Everyday AI Workflows – Draft, Summarize, Compare
Lesson 3: Fixing Summaries and Comparisons That Miss the Point
Lesson Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students should be able to:
- Recognize the four common summary problems: too long, wrong focus, missing parts, and added details.
- Fix comparisons by choosing the criteria before asking.
- Check a summary against the original quickly.
Lesson Content
Summaries and comparisons are two of the most popular everyday AI tasks. They also fail in predictable ways.
Summary problems and fixes:
- Too long: ask for a word limit or "five bullets."
- Wrong focus: say what you care about: "Focus on what changes for customers."
- Missing parts: ask "What important points did you leave out?"
- Added details: ask "Which points in your summary are not in the original?"
Comparison problems and fixes: A comparison is only as good as its criteria. If you do not choose the criteria, the AI picks generic ones. Decide first what matters to you (price, time, ease, quality, risk) and list them in the prompt. Then ask for a final row: "What I still need to verify."
Spot-check against the original: pick two lines from the summary and find them in the original. If either is missing or different, review more carefully.
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