Exploring the Frontiers of Generative AI Tools Part I — Tools for Empowering Reading, Writing, and Beyond
This post is contributed by Shuo Jiang, Elijah Kim, and Ayako Yachie, from SBX BioSciences, Inc.
As technology continues to advance at an unprecedented pace, we find ourselves on the brink of a new era where artificial intelligence (AI) seamlessly integrates into our daily lives, enhancing our experiences and productivity. From analyzing hundreds of pages to generating unique text, the world of generative AI is growing exponentially through the constant improvement of large language models (LLMs). In this article, we will explore this ever-expanding world of generative AI and LLMs through the use of some fascinating tools.
To provide you with a visual representation of these innovative tools, we have created a quad chart that showcases their rankings in terms of their purpose. These tools take full advantage of generative AI models and combine them with other processes, such as GPT-4 and natural language processing, to produce various unique programs tailored to all types of people.
Throughout our exploration, we will discuss each tool in detail, highlighting their unique features, functionalities, and the ways they empower users in their respective domains. By the end of this article, you will have gained a comprehensive understanding of these tools and their roles in shaping the future of AI-driven user interfaces across platforms.
To better understand these tools, we have split the four sections into two parts: Text Generation Tools and Summarization Tools in the first part, Searching Tools and Note Taking Tools in the second part. The section titles provide a clear indication of the types of tools that will be discussed. In this phase of our exploration into AI, I will introduce you to the text generation and summarization tools, each offering its own distinctive features worth exploring further. In the next phase of exploration, be sure to check out “Exploring the Frontiers of Generative AI Tools Part II — Tools for Empowering Research, Note Taking, and Beyond.” This resource delves into searching and note-taking tools that can greatly enhance your productivity and provide valuable insights.
Text Generation Tools
Meet Jenni AI, the powerful web application designed to enhance writing productivity using AI auto-complete text generation. With an array of in-house AI models and script systems, Jenni AI empowers users to write efficiently and quickly. Its user-friendly interface ensures a seamless writing experience for a wide range of users.
All the user has to do is start writing, and suggestions will appear automatically. As seen in the image above, Jenni AI is able to provide context-appropriate suggestions that fit exactly what the writer is trying to achieve.
Jenni AI achieves its remarkable functionality through the integration of cutting-edge technologies like natural language processing (NLP), ChatGPT, sentiment analysis, and machine learning (ML) with AI models, including Long Short Memory Network (LSTM) and GPT. This allows Jenni AI to excel in processing conversational data and generating text.
Some pros of Jenni AI include multilingual support, quick text generation, and improved efficiency for writers, researchers, students, and more. With a small fee, users unlock a much higher word count per day, a plagiarism checker, and a citation generator. Similar responses to the same prompts are able to be generated by ChatGPT instead of using Jenni AI. However, the user-friendly interface Jenni AI provides makes it worth the price. Despite this drawback, Jenni AI remains a valuable resource for those seeking to boost their writing productivity.
Introducing Paperpal, the comprehensive writing assistant that goes beyond grammar and syntax, helping with sentence structure, word choice, tone, style, and overall readability. Ideal for students, researchers, and professionals, Paperpal elevates the quality of written work. With convenient integration with MS Word, users can seamlessly access its features on various platforms and be part of a vibrant writing community for feedback and collaboration.
In the web-app, the user can start writing on a blank canvas or upload a manuscript and suggestions will appear automatically to the right. If the user deems the suggestion as appropriate, all they have to do is click “accept” and the suggestion is seamlessly implemented into the text. Below is an excerpt from a research article with Paperpal’s suggestions on how to improve the highlighted sentence.
Excerpt:
Paperpal’s suggestions for the highlighted text:
Paperpal for MS Word works the same way. After adding Paperpal using the “Add-In” feature on Word, suggestions for text appear automatically. Implementing these suggestions is just a click away.
Key features include multilingual support with context-sensitive translations in over 25 languages, a contextual synonym feature, and editing modes catering to different needs. For researchers, uploading manuscripts enables tailored recommendations and preflight checks for language quality. Paperpal understands research writing conventions, performs technical checks, and offers instant language feedback through NLP and ML algorithms, ensuring accuracy and efficiency.
Despite its strengths, Paperpal has some limitations, such as a limited vocabulary for niche topics, potential errors in suggestions, and a consistency checker behind a paywall. Nevertheless, the tool remains valuable, providing real-time writing feedback, a citation generator, plagiarism checker, synonym suggestions, and word count trimming capabilities.
