The National University of Singapore (NUS) has announced AI Sense Maker (ASM), becoming the first university in Southeast Asia to deploy conversational AI to support academic research and learning.

Developed jointly by NUS Libraries and NUS Information Technology, ASM is a web-based platform powered by OpenAI‘s large language model. Rather than requiring users to search databases with exact keywords, the platform lets students and researchers ask questions in everyday language — such as why some neighbourhoods in Singapore feel hotter than others — and uses semantic search to understand the intent behind a query.

Faster, more intuitive research discovery

ASM generates concise topic summaries, identifies related concepts, curates references for further reading, and builds interactive knowledge graphs showing how ideas connect. NUS said this is faster than conventional keyword searches, which return long lists of articles that users must open and read individually, and which can miss relevant material if the exact terms aren’t used.

“Researchers today are not short of information, they are short of time and clarity,” said Associate Professor Natalie Pang, University Librarian at the National University of Singapore. “AI Sense Maker is designed to help people make sense of information, not simply find it. By connecting ideas across trusted sources, it gives students and researchers a more intuitive starting point for deeper inquiry.”

Built on NUS’ rare collections

The platform will officially launch on 20 August 2026 with an initial foundation of 150,000 digitised materials, drawn from ScholarBank, NUS’ repository of research papers, and Digital Gems, its digitised collection of rare Southeast Asia-focused materials dating back to the 17th century.

Assoc Prof Pang added that the platform reflects NUS Libraries’ broader “Libraries of Fantastic Things” innovation framework, aimed at strengthening research discovery, digitisation and the accessibility of rare and fragile collections.