In her recent Catalyst article, “Readworthy Communications in the Era of AI Summaries,” Nicki Kastellorizios-Lee encourages communicators to develop messages that can withstand the test of AI summarization — or else risk losing their hard-won “readworthy” status, stripping their text of key points and its ethos.
In a true move of “practicing what you preach,” Kastellorizios-Lee ran her article through Microsoft Copilot and asked it to share a summary.
Read her original article here first, then take in the points below.
Did her work stand the test of AI summarization?
Main Ideas
- The challenge of writing readworthy communications in the digital age: The author argues that writers need to adapt to the modern reader's tendencies and preferences, as well as the emergence of generative AI tools that can summarize complex texts.
- The difference between writing with meaning and writing with meaningfulness: The author explains that writing with meaning is about simplifying the message and writing with meaningfulness is about engaging the reader with relevance, value and delight.
- The importance of testing the summary output of generative AI tools: The author suggests that writers should run their messages through a summarization prompt before sending them, to ensure that the integrity, voice, and style of their message are not lost in the AI output.
- The tips for keeping communications short, clear, simple, human, and unique: The author provides some tips for writing readworthy communications, such as designing messages around important questions, advocating for the reader, embracing innovative technology and keeping the voice of the writer.