Less Noise. More Knowledge.

Consensus is an AI-powered search engine for scientific research papers. Our mission is to make the world's best knowledge more accessible for all.

Better science is how we build a better world

To create new knowledge, you must first understand what’s already known. But humanity’s hard-won insights are locked inside millions of research papers. Navigating this maze is overwhelming for researchers and purely out of reach for anyone outside academia.

We’re building the best way to search, synthesize, and understand scientific knowledge—so researchers can get back to science, not searches, and everyone can access evidence, not opinion.

We want to see a world with superhuman researchers, and a generation of citizen scientists. This is the world we’re creating with Consensus.

Our Story

Consensus was founded in 2021 by Christian Salem and Eric Olson, two Division 1 athlete teammates from families of researchers and teachers. They bonded over a shared love for science but felt like outsiders looking in.

Consensus was started to ensure that no one feels like an outsider to science, and to make research easier to find, understand, and trust. What began as a remote-first company, Consensus now calls San Francisco home.

5+ million

Researchers, students, and clinicians choose Consensus

10,000+

Universities represented amongst our users

10+ million

Papers from Consensus shared with others

50+ million

Research questions handled to date

Meet the team

We are a small, scrappy and dedicated team of engineers, operators and science-lovers.

Eric Olson
Eric Olson
Co-Founder & CEO
Christian Salem
Christian Salem
Co-Founder & CPO
Brett Nebeker
Brett Nebeker
Head of ML
Chris Varano
Chris Varano
Search Engineer
Jimmy Longley
Jimmy Longley
Software Engineer
Namrata Kundu
Namrata Kundu
Software Engineer
Pablo Garces
Pablo Garces
Product Designer
Ali Farid, PhD
Ali Farid, PhD
ML Engineer
Alan Kalbfleisch
Alan Kalbfleisch
Software Engineer
David Wallace
David Wallace
Data Engineer
Leila Elamine
Leila Elamine
Content Marketing
Aakash Adesara
Aakash Adesara
AI Engineer
Andrew West
Andrew West
ML Engineer
Heath Hohwald
Heath Hohwald
Search Engineer
Allison Elechko
Allison Elechko
Customer Operations
Yuri Fursov
Yuri Fursov
Search Engineer
Daniel D'souza
Daniel D'souza
Growth
Arbaz Khatib
Arbaz Khatib
Software Engineer
Aaron Sarnoff
Aaron Sarnoff
Head of Engineering
JL Needham
JL Needham
Partnerships Lead

Our advisors

We are incredibly lucky to be advised by experts across popular science, meta-science and AI

Dr. Nicholas Christakis, PhD, MD
Dr. Nicholas Christakis, PhD, MD
Popular Science, Misinformation
Dr. Layne Norton, PhD
Dr. Layne Norton, PhD
Evidence-Based Health & Fitness
Stephen Wolfram, PhD
Stephen Wolfram, PhD
Wolfram Alpha, Computer Science
Jevin West, PhD
Jevin West, PhD
Metascience
Konrad Kording, PhD
Konrad Kording, PhD
Deep Learning, AI

Our backers

We are backed by some of the best investors in the world. We raised an $11.5M Series A in 2024 from Union Square Ventures, Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross.

Try Consensus Today!

Consensus is an AI-powered search engine for scientific research, combining academic rigor with AI speed to make trusted knowledge easier to find and understand.