Honestly, I can't stand going through hours of virtual meeting recordings or pages of notes to just summarize text from them. It's very time-consuming (and hair-pulling!!).
However, learning how to use ChatGPT to summarize an article, changed how much time I spent summarizing notes. You can avoid all the time-consuming manual work by automating everything by giving ChatGPT to summarize articles.
In this article, I'll show you how to use ChatGPT to summarize text from an article or transcriptions from online meetings, and I promise you, that I won't bore you to death.
So let's get started!
Extra tip: At the end of the blog post we also introduce jamie and how you can save time copy pasting articles and get summarized meeting notes automatically.
How To Use ChatGPT To Summarize an Article (Step-By-Step)
1. Open ChatGPT
First, go to chat.openai.com, and log in to your account.
2. Copy Paste the Article You Want To Summarize
Copy and paste the article that you want to summarize into the chatbox
3. Ask ChatGPT to summarize an article
After pasting your article in the ChatGPT chat bar, add a clear instruction on how to summarize your article at the end of the pasted content.
For example: “ChatGPT, summarize this article for me, please.”
Then ChatGPT summarize the texts you pasted and will start to give you a concise and relevant AI-generated summary.
Pro-Tip: Please note that when using ChatGPT, the GPT-3 and -3.5 models have a token limit of 4,096 tokens. This means that if your input article takes up 10 tokens in the chatbox and the model’s response generates an additional 15 tokens, you will be billed for a total of 25 tokens.
4. Review the Summarized Article
After ChatGPT generates the output, or in other words, generates the summarized article, you have to examine it to make sure that ChatGPT has summarized it accurately.
Double-check if it reflects the crucial details of the article that you want to highlight, and adjust any crucial missing details.
Please note that ChatGPT's responses are only based on the training data it was exposed to, so make sure to fact check the generated summary as the information does not go beyond the knowledge cutoff date, April 2023
5. Fine-tuning and Repeating
If the summary isn't quite what you need, it could be that it has errors or doesn't actually focus on the parts you care about most, you can give ChatGPT feedback and ask for a revised summary using a more clear prompt.
For example;
- The summary seems accurate, but it doesn't highlight the importance of [specific aspect]. Can you please revise it to emphasize that aspect more
OR - In the summary, it says [incorrect information], but I believe the article actually states [correct information]. Could you please update the summary to reflect that?
3 Tips to Use ChatGPT to Create Concise Summaries of Articles
1. Specify the length
Let ChatGPT know your desired summary length in the initial prompt. For example, you can say:
"Give me a summary in three sentences please."
OR
"I'd prefer a detailed summary, under 100 words please."
2. Highlight Key points
When summarizing articles, especially if there are important details that you need from the output, you must instruct ChatGPT to include them. This helps capture the key insights when summarizing articles with ChatGPT.
Here are some ways you can ask ChatGPT to highlight key information or points:
“Please make sure the summary mentions [key point 1] and [key point 2].”
OR
“This article discusses [topic], but I’m particularly interested in a comprehensive summary of the main points of the section on [specific aspect]. Can the summary please focus on that?”
3. Multiple Attempts and Refinement
The first try might not be the perfect summary you desire. So feel free to provide feedback and request revisions from ChatGPT. For example;
"The summary is a good start, but it could be more focused on [aspect]. Can you please try a comprehensive and concise summary once again with a stronger emphasis on that?"
3 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Using ChatGPT to Summarize Articles
1. Avoid one-line prompts.
Avoid one-line prompts for complex tasks like article summaries, because ChatGPT can't always understand your intent or meaning with just one line. So be specific!
Try using templates as much as possible to guarantee the perfect output. this way it adheres to the template as accurately and it can give the most desired output with all the information you need.
