I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there are a lot of AI tools out there. An overwhelming number, some might say. So choosing the right option for you can be surprisingly challenging.
Of course, there are the obvious options like ChatGPT, Gemini, or one of the other major AI brands, powered by billions in funding and massive supercomputers. However, that doesn’t mean they are always the best option for what you need.
For example, for students looking to get an edge on a research project, there are lots of other great options out there. After spending some time testing it, one of my new top picks is Logically.
Where research and writing meet
Logically, formerly known as Afforai, is an AI workspace. It can be used for both research and writing.
In the Logically app or desktop system, you can have everything you need in one place. Start a new document, and you can set headings, write text, add bullet points, tables, images, code, and pretty much anything you would need to write a book, article, research paper, or essay.
This alone is seen in countless places like Notion, Word or pretty much any other AI-powered writing software.
Logically stands out by combining its writing technology with AI research tools in a few ways:
Chatbot functionality
Much like NotebookLM, you can add research documents, papers, or links for the tool to comb through.
Alternatively, through the built-in chatbot, you can ask questions using AI models like Gemini, GPT-4o, or Claude 3.5. This is paired with Google search functions to work in the same way as you might use ChatGPT or Gemini to research a project.
Research like a scholar
Equally, you can use a feature called Semantic Scholar. Instead of searching the web and the training data of whichever AI model you’re using, it will comb through a database of 200 million peer-review research papers.
In this mode, it will not only offer the research papers that best answer your question, but it will also offer the reference, the best quote from the paper and allow you to save your reference straight into a bibliography if needed.
Document retrival
Finally, if you have an exact list of research documents you want to use, a third tool will change the chatbot to only answer questions from your list of research sources. This will also provide citations and references for any information it provides you.
Referencing without the faff
Referencing is, quite frankly, a nightmare. Trying to remember where you found a quote, figure or concept can take forever if you don’t note it down. Even if you do, there is then the formatting to make it correct for the document.
Part of the benefit of Logically is that it does it all for you. Upload documents and links to your project and it will keep them all in one place. By doing this, you can search these documents using the in-built chatbot or just use them for referencing down the line.
You can also add tags to different sources, keeping them all organised in different categories.
Overall thoughts
With all of the incredible things AI can do right now, this is hardly ground-breaking. In a lot of ways, this is a tool that is simply taking the best of other AI systems and using them all in one place.
But, that is what works so well. Why split your time between ChatGPT, NotebookLM and Perplexity, when you can have them all in one place. On top of all those research tools, youa also have your actual project in the same place too.
For the occasional quick project, this isn’t all that useful. But if you’re in school, working towards a PhD or in a research role that requires you to be constantly deep into a project, Logically feels like it has nailed the formula.
More from Tom's Guide
- Want to make the most out of Claude 4 — these five tips come from Anthropic directly
- The ‘reverse advice’ prompt that makes ChatGPT give next-level responses
- I just read Claude’s new blog — and you’d never guess it was written by AI
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