L020 · AI at work · 1 min
Summarise anything
AI can turn a 40-page report into one page in seconds, if you tell it what you need the summary for.
01 · The idea
Most assistants accept long text, PDFs, web pages, even video transcripts. Summaries are one of the most reliable things AI does.
A plain "summarise this" gives a generic result. Say who it is for and why: "Summarise for a busy manager who must decide whether to renew this contract." The AI then keeps what matters for that decision.
Ask for a structure: three key points, risks, numbers, and open questions. That makes summaries easy to scan and compare.
Summaries can still miss or twist details. For decisions, ask it to quote the exact sentence it relied on, so you can check quickly.
02 · Do it now
03 · Quick check
Words in this lesson
See also
L022AI at work · 1 min
Meetings and notes
AI can turn a messy meeting into clear decisions and a to-do list, as long as everyone knows it is listening.
L194AI at work · 2 min
Reading long emails fast
Ask AI to pull out what the sender wants from you, by when, and what you might miss, then read the original for the parts that matter.
L280AI at work · 3 min
Reading appliance specs with AI
A photo of a spec label or product page lets a chatbot explain what all those numbers mean for your home.
L085Asking well · 3 min
Read long documents with AI
AI can help you get through a long document, if you ask targeted questions and check the answers against the pages.