Consensus: AI Answers from Real Academic Research
Published on 2025/03/28 by Jasper Sutter
Introduction
Googling a scientific question usually gets you a blog post, a Reddit thread, or an opinion. Consensus does something different: it pulls actual answers from peer-reviewed research—and summarizes them for you.
This is one of the most exciting applications of AI for knowledge workers, especially in fields that demand evidence-based decision-making.
What It Offers
Consensus is an academic search engine powered by AI that:
- Extracts answers from published research
- Highlights areas of agreement and disagreement
- Provides source transparency and citation links
- Uses large language models to summarize consensus
- Includes tools for follow-up questions and deeper exploration
Ideal Use Cases
- Literature reviews for students and academics
- Health, science, or policy research
- Research-backed content writing
- Quickly vetting a claim or idea
What We Like
- ✅ Clear summaries with sources
- ✅ Saves time over manual journal searches
- ✅ Academic transparency and citation built in
- ✅ Affordable pricing tiers
What Could Improve
- ❌ Academic focus may limit usefulness for business cases
- ❌ Doesn’t cover paywalled studies or every field equally
Pricing Overview
Plan | Price | Features |
Free | $0/month | 20 questions/month, basic interface |
Pro | $8.99/month | Unlimited use, saved searches |
Teams | $9.99/user/month | Collaboration tools, admin dashboard |
Excellent value for frequent researchers.
How It Compares
Tool | Strengths | Limitations |
Consensus | Academic rigor, citations | Limited to certain research areas |
Perplexity | Broad web research + answers | No peer-reviewed sourcing focus |
Citation graph visualizations | Less summary-centric |
Consensus is best when you want a clear, sourced answer, not just AI opinion.
Key Takeaways
- 🔍 Pulls insights directly from academic literature
- 🧠 Ideal for anyone doing evidence-based work
- 💡 Simplifies research for students, marketers, writers, and analysts
- 📚 Truly elevates the signal above the noise
Final Verdict
Consensus is what Google Scholar should have been. It’s like having a personal research assistant that reads the studies for you—and tells you what they really say.
📘 Looking for the quick summary?