AI Research Assistant

FSU Libraries are excited to announce that students and faculty can now explore an innovative AI-powered tool designed to help you discover resources within the library collection. We are launching the beta version of "Research Assistant," a generative AI enhancement integrated with Libraries' OneSearch. This new feature is now accessible on our library website for interested users. Use this guide to learn more about the AI Research Assistant features, including pros and cons, how to access, use examples, how to cite, and other related resources. 

Note: FSU ID login is required to use this tool.

The AI Research Assistant is a generative AI-powered tool designed to simplify the discovery of library resources by allowing natural language research queries. When you submit a question, the system provides summaries with relevant citations sourced from the Central Discovery Index (CDI), a unified index of scholarly materials from trusted sources. As with the OneSearch, the AI Research Assistant helps you discover content available through the FSU catalog and other state university catalogs. Unlike tools such as ChatGPT, it guarantees accurate references and does not generate fabricated sources. This intuitive approach removes the need for complex search syntax and Boolean operators, enabling you to concentrate on your research instead of composing search strings.

We encourage our users to continue using OneSearch as their primary discovery tool and to try Research Assistant as a quick starting point or supplementary aid.
 

Notable Features 

• Provides the Top 5 most relevant sources for each query (can be a mix of articles and books)
• Provides a summary overview of sources with inline references 
• Provides related research questions for further discovery 
• Creates a unique search string--can be used to explore more results in the catalog 

As with any AI tool, there are pros and cons. Take a look at the table below to see whether or not this tool would be helpful for you.