New AI Research Assistant available in library search
UM Libraries AI tool makes starting research easy
April 25, 2025 —
UM Libraries is excited to introduce the AI Research Assistant (beta), a generative AI tool that you can use to start your online library search. The AI Research Assistant is useful for quick searches and gathering initial insights for your research topic.
Features
The AI Research Assistant (beta) includes the following functionality:
- Provides a summarized response to research questions posed in everyday language.
- Recommends up to five relevant publications from the Libraries’ collections.
- Provides an option to “view more” and see your complete search results.
- Suggests additional question prompts to expand your research topic and explore further.
- Supports multiple languages.
Note: Users must log in to use it.
Limitations
- The AI Research Assistant is in beta. It is currently being tested before full release.
- The summaries created by the AI Research Assistant are generated from a maximum of only five publications it decides are relevant to your question.
- The sources referenced by the AI Research Assistant exclude content from Elsevier, JSTOR, and newspapers. Print collections are also not included in the summaries it generates.
- AI Research Assistant summaries come from abstracts and descriptions of sources rather than full text.
- The AI Research Assistant may not generate results from the most current research available.
Using AI in research
- Discuss with your professor or advisor the appropriate use of AI for your assignments.
- Avoid academic misconduct by considering the limitations of AI tools and citing the articles you use. Check for accuracy and verify the responses against the source materials provided.
- Artificial intelligence tools can sometimes be at odds with citation justice by failing to fairly acknowledge the contributions of diverse scholars and communities.
Watch this short video or contact the Libraries to learn more about AI Research Assistant.