EBSCO Information Services Introduces Artificial Intelligence Beta Program
NISO Member News
Ipswich, MA | June 18, 2024
EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) is launching artificial intelligence (AI) beta programs to partner with customers and receive user input on the company’s AI efforts. The first beta test concluded in May 2024, and a second beta will begin in July 2024. The betas are intended to create efficiencies for researchers working within EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) and EBSCOhost®. Beta testers are exploring two features — AI Insights, which will generate a short list of insights from full-text articles, and Natural Language Search, which allows researchers to conduct search in their natural language, with user queries honored as questions in search.
EBSCO’s AI Insights feature generates on-demand, high-level summary statements, or “insights” from full-text articles so researchers can quickly assess the relevancy of an article for their research topic. The insights are generated using a Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) method, where the AI is grounded on the full text to reduce hallucinations. Extensive variations of responses were verified by EBSCO librarians, customers, and end users via human-in-the-loop processes. During the beta testing period, customers were asked if the AI Insight was useful, and 90 percent of participants confirmed it was beneficial. EBSCO will be sharing results of this beta in July 2024.
Natural Language Search, a beta release kicking off in July 2024, allows for searching in the researcher’s natural language, and is intended to honor the users’ intent. The underlying search technology leverages EBSCO’s relevance ranking, subject query expansion via the Unified Subject Index of linked data-controlled vocabularies and authoritative metadata, with the addition of AI query expansion for common words.
EBSCO Director of Semantics, Ashleigh Faith, says the company is focused on building responsible AI features on the foundations of authoritative data, information literacy, scholarly best practices, presented in a transparent, user-focused interface. “EBSCO’s beta releases demonstrate how the company is integrating AI within the framework of our curated authoritative content — in a responsible, ethical way to prevent the dissemination of misinformation, ensuring our technology delivers relevant, accurate resources to researchers. We look forward to receiving feedback from our beta testers, which will help inform EBSCO’s AI developments moving forward.”
In Fall 2023, EBSCO announced upcoming plans to incorporate AI into the company’s products as well as guiding principles for responsible use of AI. In 2025, EBSCO will release two additional beta programs, AI Reference Assistance and Literature Review. Visit EBSCO Artificial Intelligence on our website to learn more and inquire about potential beta opportunities in the future.
About This Organization
About EBSCO Information Services
EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO) is a leading provider of online research content and search technologies serving academic, school and public libraries; healthcare and medical institutions; corporations; and government agencies around the world. From research, acquisition management, subscription services and discovery to clinical decision support and patient care, learning, and research and development, EBSCO provides institutions with access to content and resources to serve the information and workflow needs of their users and organizations. For more information, visit the EBSCO website at: www.ebsco.com.