Boston-based Consensus has recently secured a $3 million seed funding to advance its mission to revolutionize scientific web search. This AI-powered search engine is aimed at improving the quality of search results in the scientific space. Founded by Eric Olson and Christian Salem, the company has already attracted nearly 200,000 registered users since its launch in September.
Consensus differentiates itself from existing search engines by prioritising sources’ authority rather than popularity or user preferences. To do this, it leverages a customized version of GPT-4 developed in partnership with OpenAI and a ‘claim extractor’ to identify word-for-word claims by authors of research papers. Additionally, a unique ‘Consensus Meter’ ensures that yes-or-no answers are provided with proportional accuracy.
The list of features provided by the platform is far from exhaustive. Its array of generative AI technology, summarise feature and scope of coverage from 200 million scientific and academic research papers makes Consensus stand out in the field of AI-powered search engines.
The seed funding round was led by Tim Draper of Draper Associates, who commented that Consensus will own Search 3.0. A further $1.25 million was reinvested from Winklevoss Capital, one of the participants in the pre-seed round.
Consensus is aiming to be the go-to search engine for reliable and accurate facts and information. It is hoping to expand beyond scientific papers to other sources of expert knowledge. The additional capital raised will be utilised to double the engineering team and speed up the development process.
Eric Olson, the CEO of Consensus, is a co-founder of the company and comes from an academic background. He believes that his company will set a benchmark for web search by democratizing access to reliable information.
Christian Salem, the other co-founder, is also a great believer in the power of accurate information. He and Eric Olson have poured their time and efforts into developing Consensus and believe that it will transform research and disrupt the entire $200 billion industry.
OpenAI has been a key partner in the venture, obtaining access to their customized GPT-4 API and creating a plain-language summary generator. This tool quickly and efficiently navigates large volumes of data to generate answers that are relevant, authoritative and reliable.
If Eric Olson and Christian Salem’s vision comes to fruition, Consensus might become the new standard for web search. With its array of cutting-edge features, it might revolutionize how we access information on the web.