This is the prompt that I personally use to summarize most news articles, using ChatGPT;
Please Summarize this context:
[ Paste the content you want to summarize]
Write in simple language
Summarize Format: Bullet points
(You can adjust the format to your preferred style)
Before rephrasing please go through the guidelines below:
Tone:
Primary Tone - Helpful and Informative
Secondary Tone - Trustworthy and Approachable
(Note: Please adjust the tone relevant to the brand identity)
Perplexity
Burstiness: Ensure heterogeneous paragraphs. Ensure heterogeneous sentence lengths. And stick to primarily short, straightforward sentences
Unfluffing: Do not include any fluff when producing content. Each sentence should provide value to the overall goal of the content piece. Strictly follow this guideline
Target Audience:
[ Give a detailed identity to your target audience possible in three simple points]
By providing as much context as possible about the article you want to be summarized, such as the target audience or key points, through a well-structured template, you are bound to get a good-quality generated summary.
2. Don't Stay in The Same Chat Expecting Same Results
ChatGPT tends to forget past conversations. Always start fresh for each new summary that you do. Avoid continuing conversations within the same chat window if you want varied results. Asking too many different things in the same chat window can lead the AI to hallucinate and generate outputs that confuse you and the AI.
For example;
Imagine ChatGPT as a chef. If you keep asking for different dishes (summaries) without clearing the kitchen (starting a new chat), the chef might get confused and use leftover ingredients (past conversation) to create something unexpected (hallucinated output). For the best summaries, give ChatGPT a clean workspace (new chat) and clear instructions (templates)!
3. Not Summarizing Sections of Long Articles.
For lengthy pieces, consider summarizing sections individually. When you want to summarize an article, but it is very long, ChatGPT tends to hallucinate and only provide outputs that contain half of the original context.
To get the best use of the lengthy article's content, you must summarize each section of the article individually.
This way, ChatGPT generate summaries that are relevant to your article and has the same main points and ideas portrayed in the article.
What Is the Best Way To Use ChatGPT To Summarize an Article?
While ChatGPT is an incredibly advanced tool, there are steps you can take to fine-tune its summarization abilities. This is done by fine-tuning the prompts that you give ChatGPT.
You can, for example, ask ChatGPT to:
- Generate a general summary
- Extract the main takeaways
- Extract action items
- Give a generic executive summary
- Summarize the decisions agreed upon in the meeting
- Write down all tasks that were assigned to you
And many more.
Note: If you want to know more about prompts, you can take a look at our list of the 100 best ChatGPT prompts.
To summarize your meetings, you can use prompts to tell the model exactly what to do with the summary. Generally speaking, the more details you give, the better the output.
Tip: If you want chatgpt to summarize better results, you must give ChatGPT examples of how your summary should look like. For example;
For Example Consider Using a Meeting Template:
"I'd like you to summarize the text below in the following format:
Meeting Topic: Website Redesign Project Date: April 25th Key Points:
- Reviewed latest website wireframes.
- Identified usability issues (be specific if possible). Action Items:
- Revise wireframes based on feedback (assign to appropriate team member)."
You can download our free meeting agenda template, and use it as a template prompt for ChatGPT to generate consice summary.
Best Prompts for Meeting Summaries with ChatGPT
1. Prompt to Summarize Transcripts
“The following is a transcript of a meeting: (Transcript)
Imagine you are an assistant that listened to this meeting. Your task is to summarize the meeting and write down the most important notes.
2. Prompt to Generate Executive summary
“The following is a transcript of a meeting: (Transcript)
Imagine you are an assistant that listened to this meeting. Your task is to create an executive summary about the meeting that you can send out to your subordinate. The executive summary should include the most important information of the meeting.
3. Prompt to Generate Action Items
“The following is a transcript of a meeting: (Insert Transcript)
Imagine you are an assistant that listened to this meeting. Your task is to identify To-Dos and Decisions that were assigned or agreed on in this meeting. Only include decisions that have been specifically agreed on. If there are no specific action items, don't return any. Only include to-dos that have been assigned to a person. If there are no specifics to-dos, don't return any.
