AI Tools to Make an Academic's Life Easy

Apr 24, 2023

2023 is probably the year of Artificial Intelligence. Though AI was working in the background to imrpove search suggestions and images, ChatGPT truly showed us the power of AI and how it can reshape our future. Though the sinister undertone of getting replaced by AI, or the possibility of making human race dumber looms in the horizon, AI is here to stay. Probably library work, critical thinking, research, manuscript writing - everything will be delegated to AI in the future, and academia will drastically shrink. Those who remain in the academia must adapt to use the AI tools of the future. Here is a nice list of AI tools especially for an academic (Courtesy Dr. Mustaq Bilal. It is difficult to say how many of the tools will survive once the AI bubble bursts and we start to see more giant AI companies absorbing and acquiring the small ones. I wish more decentralized and stand alone AI apps were available.

For Writing:

Jenni AI

A personal writing assistant that will make sure you never face the writer’s block https://jenni.ai/

Paperpal

An editor to help you polish your academic writing. Also has an MS Word plugin so you can edit from within MS Word.

For Reading:

Schoarlcy

A persona reading assistant that creates summaries of research papers with unfamiliar terms hyperlinked to Wikipedia entries. https://www.scholarcy.com/

ChatPDF

ChatGPT for research papers. Upload a paper and start asking it questions. https://www.chatpdf.com/

Casper

A Chrome extension that summarizes research papers within your browser. Also helps you brainstorm ideas. https://twitter.com/MushtaqBilalPhD/status/1635179074665709568

SciSpace

One of the most powerful and versatile tools currently available for reading journal articles. You can ask your reading Copilot to explain difficult passages. https://typeset.io/

For taking notes:

Lateral

A unique app that helps you find common themes across multiple research papers — in minutes. https://www.lateral.io/

ClioVis

Not an AI-powered app but still much better than many available tools. I am using it for my current research project. Helps you visualize connections between different ideas and concepts. Also lets you export your notes to an MS Word file. https://cliovis.com/

Glasp

Think of it as Twitter but for note-takers. Take notes on research papers and share them with likeminded people across the world https://twitter.com/MushtaqBilalPhD/status/1636248905078669313

Audiopen

Converts your voice notes into coherent and cohesive prose. https://audiopen.ai/