On October 29, 2025, the project “Laymen Summaries of Scientific Information” officially kicked off. This initiative addresses the growing demand for accessible scientific knowledge, particularly among non-academic audiences such as educators, healthcare professionals, and policymakers. While open access has made scientific publications more widely available, many non-scientific users struggle to understand and apply the complex information within these articles.

To explore solutions, the AI&Behaviour group will, together with the Royal Library and the VU Library, investigate the use of open and reliable Generative AI to translate scientific articles into clear, understandable Dutch summaries tailored to different end-users. The goal is to bridge the gap between scientific research and practical application, ensuring that evidence-informed decision-making is accessible to all.

The project team includes two MSc students as research assistants, each working two days a week on the project. One student brings a Computer Science background, while the other specializes in Artificial Intelligence. Their combined expertise will be instrumental in developing and testing AI-driven approaches to improve the reliability and clarity of scientific communication.

This experimental project aligns with the broader Open Science movement, emphasizing the importance of making research both open and comprehensible to the public, as well as our mission to use AI for helping human users.