Every morning, I browse the internet looking for clever ways people are using AI to achieve their goals. While I often find impressive use cases like “This ChatGPT prompt ‘unlocks 100% of GPT-5’s power’“, this morning I stumbled across someone using ChatGPT to summarize book chapters.
Now, summarization tools are nothing new; in fact, some of the best examples of AI are apps like NotebookLM, which condense information into smaller, easily digestible chunks.
In this case, however, this prompt is being used to summarize fictional works, removing the beauty of what makes literature so inherently romantic. At first, I thought I would scroll past the Reddit thread, but after sitting on it for a while, I decided it was only right that I voice my opinion.
I think AI, in specific circumstances, is an excellent tool that can truly improve our lives. However, this prompt is an example of everything wrong with AI, and I can’t help but feel sad to see people championing it.
Don’t summarize art
I Used AI to Read Books Chapter by Chapter — Here’s Why I’ll Never Read the Same Way Again from r/ChatGPTPromptGenius
The Reddit thread in question is titled, “I Used AI to Read Books Chapter by Chapter — Here’s Why I’ll Never Read the Same Way Again.” Yeah, of course you won’t be reading the same way again; you’re no longer reading!
The user explains how they have been using an in-depth prompt to summarize books chapter by chapter, and honestly, it sounds like they’re stripping pieces of literature of everything that makes them what they are in the first place.
I’ve not lost all hope in humanity, however, as the comments on the Reddit thread are pretty clear that this might just be a step too far. One user wrote, “This is one use of AI I CANNOT get behind, might as well put a Michelin star meal through a blender and eat it as a shake.”
Another said, “Read the book… And if you can get the content and experience of the book with an AI summary of it, then it probably is not a book that you should be reading, in which case, just don’t read it or summarize it.”
I see a place for summarization tools when it comes to simplifying non-fiction subjects like college textbooks, and I think that’s a genuinely great way to get the most from AI. However, I fundamentally disagree with using AI to make creative work shorter and simpler for consumption.
Nowadays, every article you find online probably has some form of summary embedded at the top of the post, or you might even have an AI tool like Apple Intelligence to do the job for you. Even in these circumstances, I’m not a fan of the over-simplification of content, especially as we all continue to shorten our attention spans with the likes of quick-cut, short-form video content.
If you’re relying on AI to summarize a book, you shouldn’t be reading the book in the first place. Life is about curation, and what makes it so precious is the fact that we can’t consume every single book, movie, or video game on the planet.
Use AI to help you make choices about what to consume next, but please, please don’t use AI to do the consumption for you.
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john-anthony.disotto@futurenet.com (John-Anthony Disotto)
