Trusted knowledge at your fingertips: generative AI powered search across our Publications Catalog

4 min read

At the dawn of humanity, we gathered around campfires in small groups, sharing knowledge through stories. Their wisdom was forged from experience. Today, five billion people gather around the internet, producing and sharing more information than could be parsed in multiple lifetimes.

Instead of readily finding trustworthy insights, we face a flood of information, and discerning quality from noise is a constant challenge.  In some ways, generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents a challenge and a solution to this problem.  On one hand, it makes creating content faster, cheaper, and easier than ever.  The share of AI generated content in top search results is increasing, and some estimates expect a majority of internet content to be AI created in the near future. On the other hand, AI represents an unprecedented opportunity to make information easier to find, understand, and use. 

That is precisely why trusted knowledge matters now more than ever.  At the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), sharing high-quality evidence-based knowledge is a key element of our Institutional Strategy which emphasizes the generation and sharing of knowledge to help foster development impact at scale. Our open access Publications Catalog is built on more than 65 years of research and operational experience. It is a trusted corpus of knowledge resources used by governments and citizens across Latin America and the Caribbean.

Conversations, one publication at a time

The rise of generative artificial intelligence is transforming how we work and how we access information. Just over a year ago we launched an AI-powered feature in our Publications Catalog that allows researchers, policymakers, students, and the public to ask questions to an individual publication just as they would to a colleague, and receive answers based on that document.

Since its launch, we’ve seen that visitors to our Catalog that use this feature spend 94% more time engaged with IDB publications than those who don’t.  This was exciting and encouraging, so we continued to work on harnessing this technology to make trusted IDB knowledge even more accessible.

Conversations, across the body of knowledge

In support of our commitment to open knowledge and aligned with our institutional emphasis on knowledge as a driver of impact, we’ve launched a major new feature that helps you explore the IDB’s publications catalog in seconds.  We’ve expanded the generative AI functionality so that you can ask a question and get answers pulled from thousands of peer-reviewed IDB publications all at once. That’s decades of insights, instantly at your fingertips.  Simply ask a question and receive an answer based on the research in our Publications Catalog, complete with references to the source documents and links so you can keep reading in depth. 

Whether you need evidence for a research paper, or are just curious about a development topic, this new feature connects you with curated, credible knowledge from across all the IDB’s Publications Catalog.

The details of this new search feature and how to use it

When you visit the IDB Publications Catalog at publications.iadb.org, you will see that the search bar has been updated to include a toggle option that allows you to switch between a traditional search experience, and a generative AI-powered search experience:

Using the generative AI function will allow you to:

1. Receive answers to questions based on the content of peer-reviewed IDB publications with complete with citations;
2. Retrieve peer-reviewed publications based on keyword, subjects, authors, departments, and dates, and;
3. Request summaries of individual publications.  

Here are some examples of the types of questions that you can ask:

• List the latest publications on artificial intelligence.
• Can you give me a list of publications that discuss inflation?
• What is the book “ Are we there yet? The Path Towards Sustained Economic Growth in the Caribbean” about?
• What are some policy recommendations for increasing trust in Latin America?            
• What can we do to improve citizen security?   

The ability to have a conversation with our digital library in natural language is no longer a futuristic dream. It’s here.  So, what are you waiting for?   Try this new feature today, and experience what’s possible when artificial intelligence meets the power of IDB’s open knowledge.

Have you tried out this new feature?  Let us know what you think in the comments below!