Literature review takes time and careful judgment. AI can help cluster themes and summarize papers, but it should not decide what evidence is credible.
A verifiable workflow
- Define the review question and inclusion criteria before using AI
- Use AI to cluster abstracts or themes
- Check every claim against the original source
- Record why the team merges, splits, or changes literature groups
What the output should be
The team should end with a source matrix that captures source, theme, method, and limitation, not just a fluent summary that cannot be checked.
Caution
If AI cites nonexistent work or summarizes beyond the evidence, return to the source document immediately.