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Artificial Intelligence - Sources

AI from Outside Sources

This guide profiles several websites that use artificial intelligence to locate literature. For more general information about AI, please refer to our  guide Artificial Intelligence - An Overview.  Rush has written an official policy regarding the use of artificial intelligence. It can be found in Rush's Policies and Procedures. To access that policy, click here: UAC0039 Generative Artificial Intelligence Use at Rush University 

Another excellent source of information specifically for students can be found here: Resources for Students - Artificial Intelligence.  Faculty can find AI information specific to instruction here: Resources for Faculty - Artificial Intelligence.

Finding the right article in medical journals can be difficult. Getting the best results from traditional databases such as PubMed often requires a complex search strategy. While your Rush librarians are available to assist you with this, several AI tools have recently emerged that can assist this process - with a few caveats.  Several of these AI tools are profiled in the tabs to the left. A screenshot of a sample search is included for each tool. 

While there are definite differences between these, all of them share the same benefits and drawbacks.

The Good 

  • Using an AI tool to answer a clinical question can provide you with a general overview of the topic
  • References are provided that may be helpful in further research
  • These tools are free to use, or at least have a free version available to use and can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection

The Bad

  • You need to check those references to see if they truly exist. These AI tools have been known to "hallucinate" or create citations.
  • The provided summaries can be incomplete or even incorrect. As many articles require a subscription to access the full text of the article, these summaries are derived from open-access articles only. 
  • These searches are not reproducible.  Identical searches repeated even a few minutes later will return slightly different results.

The Ugly

  • Please don't use AI to make decisions about patient care. Patient care deserves thorough research, consultations with other clinical personnel, and the use of your own education and experience.
  • Don't rely on AI. It is important to learn how to find articles, read them, assimilate them, and draw your own conclusions. Critical thinking is an important skill for medical professionals.