How AI Exchange Works

When a user asks a research question, the AI client can call EBSCOhost AI Exchange, which searches licensed content and returns a response with citations.

How a Question Becomes a Cited Answer

A user asks a question in an AI client.
The AI client routes the request to AI Exchange.
AI Exchange enforces access rights, searches licensed publisher content, and structures the metadata so an AI system can use it.
AI Exchange returns its response to the AI client, with citations and metadata.
The user receives a cited response from the AI client.

What AI Exchange Does With a Request

Before AI Exchange responds to your AI client, it does three things:

Enforces access rights. AI Exchange applies the access rights and permissions that govern the content.
Searches licensed content. AI Exchange queries licensed publisher content.
Structures metadata. AI Exchange structures metadata so AI systems can use it.

The content comes from publisher content repositories that are licensed and rights-cleared.

What the AI Client Receives

What comes back depends on the approach:

Bridge Results provides links to EBSCOhost content, not the content itself. Users follow a link to EBSCOhost to reach the full text, where available.
Bridge Answers lets AI agents create outputs and answers based on EBSCOhost content, with links back to EBSCOhost for verification, fact-checking, and grounding.

Who Is Involved

AI Exchange sits between three groups, and each has a role:

Publishers contribute content under defined terms.
AI systems access content in controlled, governed ways.
End users receive AI-powered answers grounded in real, citable research.

AI Exchange organizes and enriches the content and enforces rights.

How AI Exchange Connects to Your AI Client

AI Exchange is built on the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open standard that major enterprise AI platforms, copilots, and developer frameworks increasingly support. In AI Exchange, MCP serves as the real-time retrieval layer that connects AI Exchange to AI systems.

Access to Licensed Content

For both Bridge Results and Bridge Answers, AI Exchange accesses licensed content in real time, at the moment a question is asked. The content is not stored or incorporated into a model. Licensing content for model training is a separate, optional agreement with its own terms.

Learn More

To learn more, see these Concepts pages:

Rights, Entitlements, and Access Control
Citations and Attribution
Retrieval and Training