Summarize Articles: Free AI tools for Research Paper Understanding

Andy Stapleton
8 Jan 202408:05

TLDRThis video introduces two free AI tools, Size.Space and ExplainPaper, that simplify the process of reading and understanding academic papers without the need for costly subscriptions. Size.Space offers features like literature review, data extraction, and AI co-pilot reading, while ExplainPaper provides unlimited explanations for highlighted text. Both tools aim to save researchers time by summarizing and clarifying complex information, making academic research more accessible.

Takeaways

  • 💸 Many AI tools for reading academic papers require a subscription, which can be costly.
  • 🆓 Two free AI tools are Size.Space and ExplainPaper, which help in understanding academic papers without a subscription.
  • 📚 Size.Space offers features like literature review, data extraction from PDFs, AI co-pilot reading, and paraphrasing.
  • 🔍 Size.Space's 'Extract Data from PDFs' feature allows users to upload a paper for a quick summary and access to conclusions.
  • 🤖 The AI co-pilot in Size.Space can answer questions about highlighted text and provide explanations, aiding in comprehension.
  • 📘 ExplainPaper offers a similar service to AI co-pilot but is entirely free, providing unlimited explanations and follow-up questions.
  • 📑 Users can adjust the complexity of explanations in ExplainPaper, catering to different levels of understanding from middle school to expert.
  • 📝 Both tools allow for note-taking and highlighting, facilitating a deeper dive into the material when necessary.
  • 🔑 There is a limit to the usage of Size.Space's AI co-pilot, but it has not been a concern for the speaker.
  • 📈 The speaker suggests starting with an abstract and skimming the paper, using the AI tools to clarify uncertain sections.
  • 🆓 The speaker emphasizes that these tools are free at the time of the video but acknowledges that this may change in the future.
  • 🔗 The speaker also promotes their own course, 'Effus Academia', offering resources and recommendations for academic reading.

Q & A

  • What is the main issue the speaker is addressing in the video?

    -The speaker is addressing the issue of high costs associated with AI tools that help in reading and understanding academic papers, and then introduces two free AI tools that can be used for this purpose without a subscription.

  • What does the speaker dislike about the AI tools mentioned at the beginning of the video?

    -The speaker dislikes the high subscription costs of the AI tools mentioned, which range from $5 to $999 per month, and finds the pricing structures complicated and prohibitive.

  • What is the first free AI tool for reading academic papers that the speaker recommends?

    -The first free AI tool the speaker recommends is 'Sizse Space', which offers features like literature review, data extraction from PDFs, AI co-pilot reading, and paraphrasing.

  • What feature of 'Sizse Space' does the speaker particularly appreciate?

    -The speaker particularly appreciates the 'Extract data from PDFs' feature of 'Sizse Space', which allows for easy summarization and understanding of academic papers.

  • How does the speaker suggest using the AI co-pilot feature in 'Sizse Space'?

    -The speaker suggests using the AI co-pilot feature by uploading a paper and then highlighting sections of the text to ask for explanations or summaries, which can help in understanding complex parts of the paper.

  • What is the second free AI tool for academic paper understanding that the speaker recommends?

    -The second free AI tool the speaker recommends is 'Explain Paper', which offers unlimited explanations and the ability to ask follow-up questions on highlighted text.

  • How does 'Explain Paper' differ from the AI co-pilot feature in 'Sizse Space'?

    -'Explain Paper' differs in that it provides unlimited explanations and follow-up questions without the additional features that 'Sizse Space' offers, and it is completely free to use.

  • What strategy does the speaker suggest for reading academic papers efficiently?

    -The speaker suggests starting with the abstract, skimming the paper, highlighting sections that are unclear, and using the AI co-pilot or 'Explain Paper' to get explanations for those sections.

  • What is the speaker's view on the necessity of reading an entire academic paper from start to finish?

    -The speaker believes that it is not always necessary to read an entire academic paper from start to finish, as the AI tools can help identify and explain the most important information.

  • What potential issue does the speaker foresee with the free AI tools mentioned?

    -The speaker foresees the potential issue that these free AI tools might change their policies and start charging for their services in the future, as 'people always want the money'.

  • What additional resource does the speaker offer for those interested in academic research?

    -The speaker offers an 'Academic Effus' course with downloadable resources, book recommendations, and lifetime access, which they mention can be found in the video description.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Frustrations with Subscription-based Academic Tools

The speaker expresses frustration with the cost of various AI tools designed to assist with reading academic papers. They mention several services, such as OpenReads, Chat PDF, Humata, Lateral, Paper Brain, and Unriddle, criticizing their subscription fees which range from $5 to €999 per month. The speaker then introduces two free tools, Size.Space and Explain Paper, which they use to read academic papers without a subscription. Size.Space offers features like literature review, data extraction from PDFs, AI co-pilot reading, and paraphrasing. The speaker demonstrates how to use Size.Space to extract a summary and conclusions from an uploaded paper. They also highlight the AI co-pilot feature that allows users to ask questions and get explanations for highlighted text.

