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Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Research

Finding Information about AI

The world of artificial intelligence is enormous, and as a result it can be difficult to narrow down searches to find information about it in databases, search engines, and on news media websites.

When searching for information about AI, as with searching for any answer to a research question, ask yourself what it is that you are seeking to understand: do you have a question about how a certain type of AI works? Do you want to build a chatbot? Do you have questions about the impact of AI operational costs on the environment or in the economy?  

This page contains recommendations for academic databases to start with, as well as sets of keywords to consider. 

Keywords & Subject Headings by Use Case

There are so many ways to combine keywords to find resources about AI. Below are some common questions with example keywords to help get you started. 

Questions Example Keywords
Interested in general core concepts about AI.
  • Machine learning
  • Artificial intelligence OR AI
  • Deep learning
  • Neural networks
  • Tokenization
  • Natural language processing OR NLP
  • AI-generated
  • Prompt engineering
  • Algorithm
What is the impact of AI on the environment?

AI or "artificial intelligence" AND 

  • Sustainability
  • Energy consumption
  • Resource use
  • Climate change
  • Energy footprint
  • Carbon offset
  • Model training
  • Computing power OR computational power
  • Server OR "data storage" 
  • Data center
How accurately can a chatbot cite its sources?
  • Hallucination
  • Retrieval-Augment Generation OR RAG
  • Chatbot 
  • GPT
How is AI used in healthcare or medical research?

AI or "artificial intelligence" AND 

  • Bioinformatics
  • Privacy
  • Applications in healthcare OR diagnostics OR medicine

Additional keywords:

  • AI-assisted healthcare 
  • AI-enabled device

MESH Subject Headings:

How can AI be related to mis/disinformation? 
  • Deep fake OR deepfake
  • Training AND bias
  • AI-generated 
  • Social media bot OR social AI OR social algorithm
  • Fact check*
  • Misinformation OR disinformation