Newly Launched History AI Chat Gives Guided Help to Students Searching World History Encyclopedia

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 8, 2025--

World History Encyclopedia – the world's largest and most respected history encyclopedia – has launched a new History AI Chat to guide inquiry-based engagement with the Encyclopedia’s corpus of history materials. With the Chat tool, students and teachers can more easily sift through the over 23,000 peer-reviewed and unbiased resources and primary sources in the Encyclopedia’s database as well as Open University’s CORE Index of 420M academic papers. Access to the Encyclopedia and the History AI Chat is free.

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When asked a question, the History AI Chat returns a brief answer, usually in a list, along with the links to each cited source and additional sources that present a more complete picture about what happened. Answers are brief so that students need to investigate all the sources to get the full answer. They can explore and learn, not simply focus on the shortest path to an answer.

“Inquiry-based learning is a powerful way to learn history but it is being lost in the quick-answer world of AI. We worked very closely with teachers and college-level faculty to make sure that the History AI Chat is a learning tool, not an answer tool. Its purpose is to guide investigation and the study of multiple viewpoints to questions about history,” said Jan van der Crabben, Founder & CEO of World History Encyclopedia.

For example, when given the question “ What caused the War of 1812?” the History AI Chat replies with a paragraph and an abbreviated list of causes along with several other resources where more information can be found. The chatbot does not pull in information from the open web, nor does it write answers like generative AI. It can present the student with sources from WHE and from Open University’s CORE global network of academic articles, data, and content.

Anne Krive, a school librarian at the Moses Brown Schools in Providence, Rhode Island, said, “In contrast to 10 years ago, there is a firehose of information available to students and not all of it is accurate, and if discovered through a search or AI study tool, it may not have been curated or evaluated for truth, accuracy, or quality. On the other hand, World History Encyclopedia is accessible, credible, and it is free to use. I am thrilled that now there is an AI chat to make it easier to sift through World History Encyclopedia’s incredible library.”

“People are consuming information differently now, relying on AI search to answer questions and find content. World History Encyclopedia’s History AI Chat can only access the curated corpus of data from two globally respected and unbiased sources: World History Encyclopedia and Open University’s CORE Index. Using World History Encyclopedia, teachers can be confident that their students will have access only to an unbiased global repository of scholarly material,” added van der Crabben.

WHE is entirely free to search, read, and consume, which is why there are thousands of teachers in every country who use it. The chatbot is powered by Perplexity Sonar.

About World History Encyclopedia

World History Encyclopedia – which is free for everyone everywhere – is the world's largest and most popular history encyclopedia. All of the Encyclopedia's content is authored by historians, archaeologists, educators, and scholars. It is a trusted resource in classrooms and universities and recommended by esteemed institutions such as Oxford University, California State University, and Common Sense Education. There were over 89 million page views of World History Encyclopedia in 2024. Learn more at worldhistory.org or follow on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

World History Encyclopedia has released a History AI Chat for the 2025/26 school year. Students and other users can use the chat to more easily sift through the over 420 million peer-reviewed historical documents and resources in World History Encyclopedia. Access to the Encyclopedia and History AI Chat is free. A simple query like “What caused the War of 1812?” or “What is Cleopatra famous for?” generates several paragraphs of information along with sources from the Encyclopedia, sources from Open University’s CORE Index of academic papers, and a list of related questions to guide users in exploring the topic further. See the History AI Chat at https://www.worldhistory.org/ai/.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez on Wednesday vowed to continue releasing prisoners detained under former President Nicolás Maduro during her first press conference since Maduro was ousted by the United States earlier this month.

Rodríguez served as Maduro’s vice president since 2018, running Venezuela’s feared intelligence service and managing its crucial oil industry. A 56-year-old lawyer and politician, Rodríguez was sworn in as interim president two days after the Trump administration snatched Maduro from his fortified compound and claimed the U.S. would be calling the shots in Venezuela.

Addressing journalists from a red carpet at the presidential palace, Rodríguez said the process of releasing prisoners had begun under Maduro and “has not yet concluded.”

“That process remains open,” she said, adding that the releases sent a message that Venezuela was starting “a new political moment that allows for understanding of divergence and of political and ideological diversity."

That comment seemingly alluded to detainees held on what human rights groups say are politically motivated charges. Venezuela’s leading prisoner rights organization, Foro Penal, has verified at least 68 prisoners freed since the government under Rodríguez promised to release a “significant number” of prisoners.

The move was seen as an effort to comply with Washington's demands.

Despite sanctioning her for human rights violations during his first term, President Donald Trump enlisted Rodríguez to help secure U.S. control over Venezuela’s oil sales. To ensure the former Maduro loyalist does his bidding, he threatened Rodríguez with a “situation probably worse than Maduro,” who faces federal charges of drug-trafficking from a Brooklyn jail.

In endorsing Rodríguez, Trump sidelined María Corina Machado, the leader of Venezuela’s opposition who won a Nobel Peace Prize last year for her campaign to restore the nation’s democracy. Machado is scheduled to meet with Trump at the White House on Thursday.

Relatives and friends of political prisoners hold banners and candles calling for their loved ones to be set free outside the Rodeo I prison in Guatire, Venezuela, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026 after the government announced prisoners would be released. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Narwin Gil cries as she waits for news of her detained sister, Marylyn Gil, outside El Helicoide, headquarters of Venezuela's intelligence service and a detention center, in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Mileidy Mendoza, center, waits at Zone 7 of the Bolivarian National Police, where her fiancé Eric Diaz is being held as a political detainee in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, after the government announced prisoners would be released.(AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Students lay out photos of people they consider political prisoners at the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez, center, smiles flanked by Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, right, and National Assembly President, her brother, Jorge Rodriguez, as they prepare to make a statement at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)