Consensus

Consensus is an AI-powered search engine designed to make searching for and consuming scientific research papers easier and more accessible. It searches a corpus of over 200 million academic papers to help users find, understand, and synthesize peer-reviewed literature with the speed of AI but the rigor of academic standards. For every query, Consensus employs a multi-step approach: it first scans its massive database using a hybrid of semantic and keyword search, then re-ranks the top 1,500 papers based on research quality signals like recency, citation count, and journal reputation. Finally, it uses powerful language models to synthesize findings across the most relevant papers, providing evidence-based answers rather than speculative content. The platform's mission is to empower a new generation of citizen scientists by equipping them with direct access to evidence, moving beyond traditional search engine results that often prioritize opinion or SEO-driven content. Key features include Scholar Agent, which executes multi-step structured searches; Results Timeline, which plots research evolution chronologically; and Table View, which extracts study attributes like population and methods for side-by-side comparison. Consensus allows users to chat with their own collections of saved or uploaded PDFs, providing focused answers from specific research sets. Founded in 2021, the tool has grown to serve millions of researchers, students, and clinicians globally.