AI Understanding

Overview

GeminiPaper's AI Understanding feature transforms how you read and comprehend research papers. Get instant summaries, extract key findings, and ask questions—all powered by advanced AI.

Core AI Features

Instant Paper Summaries

Get a comprehensive overview of any paper in seconds.

How to Generate a Summary

1. Open any paper in your library
2. Click the Understand button in the toolbar
3. Choose summary length:
   • Brief (2-3 sentences)
   • Standard (1 paragraph)
   • Detailed (multiple paragraphs)
4. Wait 5-10 seconds for AI processing
5. Read your generated summary

What's Included

AI summaries typically contain:

• Research question - What problem does the paper address?
• Methodology - How did researchers approach the problem?
• Key findings - What did they discover?
• Conclusions - What do the results mean?
• Implications - Why does this research matter?

Tip: Use brief summaries for quick scanning, detailed summaries for in-depth review.

Ask AI Questions

Have specific questions about a paper? Just ask!

How to Ask Questions

1. Open a paper
2. Click Ask AI or press Ctrl + K (Windows) / Cmd + K (Mac)
3. Type your question in natural language
4. Press Enter or click Ask
5. AI provides context-aware answers

Example Questions

About Methodology:

• "What research methods did the authors use?"
• "How was the experiment designed?"
• "What was the sample size?"

About Results:

• "What were the main findings?"
• "Were the results statistically significant?"
• "What limitations did the authors mention?"

About Context:

• "How does this relate to previous research?"
• "What are the practical applications?"
• "What future research do the authors suggest?"

About Specific Content:

• "What does Figure 3 show?"
• "Explain the equation on page 5"
• "Summarize the introduction section"

Question Tips

For best results:

• Be specific - "What statistical tests were used?" vs "Tell me about methods"
• Ask one thing at a time - Break complex questions into parts
• Reference sections - "In the discussion, what do authors say about..."
• Follow up - Ask clarifying questions based on previous answers

Key Findings Extraction

Automatically identify the most important parts of any paper.

How to Extract Key Findings

1. Open a paper
2. Navigate to the Insights tab
3. Click Extract Key Findings
4. AI identifies and highlights:
   • Main hypothesis
   • Primary results
   • Statistical significance
   • Novel contributions
   • Limitations mentioned

Using Extracted Findings

• Export findings to your notes
• Compare findings across multiple papers
• Highlight in the PDF viewer
• Share with team members

Relationship Mapping

Understand how papers connect to each other.

Finding Related Papers

1. Open any paper
2. Click Find Related
3. AI analyzes:
   • Shared authors
   • Similar topics
   • Common citations
   • Methodological approaches
4. View suggested related papers

Concept Connections

Discover thematic links:

• Papers exploring similar concepts
• Contradicting findings
• Methodological variations
• Evolution of ideas over time

Example: If you're reading about machine learning in healthcare, AI might suggest:

• Earlier foundational papers in ML
• Recent applications in medical imaging
• Systematic reviews of AI in healthcare
• Papers discussing limitations and ethics

Advanced AI Features

Comparative Analysis

Compare multiple papers side-by-side.

How to Compare Papers

1. Select 2-5 papers in your library
2. Click Compare Papers
3. AI generates comparison showing:
   • Methodology differences
   • Contradicting findings
   • Complementary insights
   • Research gaps

Use cases:

• Literature reviews
• Grant proposals
• Research planning
• Teaching materials

Concept Explanation

Don't understand a technical term or concept?

How to Get Explanations

1. Highlight any text in the PDF
2. Right-click and select Explain
3. AI provides:
   • Simple definition
   • Context within the paper
   • Related concepts
   • Example usage

Great for:

• Learning new fields
• Interdisciplinary research
• Teaching and presentations

Citation Context

Understand why papers cite each other.

Analyzing Citations

1. Click any citation in a paper
2. Select Show Context
3. See:
   • How the cited paper is used
   • What claim it supports
   • Agreement or disagreement
   • Other papers citing the same work

Understanding AI Limitations

What AI Can Do Well

✅ Summarize main points ✅ Extract explicit information ✅ Identify patterns and themes ✅ Answer factual questions ✅ Compare stated findings

What AI Struggles With

❌ Deep theoretical interpretation ❌ Highly specialized domain knowledge ❌ Subjective quality assessment ❌ Complex mathematical proofs ❌ Detecting subtle errors or bias

Important: Always verify AI-generated insights by reading the original paper, especially for critical research decisions.

Best Practices

For Summaries

1. Review before trusting - AI summaries are starting points, not replacements
2. Compare with abstract - Check AI summary against author's abstract
3. Note uncertainties - AI will indicate when it's less confident
4. Regenerate if needed - Try different summary lengths

For Q&A

1. Start broad, then narrow - Begin with general questions, drill down
2. Cite AI responses - When using AI answers, verify with original text
3. Ask for page numbers - Request specific locations for claims
4. Save useful questions - Build a question library for future papers

For Comparative Analysis

1. Select comparable papers - Similar scope and methodology
2. Focus your comparison - Don't try to compare everything
3. Check methodology - Ensure valid comparisons
4. Note limitations - Consider date, sample size, context

Customizing AI Behavior

Adjust AI settings in Settings → AI Preferences:

Summary Style

• Academic - Formal, technical language
• Plain language - Accessible explanations
• Bullet points - Concise, scannable format

Detail Level

• Concise - Essential information only
• Balanced - Standard detail
• Comprehensive - Include nuances and caveats

Focus Areas

Choose what to emphasize:

• Methodology
• Results and data
• Theoretical implications
• Practical applications

AI Usage Limits

Different plans have different AI usage limits:

View your usage in Settings → Billing → AI Usage.

Privacy & Data

What AI Sees

• Paper content you upload
• Questions you ask
• Papers you compare

What AI Doesn't See

• Your other papers (unless comparing)
• Your notes or annotations
• Your personal information

Data Usage

• AI responses are not used for training
• Your papers remain private
• Queries are encrypted in transit
• See our Privacy Policy for details

Troubleshooting

AI Not Responding

Issue: AI features not working

Solutions:

• Check your internet connection
• Verify you haven't exceeded monthly limits
• Try refreshing the page
• Clear browser cache

Inaccurate Summaries

Issue: Summary doesn't match paper content

Solutions:

• Try regenerating with different settings
• Report the issue (helps improve AI)
• Verify paper text extracted correctly
• Check if paper is in supported language

Slow Processing

Issue: AI taking longer than usual

Solutions:

• Very long papers take more time
• Check server status page
• Try during off-peak hours
• Contact support if consistently slow

Next Steps

Master these other powerful features:

Feedback

Help us improve AI Understanding:

• Rate AI responses (👍 👎)
• Report inaccuracies
• Suggest new features
• Share success stories

Your feedback directly improves the AI for everyone!