Research drives decisions in most knowledge work. Whether you're assessing vendors, evaluating technologies, understanding regulations, or investigating market trends, the research process has significant overhead. AI tools are compressing that process dramatically. Here's how to use them effectively.
Perplexity: Conversational Research
Perplexity has become the go-to for research that requires web search. Unlike ChatGPT's knowledge cutoff, Perplexity searches the live web and synthesizes findings with citations. The "Copilot" mode provides more thorough exploration of complex questions with iterative follow-up suggestions.
The workflow: start with a broad question, follow Perplexity's suggested refinements, dive deeper on promising directions. Citations link directly to sources, making it easy to verify claims and dive into primary materials. For market research, competitive analysis, or any topic where current information matters, Perplexity is faster than traditional search.
Consensus: Academic and Scientific Research
Consensus indexes academic papers and synthesizes scientific findings. Ask a question, get a consensus view drawn from published research. The tool identifies agreement and disagreement across studies, shows the weight of evidence, and links to actual papers.
For due diligence on health claims, technology effectiveness studies, or any claim backed by academic literature, Consensus provides the research perspective that general web search misses. The ability to filter by study type, publication date, and methodology helps narrow to relevant evidence.
Connected Notes: Building a Research Knowledge Graph
Traditional note-taking captures information; connected notes understand relationships. Tools like Obsidian, Notion AI, and Roam Research build knowledge graphs where notes link to each other, revealing connections across topics over time.
The AI advantage: these tools now suggest connections you didn't know to look for. "This note about vendor pricing connects to your notes about competitor analysis from last month." The research you did for one purpose becomes context for research on related topics.
Elicit: Research Workflow Automation
Elicit automates the systematic research workflow. Given a research question, it finds relevant papers, extracts key findings, and synthesizes across studies. The extraction quality varies by field and paper structure, but for literature reviews and systematic analysis, it handles significant tedium.
The time savings compound for ongoing research areas. Research you might have done once and moved on becomes a foundation you build on over time as new papers appear, with AI tracking what's been covered and what new evidence adds.
Practical Research Workflow
The combined workflow: start with Perplexity for broad exploration and current information. Move to Consensus when academic backing matters. Take notes in a connected notes tool that surfaces related past research. Use Elicit for systematic literature review when needed. The combination compresses research from days to hours without sacrificing depth.