“AI’s Generous Contribution to Society: Serving Humor in Bite-sized Summaries?”

“AI’s Big Gift to Society Is … Pithy Summaries?”

“According to new research, workers who relied on machine-generated summaries for books or long articles (a.k.a. ‘algorithmic compression’) generally ended up with objectively poorer comprehension than those who read the old-fashioned way.”

Being reliant on AI summaries may unlikely make us the next Einstein. New studies have revealed a fascinating, but not entirely shocking, phenomenon known as ‘algorithmic compression’. And indeed, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to deduce that depending on machine-generated summaries results in poorer comprehension. Mind you, we’re not character assassinating the beloved AI here, just stating the obvious. Selective reading still proves to be a winner over our cutting-edge summation algorithms.

These AI summaries, oh, they seem so tempting; with promises of more time saved and information absorbed rapidly. Alluring, yes, but it’s just like expecting that dry chicken kale salad to be as satisfying as devouring an indulgent three-course meal. It’s like trying to appreciate the brilliance of War and Peace through a series of tweets.

And why this reduction in comprehension, one might wonder? Well, textual insight doesn’t boil down to mere keywords or phrases. Context matters. Details matter. Unsurprisingly, machine-generated summaries are yet to master the art of understanding human spirit, the vibe of a narrative, or the subtlety of a layered argument. No offense intended, dear AI.

What’s more, these summaries might have us thinking we’re on a roll, tricking us into believing we’ve truly grasped the essence when, in reality, we’re walking in the dark. The allure of speed reading, powered by our beloved AI, may be costing us deeper knowledge and comprehension. Sweet irony!

In essence, algorithmic compression is yet to match the depth and nuance of good old-fashioned reading. Sure, they seem attractive – an information diet for the tl;dr (too long; didn’t read) culture. However, it’s one thing to skim through an article quickly and another thing entirely to genuinely fathom and absorb its pure essence. So, while we wait for AI to get a sense of humor and truly understand human sentiments, can we agree on one thing? Nothing beats good old reading. Sorry, AI, you’re not there. Yet.

Read the original article here: https://www.wired.com/story/plaintext-ai-summaries-make-us-dumber/