AI tools

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools are becoming increasingly useful for studying, researching, writing and presenting.  

We recommend trying out different AI tools to develop your understanding of them. All AI tools should be used appropriately and with care. Before using any AI tools read our general advice.  

General advice before using AI tools

• do not put private or sensitive data into an AI system – that includes information about you or any participants in your research or work  
• do not upload copyrighted material to AI systems 
• view AI outputs as a starting point that requires reviewing and editing  
• understand the AI’s training data and potential biases or limitations. Look for AI tools that are transparent about their models and outputs  
• use AI as an aid and assistant – not a supervisor. It’s essential that you verify information it produces as you will be responsible if the use of a tool introduces errors to your work  
• be aware of  academic policies on AI use  for coursework or research, and never try to pass off work written by AI as your own  
• the instructions you give an AI tool (known as prompts) will need to be clear to get the best results. It can take some experimentation with the prompts to get something acceptable  
• using AI tools should not be used as a substitute for our library databases and resources  
• think carefully about when it’s appropriate to use an AI tool 
• be aware of the ethical concerns around AI (see Ethical Concerns below)  

General AI tools

The most common Generative AI tools are ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot and Google Gemini. These tools are good for summarising, developing outlines, grammar correction, translation and search. 

Recommended generative AI tools

Students and staff with Office 365 access: Copilot

If you have access to Office 365 via University of Essex, UEL or the Tavistock and Portman we recommend you use Copilot after signing in to your organisation’s Microsoft account. 

Using Copilot, when you are signed into Microsoft, provides a greater degree of data protection. When signed in, you will see your name and a green shield on the Copilot web page, which shows your data is better protected. You should still follow all our general advice (above).  

Staff and students without Office 365 access: Google Gemini or ChatGPT

If you don’t have access to Office 365 then our recommended free options are ChatGPT or Google Gemini. 

Using the free publicly available versions of ChatGPT or Google Gemini means your data will not be protected and your data will be used to train the AI models behind them. You must follow our general advice (above). 

About our recommendations

Our recommendations are based on advice from Jisc, the digital, data and technology agency for UK higher education. 

Examples of AI other tools

This collated list of AI tools provides a starting point. It is a list of suggestions, not recommendations or endorsements. 

We have organised our list to highlight different potential uses for AI, but some tools can serve multiple purposes.  All offer free-to-use options at the time of writing, although there might be limits on the features available or how much you can use them without paying.   

Literature search

Elicit

A search service that lets you type in a research question and uses AI to match it to papers without you needing to provide alternative search terms or synonyms. It provides summaries of abstracts and lets you analyse papers by method, outcomes and more.  

Consensus

Finds research relevant to a given question, highlighting key sections that provide potential answers, and indicates how much agreement there is in the literature. It can help you quickly grasp insights by providing ‘study snapshots’ and indicators of how often a paper has been cited.  

Summary or document Q&A

Claude

Summarise long documents into concise overviews, extracting key points and conclusions. Claude can also answer specific questions about document contents by analysing the text and providing relevant responses to help with the understanding of academic literature.  

Humata

Automatically summarises documents you upload, and allows you to ask questions about the content – it will even suggest questions to help get you started. Answers provided include citations from relevant sections in your documents to let you trace the source of insights.   

General search

Perplexity

A chat-based AI that searches the web and gives you answers to your questions, with links to where the information was found. It also suggests follow-up questions to help you explore areas further.   

You.com

General search engine and chatbot, with unlimited access to its ‘Smart’ search service. The free version also allows limited searches on its more specialist chatbots such as its ‘Research’ and ‘Creative’ AI agents. 

Writing

Grammarly

Reviews spelling, grammar, punctuation, clarity, engagement, and delivery mistakes in English texts. Can be accessed online or plugins are available to check within Word, Google Docs and Outlook.   

Wordtune

The free version of Wordtune offers unlimited spelling and grammar checks, but there are there are daily and monthly limits on AI suggestions, rewrites and summarisations. Can be accessed online or plugins are available to check within Word, plus the Google and Edge browsers.   

Image generation

Canva

This design platform includes an image generator in its Magic Media app. Use words to describe the type of image you need, and use the style and shape options to further adjust the results you get.   

StarryAI

Generate images with text prompts to get results in a wide range of styles – including various types of illustrations and photo-realistic scenes. Includes the option to copy the text prompts from already-created images on the site.   

Presentation generation

Gamma

Creates visually appealing presentations, documents or websites. Type in text prompts to describe what you need, then Gamma’s AI will generate complete slides in seconds. The results can include text and images, which you can edit.   

Visme

The free version gives you credits to create slides and suggest wording and structure for your presentation. The built-in AI chatbot function will ask you questions about your presentation to get better insight into what you’d like to present.   

Ethical concerns

There is a debate about the ethics of using some AI tools:  

• they need significant amounts of energy, which can contribute to climate change.  
• AI relies on human judgment to check AI outputs during the testing and training process of the system, which can lead to psychological strain and exploitation.  
• biased decision-making  
• questions around copyright of the training material  
• privacy violations from extensive data use  
• a lack of transparency of the algorithmic processes used to generate content