Researchers evaluated a new artificial intelligence tool called Elicit to see how well it could perform the tasks of a systematic review. This type of review is a rigorous process where experts gather and summarize all available evidence on a specific medical topic. The study looked at how well the tool could find studies, screen them, and extract data compared to traditional methods.
The results showed that while Elicit was not great at finding the exact same studies as humans, it was helpful for extracting data. It provided useful information for 85% of the values it checked. The tool also significantly reduced the time needed to complete the review process, cutting it down to about 3 hours. However, the tool had a tendency to include too many irrelevant results during the screening phase.
Because the tool still produces many false positives, it is not ready to replace the human-led review process. Instead, it is currently best used as an extra tool to help researchers work more efficiently. It can assist with screening and data collection, but human oversight remains necessary to ensure accuracy in medical research.
