tech
January 28, 2026
Exa AI Research Blog
Discover the latest in AI research and semantic search technology on the Exa blog. Learn how our neural network search engine provides high-quality web data for AI applications
TL;DR
- AI writing assistant aimed to solve research needs for students, professionals, and writers.
- Key obstacles included citation friction, accuracy concerns, and educational market barriers.
- A real-time citation engine was built, integrating research discovery and citation formatting using Exa's search endpoint and neural search.
- Features include contextual citation suggestions and live content extraction from academic papers.
- Exa's Search Endpoint offers neural search for academic content, real-time content extraction, and top source coverage.
- The citation feature led to revenue growth from under $1M to $6M ARR in one year.
- Free-to-paid user conversion increased by 10%.
- The tool gained adoption in over 230 educational institutions.