ChatGPT is an advanced language model by OpenAI. We will be discussing how ChatGPT can assist in drug discovery and provide medical insights about drug pairs. Its chat function allows scientists to interact with the model, generating potential drug targets and exploring avenues for drug discovery. The tool includes a retrieval plug-in, ChemGPT, and a medical question-answering chatbot, Med-PaLM, enhancing its capabilities. ChatGPT is part of OpenAI’s Large Language Models and can be utilized for molecule design and protein structure prediction, with access through the API for programmable use.
Key features of ChatGPT include drug discovery analysis, conversation with scientists to answer drug-related queries, a retrieval plug-in for searching personal documents, and ChemGPT for generating drug targets based on chemical structures. The API offers access to various models, and usage rates depend on the model chosen.
However, ChatGPT has its limitations. The free OpenAI ChatGPT-3.5 model has data up to September 2021. Therefore, asking ChatGPT about anything that occurred past September 2021 will result in incorrect information. Additionally, ChatGPT is known for generating incorrect answers due to a number of other reasons. One, for example, includes biases in its training data. A model is only as good as the data it is trained on. If the training data is not correct, the model will not provide correct information. This is the same with biases. If the training data is biased, the model will be as well. Another downside of ChatGPT is its inability to understand context at times, leading to incorrect or irrelevant information in its provided answers.
Text Tools Comparison
Jenni AI:
- Utilizes GPT-4 model with an easy-to-use user interface.
- Perfect for writers facing writer’s block, offering contextually correct text suggestions for inspiration.
Paperpal:
- Integrates easily with MS Word, eliminating the need to open a separate application or web page.
ChatGPT:
- ChatGPT-3.5 is free to use
- Offers a completely free experience, unlike the other two tools.
- Limited database up to September 2021.
- Ideal for writers who want a free option without paying any fees.
- Provides API access (with fees) for OpenAI account holders
Summarization Tools
Scholarcy, the online article summarizer tool designed for researchers, journalists, and students to efficiently extract key points from research articles and documents. As a convenient Chrome extension, Scholarcy effortlessly scans web pages and PDFs, offering functionalities beyond summarization to enhance the research process and improve output visibility.
Scholarcy’s key features include background reading suggestions, highlighted important points, referenced summaries, and the ability to extract tables and figures, saving users time and effort. Users can customize the summarization process based on their preferences, making it a versatile and user-friendly tool.
Once Scholarcy is installed onto Chrome, all the user has to do is click on the extension and Scholarcy will immediately start to scan the web page. After its scan, the user can choose what they want to view from the options of key concepts, abstract, synopsis, highlights, summary, and comparative analysis.
Catering to academic and policy researchers, journalists, students, and librarians, Scholarcy utilizes extractive techniques, semantic classes, and knowledge base mapping to generate accurate summaries. While it excels in summarizing articles, users should exercise caution when gathering information from the key concepts feature. Each key concept will link to a Wikipedia page for that particular concept. Wikipedia is notorious for not always having the most accurate information, so users should use this feature as a starting point for future research.
Despite all these great features, Scholarcy has its downsides. Unfortunately Scholarcy, like any other AI-based program, can make mistakes. Not all the information provided is correct and should be taken with a grain of salt. Additionally, Scholarcy’s convenience is also a downside of the program. As it is easy to access Scholarcy since it is a Chrome extension, clicking off to another tab or interacting with the page on which Scholarcy is open will close Scholarcy. This forces the user to reopen Scholarcy, which may need to rescan the information, taking up time.
Casper AI, the powerful Chrome extension that empowers users to quickly summarize text-based webpages using OpenAI’s GPT. Casper AI offers detailed insights, counter arguments, brainstorming, and concise explanations, making it a valuable tool for articulating perspectives, understanding policies, and analyzing impacts.
Key features include a holistic data collection system, gathering information from open public sources and user emails, ensuring relevant and personalized content. Target users span across various domains, including students using Casper AI to summarize articles and gain insights, workers making data-driven decisions, and professionals in fields like venture capital, corporate strategy, policymaking, and healthcare.
Since Casper AI is a Chrome extension, it is very easy to download. Once Casper AI has been downloaded, a quick click of a button and the webpage you are on will be summarized immediately and the user will be taken to a chat box where they can ask any question related to the webpage.
Pros of Casper AI include quick and accurate article summarization, detailed answers with insights and counter arguments, and personalized suggestions. Users can format responses to suit their needs, from bullet points to email drafts.
However, there are limitations, such as limited free usage before encountering a paywall and potential slowdowns during high network traffic. Despite this, Casper AI’s features and capabilities make it a valuable extension for individuals in need of article summarization, insights, and detailed responses.
