Elicit AI Just Replaced Systematic Reviews (And It’s Free to Start!)

Elicit AI: A Deep Dive into Research Automation

Key Concepts:

• AI-powered research tool
• Research report generation
• Systematic review workflow
• Paper summarization and analysis
• Semantic search
• Data extraction
• Literature review automation

1. Elicit AI Overview and Pricing

Elicit AI is presented as a leading AI tool for academic research, offering features like research report generation, systematic review assistance, and paper finding. The platform offers different subscription levels:

• Basic (Free): Unlimited searching across millions of papers, summarization of up to four papers, chat with up to four papers, and 20 PDF uploads per month.
• Plus ($12/month): Increased flexibility in the number of activities.
• Pro ($49/month, $42/month annually): Includes the systematic review workflow, which is highlighted as a particularly powerful feature.

2. Research Report Generation

The video demonstrates the "Generate a Research Report" feature.

• Process:
  1. A research question is entered (e.g., "What is the effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions on reducing anxiety in university students?").
  2. The user selects the type of answer needed (e.g., "fast," "comprehensive").
  3. Elicit gathers papers, screens them, extracts data, and generates a report.
• Customization: Users can specify the number of papers to review (up to 200 per month on the demonstrated plan).
• Output: A concise report summarizing key findings from the selected papers.

3. Systematic Review Workflow

The systematic review workflow is a core feature, particularly for the "Pro" subscription.

• Process:
  1. A research question is entered.
  2. Elicit suggests relevant papers based on the research question.
  3. Users can select papers from Elicit's suggestions, their library, or upload their own (up to 500).
  4. A screening process is initiated to include or exclude papers based on predefined criteria.
  5. Data extraction is performed on the included papers.
  6. A report is generated.
• Key Features:
  • Suggested Columns: Elicit suggests relevant data columns for extraction (e.g., age range, intervention duration, intervention type).
  • Inclusion Scoring: Each paper receives an inclusion score, indicating its relevance to the research question. Users can adjust a threshold to control the number of included papers.
  • Data Extraction Customization: Users can add custom columns for data extraction.
• Example: The video showcases a systematic review on "do retrieval practice techniques improve long-term memory retention compared to passive review in high school students". 532 data points from 76 papers were used to generate the report.
• Output: A comprehensive report including an abstract, methods section (with a flow diagram), data extraction details, and references. The report can be exported as a PDF.

4. Finding Papers and Semantic Search

Elicit's original functionality, finding papers, is still a key feature.

• Process:
  1. A research question is asked.
  2. Elicit performs a semantic search of peer-reviewed literature.
  3. A summary of the top papers is provided, with a row for each paper found.
• Customization: Users can add columns to display specific information (e.g., limitations).
• Workflow: Users can select papers and add steps like creating a table, summarizing abstracts, chatting with papers, or adding a new question.

5. Additional Features

• Upload and Extract: Users can upload papers and extract key information.
• Summarize Concepts: Analyze concepts across multiple papers.
• Chat with Papers: Upload a paper and interact with it to understand its content.
  • Process: A paper is selected, and the "chat with papers" feature is used. The user can ask questions about the paper (e.g., "What are the main findings from this paper?").
  • Output: Elicit provides answers with references to the relevant sections of the paper.

6. Key Arguments and Perspectives

• Elicit AI significantly reduces the time and effort required for literature reviews and systematic reviews.
• The platform guides users through the systematic review process, ensuring a thoughtful and structured approach.
• Elicit's AI-powered features enable researchers to quickly gain an overview of a research field and identify relevant papers.

7. Notable Quotes

• (Regarding the systematic review workflow) "It was pretty good, it was pretty bloody good if you ask me."
• "You are saving yourself days if not weeks of work doing it this way."
• "It has never been easier to get an overview of a research field anymore."

8. Technical Terms and Concepts

• Systematic Review: A comprehensive review of all available research on a specific topic, following a predefined methodology.
• Semantic Search: A search technique that focuses on the meaning and context of the search query, rather than just matching keywords.
• Data Extraction: The process of identifying and collecting relevant data from research papers.
• Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria: Specific criteria used to determine which studies are included or excluded from a systematic review.

9. Logical Connections

The video progresses logically from an overview of Elicit's features and pricing to detailed demonstrations of its key functionalities. It highlights the systematic review workflow as a particularly valuable feature, showcasing its step-by-step process and customization options. The video also emphasizes the time-saving benefits of using Elicit AI for research tasks.

10. Synthesis/Conclusion

Elicit AI is presented as a powerful tool for researchers, offering a range of features to automate and streamline the research process. Its systematic review workflow, in particular, is highlighted as a significant time-saver, enabling researchers to conduct comprehensive literature reviews more efficiently. The platform's AI-powered features and user-friendly interface make it a valuable asset for anyone involved in academic research.