Building AI Review Article Agent: What I Learned About Automated Knowledge Work

I built an AI system that generates comprehensive academic review articles from web research—complete with citations, LaTeX formatting, and PDF compilation. We're talking hundreds of pages synthesizing vast literature into coherent narratives.

The Reality

While tools like Elicit and Consensus are emerging, building a complete system exposed unexpected complexity. The hardest parts weren't AI reasoning, but orchestration for real-world standards:

- Synthesis vs. Summarization: True synthesis requires understanding relationships between ideas, not just gathering information

- Quality Control: Academic standards demand perfect formatting—AI make systematic errors

- Integration: Combining working components into reliable pipelines is surprisingly difficult

Key Insights

Specialized agents work better than monolithic approaches

Multiple validation layers are essential

Personal solutions outperform one-size-fits-all tools

I documented this journey in an 8-part series covering everything from architectural decisions to citation integrity. The goal isn't prescriptive solutions, but illuminating challenges you'll face building systems that meet professional standards.

Whether automating literature reviews or technical documentation, understanding these complexities is crucial.

https://reckoning.dev/series/aireviewwriter

TL;DR: Built AI for publication-quality review articles. AI reasoning was easy—professional standards were hard.