Using AI to produce summaries is not an invention of generative AI. What is new is the ability to combine this pattern with others to making performing a mundane task easier and faster (or make it go away altogether).
An average person can think about how much time they spend doing routine tasks: Catching up on meetings you missed, prepping for conversations, reading documents, etc. The summary pattern provides a shortcut for users to get the essence across all of the inputs into their day, and focus on what really matters.
- Combined with citations, summaries let you capture key takeaways from a long document and then go deeper into the content that are relevant to you
- Combined with synthesis, summaries can take multiple inputs such as an email thread and capture the primary takeaways
- Combined with workflows, summaries can be added automatically to specific documents or other locations for easy retrieval
Be mindful to label summaries clearly using a disclosure badge, similar to how Productboard notes the AI Summary of any long insights. Also, be aware of the possibility for information to be missed, or inaccurately reported by the AI. Citations and sources are your best friend with this pattern because they empower the user and help them engage deeper in a more meaningful way.
