Learn more about Perlego's Research Assistant

Table of contents

1. What is Research Assistant?
2. What’s new in this release
3. What can it do?
4. What it doesn’t do
5. Availability
6. Our approach to AI and academic integrity
7. FAQs

What is Research Assistant?

Research Assistant is an AI-powered tool that helps students and researchers explore topics through Perlego’s library of academic books. Rather than replacing reading, it’s designed to inspire curiosity — helping learners ask better questions, find relevant sources, and dig deeper into their subject.

Learners interact with it through a conversational interface: they ask a question, get a cited overview drawn from real academic texts, and can follow threads, explore alternatives, and open full books directly from the response.

What’s new in this release

Research Assistant has received a significant upgrade. The core experience remains the same, but the tool is now faster, more flexible, and easier to use.

New in this release:

• Smoother conversations - refine and explore research questions more easily within a single thread
• Improved loading states - clearer transparency while answers are being generated
• Instant catalogue checks - quickly confirm whether a specific book or author is available on Perlego
• Bulk catalogue checks - paste in a reading list or multiple ISBNs to check availability all at once
• Book recommendations - discover relevant titles by topic, or find related works based on a book the users already know

Alongside these feature updates, you can now enable Research Assistant directly from your Subscription Manager - no need to go through your Partner Success Manager.

What can it do?

Research Assistant supports four core types of request:

• Answer research questions — generates cited overviews of topics drawn from academic books in Perlego’s library of 1.5 million titles
• Find books on Perlego — lets learners check whether specific titles, authors, or ISBNs are available, individually or in bulk
• Recommend books — suggests titles by topic or based on a book the learner already knows, with options to refine
• Answer basic questions about a book — helps learners understand what a title covers before they open it
  
  

Each response includes inline citations and a full reference list in Harvard style, linking directly to the relevant passage in the source book. Learners can tap any citation to read the excerpt, then open the full text in Perlego’s reader.

Note: Research Assistant searches English-language content only, but learners can ask questions in any language and will receive a response in that language.

What it doesn’t do

Research Assistant is scoped deliberately to support research — not replace it.

It does not:

• Retrieve or export full book content
• Provide downloadable PDFs
• Feed entire books into external tools
• Write assignments or perform full data extraction on books

This keeps the tool focused on discovery and inspiration, while protecting the integrity of the academic process.

Availability

For your learners

Research Assistant is available on desktop and mobile web browsers. It is not yet available on the Perlego mobile app.

Users can access Research Assistant if their organisation has enabled it.

For your organisation

Research Assistant is an opt-in feature — it is not enabled by default for institutional customers. You are in control of whether it’s available to your learners.

You can now enable or disable Research Assistant directly from your Subscription Manager settings — no need to contact your Partner Success Manager.

See Managing AI features in your Subscription Manager for step-by-step instructions.

Note: Once enabled, Research Assistant will be available to all active users under your subscription. If you’d like to discuss your institution’s approach before enabling, get in touch with your Account Manager.

Impact on learner engagement

Platform data shows that learners who use Perlego’s AI tools read 50% more than those who don’t. Research Assistant is designed to drive that kind of deeper engagement — helping learners move from a question to a relevant academic source in a single session.

Note: This figure is drawn from Perlego’s internal platform data. Read the full AI case study for more context.

Our approach to AI and academic integrity

We know that AI policies vary significantly across institutions. Research Assistant has been designed with that in mind.

A few principles that guide how it works:

• Opt-in by default. Your organisation chooses whether to enable it. Learners on your subscription won’t see it unless you’ve activated it.
• Grounded in your library. Responses are based on academic books in Perlego’s collection, not the open web. Every claim is cited and traceable to a source text.
• Supports reading, doesn’t replace it. The tool is designed to help learners find and open books — not to extract or summarise content wholesale.
• Aligned with our AI Values. You can read more about how we approach AI at perlego.com/values/ai.

Note: The information generated by Research Assistant is for informational purposes only. Perlego does not accept responsibility for inaccurate or misleading outputs. Users are encouraged to verify information independently. The views expressed in sourced books are those of their authors and do not reflect Perlego’s position.

FAQs

Can I turn Research Assistant off after enabling it?

Yes. You can toggle Research Assistant on or off at any time from your Subscription Manager settings. See Managing AI features in your Subscription Manager for instructions.

Will learners know when a response is AI-generated?

Yes. Research Assistant clearly presents its responses as AI-generated, with citations back to specific books and passages so learners can verify sources directly.

Does Research Assistant work with any plan?

Research Assistant is available on Essential, Enhanced and Ultimate plans.

Is there a limit to how many questions learners can ask?

There is no set limit for institutional subscribers with Research Assistant enabled. Usage is monitored as part of our ongoing development of the feature.

Where can I learn more or see it in action?

We hosted a webinar showcasing Research Assistant — watch the recording here.