AI at work · 2 MIN READ
How do you summarise a PDF with AI?
Use a document you are allowed to share. Ask for a summary for a specific purpose and require page references for details you need to verify.
Check how the document can be read
Try selecting text in the PDF. A scanned document may need optical character recognition, and support for images and tables varies between tools. Choose a page with a table or footnote. Ask the model to reproduce one detail from it and compare with the original before proceeding.
Ask for a summary that supports a decision
For a public report, try: “Summarise the actions the report proposes, who should take them and what obstacles it identifies. Give the PDF page for each row. Flag cases where the report names no owner.” That structure is more useful before a meeting than a shorter version of the entire report.
Review details that are easy to lose
Check negative statements, units, dates and words such as “may” or “must”. Distinguish the PDF viewer’s page number from the printed number if they differ. Keep the original file next to the reviewed summary.
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