With the recent and rapid advances of AI technologies, and the plethora of new tools available, it can be challenging to know how best to implement these tools without compromising on the quality and integrity of the review.

In this web clinic, the presenters covered:

1. How Cochrane currently uses automation and machine learning in review production.
2. What generative artificial intelligence is, the opportunities it brings and the challenges regarding its safe use.
3. Cochrane’s approach to establishing guidelines for the responsible use of artificial intelligence in evidence synthesis.

The session was delivered in May 2024 and below you will find the videos from the webinar, together with the accompanying slides to download [PDF]. Recordings from other Methods Support Unit web clinics are available here. 

Part 1: How Cochrane currently uses machine learning: implementing innovative technology
Part 2: What generative AI is, the opportunities it brings and the challenges regarding its safe use
Part 3: Cochrane's focus on the responsible use of AI in systematic reviews
Part 4: Questions and answers

Presenter Bios

Anna Noel-Storr has worked for Cochrane since 2008. A highly experienced health information specialist and methodological researcher with a particular interest in developing and evaluating new methods, processes and workflows for study identification within evidence synthesis production. Anna led the development of the Cochrane Crowd citizen science platform and currently leads on Cochrane’s Evidence Pipeline initiative. In 2019 she was the recipient of the Chris Silagy Award for outstanding contribution to Cochrane. During the pandemic, she played a leading role in the set up and implementation of the Cochrane COVID-19 Study Register, a highly curated, up-to-date repository of studies related to COVID-19.

Ella Flemyng is Head of Editorial Policy and Research Integrity in Cochrane. She leads work to define and deliver on policies and standards so Cochrane evidence continues to be trusted and valued. This includes delivering change to the format of Cochrane reviews and data to make them more streamlined to produce and easier to use. Ella worked in open access STEM publishing before joining Cochrane in 2019. Follow her at @EllaFlemyng

Professor James Thomas is Principal Investigator of the Evidence Reviews Facility for the Department of Health and Social Care, England, which is a large programme of policy-relevant systematic reviews with accompanying methodological development to increase their relevance and applicability for decision-making. He co-led the Cochrane ‘Project Transform’ which is implementing novel technologies and processes (including machine learning and crowdsourcing) to improve the efficiency of systematic reviews, and is co-investigator on a major Collaborative Award from Wellcome, the Human Behaviour-Change Project, led by Susan Michie (UCL), which is developing technologies and methodologies to organise, synthesise and present the literature in behavioural science.

Part 1: How Cochrane currently uses machine learning: implementing innovative technology

Part 2: What generative AI is, the opportunities it brings and the challenges regarding its safe use

Part 3: Cochrane's focus on the responsible use of AI in systematic reviews

Part 4: Questions and answers

Additional materials

Download the slides from the webinar [PDF]:-

Part 1: How Cochrane currently uses machine learning: Implementing innovative technology
Part 2: What generative AI is, the opportunities it brings and the challenges regarding its safe use
Part 3: Cochrane's focus on the responsible use of AI in systematic reviews