How to Quickly Summarize Long Texts with AI

Learn how to create perfect summaries of long texts with AI. Step-by-step tutorial for students and professionals. Save precious hours every week!

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Are you faced with hundreds of pages of reports, endless academic articles, or business documents that seem to never end? Don't worry, you're not alone. Every day we find ourselves overwhelmed by an unmanageable amount of information. But there's good news: artificial intelligence can transform this mountain of text into clear and concise summaries in just a few minutes, allowing you to grasp the essence without getting lost in the details.

What is AI automatic summarization?

What happens when AI creates a summary for you?

Artificial intelligence is like having an assistant that quickly reads a text, understands its main meaning, and rewrites it in a shorter form while retaining the key concepts. Unlike old systems that simply extracted sentences from the original text, modern AI systems like ChatGPT or Claude actually "understand" the content and create natural and coherent summaries, just like a person would (but much faster).

You don't need to be a tech expert: these tools are designed to be simple to use even for those without technical skills. Just paste the text and indicate how concise you want the summary to be.

To make the most of these tools during intensive study or work sessions, the right environment is essential. A monitor light bar like the Quntis Light Bar reduces eye strain during long reading and summary review sessions, helping you maintain focus on key concepts.

Which AI tool to use?

For this tutorial we'll use ChatGPT, which is free in its basic version and extremely effective for summarizing texts. You can access ChatGPT simply by visiting chat.openai.com and creating a free account. Other valid tools are Claude by Anthropic or Google's Gemini, but the process is very similar.

THE STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE

Step 1: Access ChatGPT

Open your preferred browser and go to chat.openai.com. If you have never used ChatGPT before, you will need to create a free account by clicking "Sign up". You can register using your email address or through a Google or Microsoft account. If you already have an account, simply click "Log in" and enter your credentials.

Step 2: Start a New Conversation

Once logged in, you will see the ChatGPT interface with a text field at the bottom of the page that says "Send a message". This is where you will enter the text you want summarized. If you see previous conversations, you can start a new one by clicking the "New chat" button in the top left corner.

Step 3: Prepare the Text to Summarize

Before proceeding, open the document or web page containing the text you want to summarize. Select the content (you can do this by clicking at the beginning of the text, holding down, and dragging to the end of the text you wish to summarize) and copy it (by pressing Ctrl+C on Windows or Cmd+C on Mac).

Organization is crucial when working with multiple documents. To keep track of your sources and summaries without creating digital clutter, a Rocketbook reusable notebook is perfect. Jot down references, outlines, and ideas, scan and store everything in the cloud: you'll have an orderly workflow between paper and digital.

Step 4: Create the Perfect Prompt

Return to the ChatGPT window and paste the text into the dialog box. Before the text, add a sentence that clearly explains what you want the AI to do. An effective prompt is: "Summarize the following text into key points, highlighting only the essential information:". If you have a very long document, you may need to split the text into multiple parts and send it in separate messages, as ChatGPT has a character limit per message.

Step 5: Submit the request and wait

Press the Enter key (or click the arrow icon) and wait a few seconds while the AI processes your request. The processing time depends on the length of the text, but it is usually very fast – from a few seconds to a minute. While waiting, you will see an indicator showing that ChatGPT is working.

Step 6: Customize the summary

Examine the generated summary. ChatGPT will have created a synthesis of the main points of the text. If you are not completely satisfied, you can refine the result with additional requests. For example, if the summary is too long, you can ask: "Summarize it further in a maximum of 100 words." If it is too short or missing some important information, you can request: "Expand the summary by including more details about part X" or "Add more information about the statistical data mentioned."

Summarization sessions can be mentally intense. To maintain high concentration while customizing AI-generated texts, noise-canceling headphones like the Sony WH-1000XM5 create an island of silence that allows you to focus completely on the content without external distractions.

Step 7: Get the desired format

A fantastic aspect of AI is that you can request the summary in different formats to suit your needs. Try asking: "Transform this summary into a bulleted list" or "Organize this summary into sections with subtitles" or even "Rephrase this summary as a 5-slide presentation". ChatGPT will adapt the content to the requested format, making it even more useful for your specific purpose.

Step 8: Copy and use the result

When you are satisfied with the final summary, select it, copy it (Ctrl+C or Cmd+C), and use it wherever you prefer: in your notes, in a presentation, in a report, or share it with colleagues or classmates. Alternatively, you can also click the copy icon that appears when you hover over ChatGPT's response.

Ethical and practical tips

Remember that AI is a powerful tool but not infallible. Always verify the accuracy of the generated summary, especially for important or technical documents. Never input texts containing sensitive information, personal data, or confidential company information into public AI systems like ChatGPT.

For even better results, try these strategies:

Specify the level of detail you want: "give me a detailed summary" or "give me only the essential points"
Indicate the target audience: "summarize this for a high school student" or "summarize for a sector expert"
Request a specific focus: "summarize focusing on the economic aspects" or "highlight especially the statistical data"

When dealing with particularly long texts, our brain can easily get fatigued. Artificial intelligence tools like these not only save us time but allow us to maintain a high capacity for concentration on the truly important information, filtering out the background noise.

Managing large volumes of information also requires reliable physical tools. An ergonomic mouse like the Logitech MX Master 3S makes navigating between documents and summaries smoother, while a SanDisk Extreme portable SSD ensures you can securely store all your research materials and generated summaries.

Conclusion

Knowing how to summarize long texts with AI is a skill that will save you hours of work every week. Whether you are a student dealing with academic texts, a professional overwhelmed by reports, or simply someone who wants to stay informed without having to read endless articles, this tool will change the way you handle information.

Want to discover other ways AI can simplify your life? Subscribe to our La Bussola dell'IA newsletter and regularly receive tutorials like this one directly in your email inbox. And if you enjoyed this article, also check out Beyond ChatGPT: The Universe of Artificial Intelligence Models to discover other tools that might be useful to you.