assess articles and academic papers, I am able to get answers a lot quicker.

Without credible sources, relying on GenAI tools can be a risky task. AI-generated responses may be missing the depth found in academic research, which can lead to oversimplifications​ , and without citations or links to references it is challenging to verify the accuracy of the information provided. Han, Z. et al. (2023) concluded that although ChatGPT can help educators, it cannot fully be used as a credible source. I believe what sets Consensus AI apart from other GenAI tools is that the content it generates can be backed up by credible sources. The platform summarizes your research question and uses academic articles in its answers. I have doubted the answers that GenAI tools, such as ChatGPT, have given me on numerous occasions and Consensus AI finds a solution for this concern.

The platform uses a fine-tuned language model over its database of more than 200 million research papers to extract the key takeaways from each one. It also removes words such as ‘what’, ‘is’, and ‘are’ from the question to run a keyword search over the abstract and title of all its papers. This allows the platform to measure the relevance of the papers to each question (Consensus Ai, 2024). Moreover, Consensus Copilot has a ChatGPT-type functionality. With your search, you can tell Consensus Copilot to answer questions, draft content, create lists, and more (Consensus Ai, 2024).

Pictured below, you will see a simple research prompt that I asked Consensus. My goal was to determine whether integrating GenAI into workflows increases productivity. Consensus provided a consensus meter, which indicates the level of agreement among different studies, a summary with a brief conclusion about the articles, a generated text that details facts and information to support the research question, and a list of the articles that were analyzed.

With Consensus, we have the opportunity to revolutionize the way we conduct research. This efficiency not only enhances our personal learning experiences but also creates the opportunity for collaboration between researchers by providing a common knowledge base. As a result, Consensus fosters a more data-driven approach to academic research, shifting the focus from merely collecting information to critically analyzing and comparing previous findings​. I believe this GenAI can help us become more productive in writing our assignments and finding information to back up our arguments. Have you used this AI tool before?

References

Consensus Ai. (2024, July 18). How it Works & Consensus FAQ’s – Consensus: AI Search Engine for Research. Consensus: AI Search Engine for Research. https://consensus.app/home/blog/welcome-to-consensus/

Han, Z., Battaglia, F., Udaiyar, A., Fooks, A., & Terlecky, S. (2023). An Explorative Assessment of ChatGPT as an Aid in Medical Education: Use it with Caution. Medical teacher, 1-8 . https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.02.13.23285879.

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With the emergence of AI technologies, education is drastically changing. Companies such as Duolingo, an application that allows users to learn new languages, have been quick to implement AI into their organizations. The company uses an AI called the Large Language Model (LLM), which can write prompts for daily learning lessons. The LLM is fed information; from this and previous exercises created by Duolingo experts, it can generate an exercise (Henry, 2024).

With less than 1,000 employees and roughly 21 million daily users, Duolingo needs to prioritize resources to develop its educational platform and meet user demand. Creating and updating classes is a time-consuming task, so the goal of the LLM is to increase overall efficiency.

While many benefits can arise from using AI, such as reducing costs and speeding up the work process, it also raises concern about how this may impact workers at companies shifting towards a higher reliance on these technologies. A study by McKinsey has suggested that by 2030 as much as 14% of the global workforce can expect to change jobs due to AI, that is around 375 million workers (Howarth, 2024). We can already see this impact at Duolingo. In 2023, the company had several waves of layoffs and cut contractors who had previously been working on writing lessons and translating phrases (De Vynck, 2024). Duolingo themselves argued that they are not using AI to replace their workforce, but rather to increase productivity, yet we can see that many workers are losing their job as a result. Their decision to replace human workers with AI-driven content made me think about the true power of AI, its potential is undoubtedly exciting, yet the increasing impact on the workforce, especially in lower-wage areas is unsettling.

Nonetheless, AI skeptics have been quick to point out that GenAI technologies often make errors, but because of the significant cost savings companies are willing to use them for translations, text creation, and design (De Vynck, 2024). A previous Duolingo employee has even suggested that the courses he used to write lessons for have many errors, although a Duolingo representative denied this claim (De Vynck, 2024). It is clear that we are still not at the stage of having AI replace certain jobs completely, but rather using it to simplify and speed up certain tasks. While I often notice the benefits of AI are being presented way more than the risks, I wonder how our workforce will shift in the future. It is already apparent that technology has drastically changed the way we work today, but it raises the question: how positive is AI in the long run and how will it change our job environment?

References

De Vynck, G. (2024, January 10). Duolingo cuts workers as it relies more on AI. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/01/10/duolingo-ai-layoffs/

Henry, P. (2024, May 22). How Duolingo uses AI to create lessons faster. Duolingo Blog. https://blog.duolingo.com/large-language-model-duolingo-lessons/

Howarth, J. (2024, May 27). 60+ stats on AI replacing jobs (2024). Exploding Topics. https://explodingtopics.com/blog/ai-replacing-jobs