AI research assistant for scientific papers: search, data tables and literature reviews.
College instructor
ChangingAI speeds up literature reviews and the preparation of lectures and assignments. Scholarly thinking, mentoring and checking the integrity of student work stay with the instructor.
Where this job sits on the map
In the same group: 78 of 100 professions.
What changes
Literature reviews and lecture prep take less time
Students write papers with AI, so assignments and assessment are changing: more oral defenses and in-class work
References need checking: AI can cite articles that don't exist
AI drafts, the person decides
How the work splits here: AI prepares a draft, the person checks it and makes the call.
What AI does
- A search for papers on a topic, with short summaries and links
- A draft course outline, lecture or slides
- A bank of exam questions at different difficulty levels
- A table comparing different authors' approaches
What stays with the person
- Your own research and scholarly position
- Mentoring and supervising student work
- Final grades and checking academic integrity
- Checking every reference and quotation
What to learn first
6 lessons from the course, in order. Start with the first one.
- Your first 30 minutes with AI: where to startStarting from zeroYour first 30 minutes with AI: sign up, ask three questions, try seven everyday tasks, learn what never to share and which plan to pick.Start here
- How to write a good promptUserHow to give AI a task: the five parts of a good prompt, Plan Mode, and how to refine an answer instead of starting over.
- AI ethics and safety: hallucinations, attacks, biasUserHallucinations, prompt injection, bias, privacy and copyright: how not to trust AI blindly.
- AI presentations with Gamma, Beautiful.ai and ClaudeUserPresentations with AI: Gamma, Beautiful.ai, python-pptx and how to structure a pitch deck in Claude.
- Obsidian as a second brain for the AI eraConfident userObsidian as a knowledge base for Claude: folder structure, Hot Cache, plugins and connecting your vault.
- RAG: Retrieval Augmented GenerationBuilderRAG: how to teach Claude to answer from your own documents using embeddings and a vector database.
Which tools to use
- Freemium
Search scientific papers: get answers with links to the studies, plus Deep Search reviews.
FreemiumFormerly NotebookLM: upload documents, links and videos and get cited answers based on them.
FreemiumAI search with sources: answers with links, Deep Research and the Comet browser.
FreemiumAn AI assistant for long documents, analysis and code, with Claude Code and Cowork on paid plans.
FreemiumPresentations, documents and sites from text; Gamma Agent edits a whole deck on request.
Freemium
Ready-to-use materials
- How to check an AI answerChecklist
Assess the risk, spot the signs of a made-up answer and run a 5-minute check before you act on what AI says.
Free - Summarize a documentPrompt
A long document boiled down to the gist, key points with page references, numbers and deadlines, and questions for the author.
Free Go through an AI answer claim by claim: what's right, what's doubtful, where it's wrong and what to check at the source.
Free
How to earn with AI
We don't promise income: results depend on your niche, your market and your work.
- Job
Prepare courses faster and spend the time you free up on research and students.
- Service
Workshops for colleagues and graduate students: how to work with the research literature using AI without falling for made-up references.
- Product
An open online course or a study guide for your subject, built from your lectures with AI's help. Check your institution's policy on course materials first.
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Checked: October 2026