Introducing SciSpace, a comprehensive website and app designed to support researchers in their document creation, formatting, and reviewing processes. SciSpace aims to simplify writing, enhance acceptance rates, and improve the overall research experience.
Features include document creation, editing, formatting, and reviewing tools, as well as support for LaTeX-based mathematical expressions. SciSpace offers a citation generator covering various sources and over 2551 citation styles, a paraphraser tool for rephrasing, and an academic AI detector to identify scientific contexts.
Users can adjust the tone of sentences, upload URL links for convenient referencing, and utilize the integrated Copilot chatbot for assistance. For publishers, SciSpace offers integrated HTML publishing and article analytics.
SciSpace Copilot is arguably the most useful part of the program. Copilot, a Chrome extension, allows users to receive definitions, summarize webpages, evidence used, and much more with a click of a button.
Pros of SciSpace include a vast gallery of academic journal templates, advanced equation features, and a comprehensive set of tools to support researchers in their writing process. Cons include the inability to directly edit PDFs, English-only functionality for the academic AI detector, and limitations of the Copilot feature on certain websites.
ChatPDF is a versatile document management tool that simplifies PDF interactions, offering summarization, editing, annotating, signing, and collaboration features. With its user-friendly chat interface and ChatGPT 3.5 LLM integration, ChatPDF provides an efficient way to handle PDF files and extract relevant information. ChatPDF caters to a diverse range of users, from students studying textbooks and to workers managing financial reports and collaborative research in the biomedical field.
Key features include text highlighting, OCR for scanned documents, SSL encryption, password protection, and real-time collaboration. Users can easily load PDFs through various methods and ask questions, receiving contextually appropriate answers based on the document’s contents.
Leveraging ChatGPT’s API, ChatPDF creates a semantic index of paragraphs and uses vector similarity metrics to generate comprehensive answers. Although very specific questions may require additional context, ChatPDF’s efficiency and secure API access make it a valuable tool for PDF management and information extraction.
Pros of ChatPDF include its ability to efficiently read and process PDF files while also providing in-depth responses to questions asked. ChatPDF’s API is available for free, allowing users to access up to five thousand PDF pages and five hundred questions per month. Additional usage is available with a paid subscription. However, ChatPDF comes with its drawbacks as well. The program struggles with answering specific questions without context and does not provide direct modification or access to the web-app itself.
Summarization Tools Comparison
Scholarcy:
- Provides key points, definitions, and abstracts of scientific papers from webpages.
Casper AI:
- A chatbot that offers counter arguments, insights, elaboration, and simplistic explanations.
SciSpace Copilot:
- Extracts and displays information from webpages.
- Can change the tone of sentences.
- Limited to knowledge within the scanned webpage; unable to define terms not present in the page.
ChatPDF:
- Ideal for uploaded PDF files.
- Utilizes OpenAI’s ChatGPT model for in-depth answers.
- Requires raw PDF files to work, unlike the other tools which are Chrome extensions for most webpages.
- No access to modification on the web-app
- Offers API access to users with a ChatPDF account, though users will face fees depending on number of pages uploaded
One More Look at the Tools
Before this article comes to a close, it would be best to take a look at some technicalities with the tools. Take a look at this quad chart below:
The chart above illustrates how each of the above-mentioned tools compares to one another in terms of how much AI/user interface each tool uses and if the tool is single or multiple platforms. This is a great comparison as it shows how different kinds of generative AI tools can be compared to one another even though the purpose of each individual tool differs. As seen in the chart, many of the tools mentioned are single platform but vary greatly in the amount they depend on AI. However, some tools, such as Huma.AI, Lateral, and Paperpal are all multiple platform tools. Looking at generative AI tools this way can help individuals better understand that even though some tools have similar underlying mechanisms, the tools can vary greatly depending on how those mechanisms are being put to use.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the world of generative AI and large language models has brought about a transformative shift in our daily lives, enhancing productivity and reshaping industries. Through the exploration of these fifteen cutting-edge tools, we have witnessed the incredible potential of generative AI in text generation, summarization, searching, and note-taking. From assisting writers with contextually appropriate suggestions to enabling researchers to extract evidence-based insights, these AI-driven tools offer invaluable support and efficiency.
As we embrace these technological advancements, it is essential to remain mindful of responsible AI usage, acknowledging potential biases, and ensuring ethical practices. By harnessing the power of generative AI and LLMs, we can build a future where human-machine collaboration leads to groundbreaking discoveries and advancements. The journey towards a more innovative and productive future relies on staying updated with the latest advancements and maximizing the potential of AI-driven user interfaces. Together, we can usher in an era where technology empowers us to achieve unprecedented creativity, efficiency, and knowledge-sharing.
