AI-Assisted Research
NotebookLM is an AI-powered research assistant developed by Google that can be particularly useful for both faculty and students. This video shows (39:06) it can be utilized to do:
- Document summarization: Upload documents (like PDFs, Google Docs, web URLs and more) to summarize content and provide insights.
- Answer questions: Ask questions about uploaded sources and receive replies with inline citations.
- Content creation: Generate various types of content based on sources such as summaries, timelines, FAQs, a podcast overview and study guides.
- Collaboration: Allows for collaborative note-taking and idea organization, making it a great tool for group projects and research teams.
Uses of AI in R&D
AI can help enhance the clarity, consistency and accessibility of funding proposals and make collaborations more effective by assisting with the following:
Microsoft Copilot
- Document editing – Proofread documents for spelling and grammatical errors.
- Document revision – Get suggestions on how to make documents more concise.
- Document review – Have proposal documents reviewed for adherence to guidelines and review criteria.
- Funding opportunities - Ask AI to identify funding opportunities that match your research interests.
NotebookLM
- Conversation Summaries – Extract key points from emails, chats, and documents.
- Brainstorming and outlining – Structure ideas for a proposal for a specific funding opportunity.
- Content updates – Suggest documentation revisions to eliminate repetitive information and make the proposal more concise.
- Literature review - Produce summaries of research articles and search for key information within the articles.
Zoom AI Companion
- Meeting transcriptions – Get real-time captions and transcripts of meetings with your proposal team.
- Catch-up summaries – Recap discussions for late joiners.
- Action items – Detect and list follow-up tasks.
Google Gemini
- Research planning – Generate a structured plan based on a given topic or question, outlining steps, sources, and potential knowledge gaps.
- Generating research questions – based on existing literature to explore new angles and perspectives.
- Exploring hyperlocal information – Gemini's Deep Research feature is particularly useful for finding information about specific locations or communities.
AI is Transforming Research
Researchers are leveraging AI to support and enhance a variety of tasks, including:
- Literature review
- Data analysis
- Grant writing
- Content writing and editing
- Collaboration
AI is driving a transformation across all fields of science, from developing drugs for incurable diseases to improving the understanding of animal communication, The Economist (16:01), 2024.
Learn More
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