Exploring AI Tools for Academic Research in the USA

As a humanities graduate student engaged in research involving some data processing, I find myself frequently polishing texts and gathering various resources. Recently, I explored several AI models that have proven invaluable in my quest for information and assistance with writing. Let’s dive into the tools I’ve personally tested and analyze their pros and cons!

1️⃣ Kimi

Advantages: Kimi has impressed me with its capability to search for information. The links it provides are genuine, with very few instances of “page not found.” It excels at finding both domestic and international literature, although it cannot access databases like CNKI. Nevertheless, I often use it to gather domestic news and have successfully accessed academic journals, including those requiring subscriptions, through my school account.

Minor Drawbacks: While Kimi is effective at summarizing articles and creating bullet points, the AI-generated paragraphs tend to exhibit a noticeable AI “flavor,” making it less suitable for final text generation.

2️⃣ ChatGPT (3.5/4)

Experience: I’ve previously used the official ChatGPT but found the membership fee a bit too steep. I eventually let it go because the model often produced text that felt overly robotic in Chinese. However, it seems to have much better grammatical accuracy in English—an aspect I appreciate, despite my limited English skills.

3️⃣ Dou Bao

Advantages: Dou Bao allows for both lengthy input and output, making it easy to read numerous files and images.

Disadvantages: I attempted to streamline my literature review using Dou Bao, but instead of refining my summaries, it generated a heap of new content without citing the original sources. 💢

4️⃣ MyTan

Background: For a long time, MyTan served as my alternative during the periods where I only had access to ChatGPT.

Advantages: MyTan connects to multiple AI models, including ChatGPT. Its proprietary model has proven quite effective, and I frequently use it alongside its integrated models for Chinese and reasoning.

Minor Drawbacks: MyTan operates on a paid model, which is significantly cheaper than ChatGPT. Users need to purchase usage timelines and credits, and while the proprietary model consumes credits at a higher rate, the regular model suffices for everyday use.

5️⃣ DeepSeek

Advantages: DeepSeek has politically strong capabilities for deep thinking in Chinese, effectively polishing paragraphs and enhancing logical flow. It can help me craft sentences that I feel I could not create even in ten years!

Minor Drawbacks: As many know, DeepSeek has faced some technical challenges recently, making it unable to connect to the internet for real-time searches. This means that even though its last update was in 2023, some of the information it offers can be outdated or even fabricated. Until it gets back on track, I plan to continue using it primarily for writing refinement.

Conclusion

These observations reflect my personal views and are based solely on my individual experiences with these AI tools tailored to my specific academic needs. If you have different insights or experiences, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments! Your feedback is always welcome! #AItools #AI