Bad examples of decisions: - Alan and Peter discussed the importance of profits
Bad examples of to-dos: - Speaker_x asked questions about topic z
Good examples of decisions: - The group agreed on the new measures that were presented to the group
Good examples of to does: - Speaker_x will create a presentation for company x by next week
Group both to-dos and decisions into different groups like this:
Decisions: - Decision 1 - Decision 2
To-Dos: - To Do 1 - To Do 2
Prompt to Generate Main Takeaways
“The following is a transcript of a meeting: (Transcript)
Imagine you are an assistant that listened to this meeting. Your task is to identify, summarize the main takeaways from this meeting. Only include the most important takeaways that have been discussed.
Prompt to Generate Decisions
“The following is a transcript of a meeting: (Insert Transcript)
Imagine you are an assistant that listened to this meeting. Your task is to identify decisions that were assigned or agreed on in this meeting. Only include decisions that have been specifically agreed on. If there are no specific action items, don't return any.
Bad examples of decisions: - Alan and Peter discussed the importance of profits
Bad examples of to-dos: - Speaker_x asked questions about topic z
Good examples of decisions: - The group agreed on the new measures that were presented to the group
Good examples of to does: - Speaker_x will create a presentation for company x by next week
The output of the decisions should look as follows
Decisions:
- Decision 1 - Decision 2
Prompt to Generate Tasks
The following is a transcript of a meeting: (Insert Transcript)
Imagine you are an assistant that listened to this meeting. Your task is to identify to-dos that were discussed in this meeting. Only include to-dos that have been assigned to a person. If there are no specific to-dos, don't return any.
Bad examples of to-dos: - Send email to client - Schedule meeting
Good examples of to-dos: - John: sent out email to client by next Friday (23.06.23) - Anna: Schedule meeting for marketing team to discuss the next campaign
Use jamie To Automate Your Meeting Notes
Instead of doing all the manual work of copying the transcript into ChatGPT and experimenting with prompts, there is a lot easier way to do it. You can simply download jamie and have it automatically summarize your meetings with just a few clicks.
Advantage of Using jamie as Your AI Note Taker
- No need to find the right transcription tool, jamie automatically generates your transcripts
- No time-consuming copy and pasting work
- Guaranteed level of high summary quality, great action items, and transcription
- Automatically generates summary in a few seconds
- Highly accurate summaries and concise summaries
- All summaries are in one place
- You can ask jamie questions about your meetings
Try jamie now for free and save hours of work.
Conclusion
First of all, I want to thank you for taking the time to read this article till the end. I truly appreciate it.
I sincerely hope that you found this article valuable and informative. Writing this piece was a such pleasure for me, and I hope that it has provided you with some helpful insights that you can use to enhance your summarization skills with ChatGPT.
As always, if you have any questions or just want to say hi, feel free to reach out to me. Once again, thank you for reading, and have a wonderful day!
FAQs
How Long Should a Summary Be?
The length of a summary depends on various factors, such as the length of the original article and the purpose of the summary. As a general guideline, aim for a summary that is approximately 25-30% of the original article's length. However, adapt the length according to your specific needs and the level of detail required.
Can ChatGPT Summarize Videos?
No, ChatGPT cannot directly summarize videos. Because ChatGPT is a text-based AI. It can only process and generate text, but it cannot still transcribe video content. However, if you want your video meetings to be transcribed, consider using jamie, as it does it so seamlessly without interfering with the meeting. So you can relax and enjoy the meeting while jamie writes and summarizes the meeting notes for you.
Can ChatGPT Summarize Technical or Specialized Articles?
ChatGPT can provide summaries for a wide range of topics, including technical or specialized articles. However, it may not possess domain-specific knowledge and may not fully understand complex technical concepts. In such cases, it's important to fact-check the generated summaries to make sure their accuracy and coherence.
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