This page will help guide you to the best tools and resources for using AI in the sciences and in the humanities.
There is no ONE AI tool that fits ALL research. The information environment is complex as are any tools that might be used to mine the available information. This challenge seeks to encourage you to explore the variety of AI tools available in the different disciples of research - particularly the sciences and the humanities.
Ithaka S+R provides a list of products available with more information about each: https://sr.ithaka.org/our-work/generative-ai-product-tracker/
Choose your area of research - Sciences or Humanities - from the lists below and identify ONE tool that might be helpful for your research.
| Tool | What it Does | Underlying Data | Is it Free? | More information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clemson Libraries Research Assistant | Uses AI to search the library catalog | Metadata in the library catalog | Yes | For Clemson students, faculty, and staff |
| Transkribus | Uses AI to create a transcription of handwritten documents | Has public AI models as well as the ability to build unique custom models based on uploaded content | No | Credits can be purchased. View Transkibus plans to learn more. |
| JSTOR AI Beta | Provides AI summaries of content as well as the ability to provide keywords and related articles. It is possible to "ask questions" of the content | All JSTOR content | For Now | Clemson is part of a pilot project with JSTOR and is one of a few institutions using this tool. In order to use the tool, you need to create a free account in JSTOR and log in. |
| Voyant Tools | Web based reading and analysis environment for digital text | Unclear.More information on Voyant Tools | Yes | |
| ChatPDF | Web based tool that allows you to upload a PDF and "chat" with the contents | Requires upload of documents | Yes | Free to chat with documents, but must create an account to save conversations. |
| Connected Papers | Creates maps to related literature on your topic | ~50,000 papers, but unclear about sources but it is connected to the Semantic Scholar Paper Corpus | Yes |
| Tool | What it Does | Underlying Data | Is it Free? | More information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clemson Libraries Research Assistant | Uses AI to search the library catalog | Metadata in the library catalog | Yes | For Clemson students, |
| scite.ai | An AI-powered research platform that analyzes and provides citation context for scientific papers, helping researchers evaluate the credibility and impact of scholarly articles | Citation statement database by continually monitoring 200 million scholarly sources and analyzing 1.2B+ citations | For Clemson Users | This is a subscription tool provided by the Clemson Libraries. |
| Consensus | “AI-powered scientific search engine” to summarize areas of consensus in academic research |
Searches scientific research papers across a range of science disciplines. Learn how to search with Consensus. Consensus “meter” not completely accurate–librarians have reported that if you shift query just a bit, meter can change more than seems reasonable. |
Free version with Paid Options for premium access | ; |
| Semantic Scholar | Semantic Scholar is a free, AI-powered research tool for scientific literature, based at Ai2. | Index over 200 million academic papers sourced from publisher partnerships, data providers, and web crawls. | Free | |
| Connected Papers | Connected Papers is a unique, visual tool to help researchers and applied scientists find and explore papers relevant to their field of work. | Semantic Scholar Paper Corpus | Free version with 5 graphs per month and paid version with unlimited graphs | |
| Open Knowledge Maps | AI-based visual interface that dramatically increases the visibility of research findings for science and society alike | PubMed API or BASE API | Free | charitable non-profit organization who believes that a better way to explore and discover scientific knowledge will benefit everyone |
What have you learned about where AI tools find their information?
Did you realize that not everything is available for AI tools to utilize?
How are the tools different for the sciences and the humanities?
Congratulations! You've completed Step 5 of the AI Challenge!