05:02

🔍 Utilizing Free AI Tools for Academic Reading

The speaker continues to discuss the benefits of using Size.Space and Explain Paper to read academic papers for free. They emphasize the importance of starting with the abstract and skimming the paper before using the AI co-pilot to ask questions and get explanations. The speaker also mentions the limitations of the AI co-pilot feature in Size.Space but notes that they have not personally encountered these issues. They then introduce Explain Paper as an alternative that offers unlimited explanations and follow-up questions, despite not having all the features of Size.Space. The speaker demonstrates how to use Explain Paper to get simplified explanations of complex parts of a paper, adjusting the level of explanation to suit the user's understanding. They conclude by recommending these tools for saving time and providing a clear overview of academic papers.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Academic Papers

Academic papers are scholarly articles that present research findings and are typically peer-reviewed. They are a primary mode of communication in academia. In the video, the author discusses the difficulty and cost associated with reading these papers, highlighting the need for AI tools to aid in understanding and summarizing their content.

💡AI Tools

AI tools in this context refer to artificial intelligence software designed to assist in tasks such as summarizing, interpreting, and extracting data from complex documents like academic papers. The script mentions several AI tools, some of which are subscription-based, while the author recommends two free alternatives.

💡Subscription

A subscription model is a business approach where users pay a recurring fee to access a service or product. The video script criticizes the subscription fees of various AI tools for reading academic papers, suggesting that they are too expensive for some users.

💡Size Space

Size Space is one of the free AI tools mentioned in the video for reading academic papers. It offers features like literature review, data extraction from PDFs, and AI co-pilot reading. The author demonstrates how to use Size Space to summarize and understand academic papers more efficiently.

💡Extract Data from PDFs

This feature allows users to upload a PDF document and have the AI tool extract key information or summaries. In the script, the author uses this feature of Size Space to quickly get a summary of a paper, exemplifying its utility for researchers and students.

💡AI Co-Pilot

The AI co-pilot is a feature within Size Space that assists users in reading and understanding academic papers by answering questions, summarizing text, and providing explanations. The video demonstrates how this tool can be used to get simple explanations of highlighted text within a paper.

💡Explain Paper

Explain Paper is another free AI tool recommended in the video for summarizing and explaining academic papers. It allows users to ask for explanations of highlighted text at different levels of complexity, from a middle schooler to an expert.

💡Summarize

Summarizing in the context of the video refers to the process of condensing a large document, such as an academic paper, into a shorter, more digestible format. Both Size Space and Explain Paper offer summarization features that help users quickly grasp the main points of a paper.

💡Highlight

Highlighting is an action within the AI tools that allows users to select a portion of the text for further analysis or explanation. The script describes how highlighting text in a paper and then asking for an explanation can aid in understanding complex concepts.

💡Follow-up Questions

Follow-up questions are additional inquiries made after an initial response to gain more clarity or information. In the video, the author mentions the ability to ask follow-up questions within the AI co-pilot feature to delve deeper into the content of an academic paper.

💡Abstract

An abstract is a brief summary at the beginning of an academic paper that outlines the main points, including the research question, methods, results, and conclusions. The video emphasizes starting with the abstract when using the AI tools to understand a paper's content.

Highlights

Reading academic papers can be difficult, but there are free AI tools available to assist.

Many AI tools for academic paper reading require subscription fees, which can be costly.

OpenReads, ChatPDF, Humata, Lateral, PaperBrain, and Unriddle are all AI tools that require payment.

The speaker introduces two free AI tools for reading academic papers without subscription fees: Scite and ExplainPaper.

Scite offers a dashboard for literature review, data extraction from PDFs, AI co-pilot reading, and paraphrasing.

Scite's 'Extract Data from PDFs' feature allows users to upload a PDF for quick summaries and conclusions.

AI co-pilot in Scite helps in understanding complex parts of a paper by summarizing, explaining text, and providing related papers.

The speaker suggests starting with an abstract and skimming the paper, highlighting and asking questions if unsure.

ExplainPaper offers unlimited highlight explanations and follow-up questions for free.

ExplainPaper simplifies complex academic content into understandable language for different levels of expertise.

Both Scite and ExplainPaper are currently free, but the speaker notes that this may change in the future.

The speaker emphasizes the efficiency of these tools in saving time and providing quick summaries of academic papers.

The workflow using Scite and ExplainPaper removes the guesswork in identifying the most important information in a paper.

The speaker also mentions an 'effus Academia' course with downloadable resources and book recommendations.

A related video is mentioned where the speaker discusses the potential end of traditional academic papers due to AI tools.

The transcript concludes by encouraging viewers to check out the mentioned tools and resources for free academic paper reading.