Artificial intelligence (AI) has woven its way into our daily lives and become integral to contemporary society. It would be foolish not to integrate AI into businesses as it is fast becoming one of the most competitive technologies in the world. Elsevier, a leading science and medical research journal publishing company, and many others believe in AI and its ability to transform the academic world for good. This research giant has released its pilot AI technology– Scopus. We at Cybernews Academy have mapped the correlation between AI’s prevalence and the issues surrounding the reliability of generative AI in our previous articles. Therefore, we have descended upon this subject to give you a comprehensive overview of the new technology to revolutionize research.
The scope
What is Elsevier’s Scopus? The new generative AI aims to provide its users with concise, trustworthy AI-based summaries of research questions. Scopus users can get up to speed on a new field or find cross-disciplinary collaborators that will “push their research to the next level.” ScopusAI is a generative AI-enhanced research platform integrated into the Scopus website to help academics and researchers navigate different disciplines and easily digest academic content. The program aims to assist its users in comprehending academic fields that may otherwise be unfamiliar and difficult to traverse. Thus facilitating the exploration of new academic areas by providing a summary based on Scopus’ research, titles, and abstracts. Scopus is also developing a visual graph representation that will help users gauge a broader perspective of their topic based on associated keywords.
Exploration expansion
How is Scopus set to expand our understanding of academic exploration? The pilot version of this gen-AI-powered research model aims to find papers related to your questions. It synthesizes the findings across decades of research into clear summaries the user can understand. There’s no need to sift through pages and pages of secondary sources to find the correct quote that fits your topic. Instead, you can input a question, and it generates an answer based on Elservier’s internal library of thousands of research papers. All you need to do is enter your natural-language query, and the program reviews your generated summary against Scopus references. From there, you can go into related questions to delve deeper into your chosen topic and gain new insights from other applicable queries.
Safety
At Cybernews Academy, we have frequently referenced the long and ongoing conversation surrounding AI and security. In our article ‘how secure ChatGPT,’ we acknowledge that data security is a huge concern when using large language models (LLMs) and other forms of AI in the public domain. Unlike large language models like ChatGPT, Scopus AI is private, which means there is no data exchange or use of Elsevier’s data to train the public model. This feature enables users to utilize the service without fear, as Scopus offers privacy and peace of mind to data publishers and authors. As the AI is embedded into Scopus, the company states that the AI is developed in conjunction with Elsevier’s Responsible AI Principles and Privacy Principles. This code promises to consider the real-world impact of AI on the public, take action against the creation or reinforcement of unfair bias, remain transparent, take accountability through human oversight, respect privacy, and champion robust data governance.
Disclaimers
With new technologies come old disclaimers. Elsevier has released a statement surrounding the possible discrepancies, misleading, and potentially biased information generated by the platform. The company explains that “ScopusAI strives to ground its summaries and generative AI features in trusted Scopus content. There may occasionally be discrepancies.” Despite its peer-reviewed database and reputable sources, the service could potentially provide users with misleading information or content perceived as biased or offensive. The company mentions, "Scopus AI is not meant to provide professional advice, including but not limited to legal, financial, and medical.” In addition, users shouldn’t rely solely on the information generated by Scopus AI without conducting independent research. And perhaps most importantly, when using the content generated by ScopusAI, you should consult your institutional or workplace guidelines to comply with plagiarism rules and regulations. Pascal Mandelartz, Professor of Applied Sciences at IU International University, told Cybernews Academy, "Scopus AI relies solely on peer-reviewed information, thereby limiting the risk of hallucinations” as the generative-AI research model taps into verified knowledge from Elsevier's largest database of curated scientific literature. Therefore, ScopusAI may be more reliable than other LLMs. When using new technologies, we must remember that there is always the potential to produce unintended information. This is not a reflection of ScopusAI. Instead, these disclaimers demonstrate their commitment to transparency and online security.
Reliability
Due to its internal database of academic texts, which Scopus uses exclusively, we can assume that the software is reliable. The rich library of sources from which the AI gains its knowledge is peer-reviewed, meaning that others will have fact-checked the information to ensure it is viable. Professor Mandelartz raised an interesting point surrounding the reliability of artificial intelligence. He told Cybernews Academy that the reliability of AI in research depends on many factors, including specific application, the quality of data algorithms, the domain of research, and the level of human oversight. Large language models, like ChatGPT, rely on many books, articles, websites, and other sources that may not meet academic requirements. Therefore, the best way to streamline your research is to use a service like ScopusAI that requires a large amount of human oversight and generates its answers from reputable sources. Professor Mandelartz expressed that “ScopusAI can be seen as an academic game charger for AI in academia” as it helps researchers identify patterns, trends, and insights that may not be possible via traditional methods.
We at Cybernews Academy are intrigued by Elsevier’s development of ScopusAI. Like Professor Pascal Mandelartz, we hope this new feat will help revolutionize the academic landscape, streamline efficiency, and make specific scientific fields accessible to everyone. ScopusAI is currently open to a small pool of individuals due to its infancy. This service is free to pilot testers. However, full product pricing will be determined and shared in the future. You can sign up for the Elsevier newsletter to receive updates on all the new AI offerings, including an invitation to the upcoming live demo. So, when will you try ScopusAI?
