“Plutchik”: artificial intelligence chatbot for searching NCBI databases

Abstract

As genetic testing gains ground in medicine, the ability to search across the suite of biomedical and clinical care databases offered through the National Library of Medicine/National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)—such as PubMed, GENE, Structure, the Genetic Testing Registry, and others—holds the potential to enhance quality of clinical care best practices. “Plutchik” is a voice-enabled, embodied artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot that can perform highly technical medical searches in and across the NCBI suite of databases.This article was selected by the Virtual Projects Advisory Committee of technology experts after an annual call for projects in MLA-FOCUS and announcements to encourage submissions from all types of libraries.