blackred/Getty ImagesSometimes it can be hard to get all your reading done, especially with ADHD diagnoses on the rise. If you're tasked with a school or work project and you're pressed for time (or focus),artificial intelligence (AI)chatbots like ChatGPT can help summarize long articles, research papers, and books to make them a bit more accessible.Also: You can now talk to ChatGPT on the phone - no Wi-Fi neededChatGPT has come a long way from its launch in 2022, especially since it got web browsing last spring. However, all AI chatbots can make mistakes -- don't rely entirely on ChatGPT's summary for your understanding of a text. Though ChatGPT now provides citations, they aren't always correct. Plus, an AI system won't interpret more abstract concepts or literature the way a human mind can, meaning it won't necessarily capture certain themes or details.Think of ChatGPT as a tool that can help make a dense text more approachable. If you're using it to help with other parts of your work, such as writing, tread carefully -- considering the plagiarism and copyright issues surrounding these tools, it isn't in your best interest to have chatbots write your work for you.If you're a student writing a research paper, someone who is keen to discover more about a lengthy article, or want to dive into a complicated subject, you can use ChatGPT to simplify the process.How to create summaries with ChatGPTWhat you'll need: A device that can connect to the internet, a free (or paid) OpenAI account, and a basic understanding of the article, research paper, or book you want to summarize.The process should take about one to three minutes. 1. Find your article, paper, or book to summarize If you need ChatGPT to help summarize an article or research paper, find the body of text online and keep it open in a separate tab. You can also try just giving ChatGPT the book title and author by inputting it into the text box. Show more 2. Open your web browser and log in to ChatGPT Open your web browser of choice and head to chatgpt.com.Also:5 ways college students can use Gemini AI to keep up with school workLog in or sign up for an account. Show more Screenshot by Radhika Rajkumar/ZDNET 3. Type your request In the chat box, type in "Summarize [book title]." For example, "Summarize Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman," or "Summarize this article: [URL]."Also: Study finds AI-generated research papers on Google Scholar - why it mattersNow that ChatGPT can provide sources for the info it surfaces, you can also ask for clarifying background information on a topic. For example, if you're writing about cognition, you can prompt ChatGPT to "Explain how personal experiences impact cognition and provide citations."ChatGPT will respond with several bullet points and citations, giving you a framework for your larger topic area and additional sources to dive into if you choose.In my case, those citations were papers and books that weren't linked -- I verified the titles were real by Googling each one. If you want to skip that step, simply ask ChatGPT to "provide citations with links," and you'll only get sources you can click on to verify yourself.If you're having trouble comprehending specific passages in an article, book, or research paper, you can copy parts of the text and paste them into ChatGPT, or even upload a photo.Also: The most popular AI tools of 2024 (and what that even means)Think of this method as reshuffling the words you're currently reading to help you make more sense of the text in front of you. Show more This is an accurate summary of Let The Misunderstand, an essay by Moeko Fujii that I have read before. Screenshot by Radhika Rajkumar/ZDNET 4. Check responses and citations for accuracy Review ChatGPT's responses to ensure they're correct within your understanding. For one of my queries, ChatGPT did not catch that an article was an excerpt of a novel, responding instead that it was the novel itself."'The Witches of El Paso' is a novel by Luis Jaramillo, published on December 11, 2024," ChatGPT told me. The novel was published on Oct. 8, and the excerpt was published in the Public Seminar on Dec. 11, but ChatGPT mistakenly noted that date as the novel's publication date despite citing the article itself.ChatGPThas a track record of fabricating sources. Once you've reviewed the chatbot's responses, be sure to check the sources it provides. Search titles of papers or books to verify they're real, and click on linked articles if ChatGPT provided them. For one of the non-linked book titles ChatGPT offered me, the chatbot listed the book's publication year as 2009, but I was only able to find editions going back to 2012.Also: I'm an AI tools expert, and these are the only two I pay forWhile the other details were correct, this is a good reminder that ChatGPT does make mistakes, or at the very least doesn't always offer transparency into how it finds sources. Show more ChatGPT did not catch that this article was an excerpt of a novel, not the novel itself. The novel was published on Oct. 8, and the excerpt was published in Public Seminar on Dec. 11, but ChatGPT mistakenly noted that date as the novel's publish date. Screenshot by Radhika Rajkumar/ZDNETFAQ Show more What are ChatGPT's limitations?If you're using ChatGPT to summarize an article, book, or piece of research, keep in mind that ChatGPT can still hallucinateinformation. Always check its outputs.Also: 8 ways to reduce ChatGPT hallucinationsChatGPT is a large language model that uses queues and millions of data points to mimic human responses. This form of mimicry is why ChatGPT will answer questions even when it doesn't output the correct answer. Make sure you're not using any information from ChatGPT without fact-checking it.Can ChatGPT summarize a PDF?Now that ChatGPT can ingest file uploads in both the free and paid versions, you can upload a PDF and ask ChatGPT to summarize it. The chatbot correctly summarized a press release I uploaded, formatting the key points of a tech company's release -- though it was only two pages long.Also:Don't trust ChatGPT Search and definitely verify anything it tells youYou can also try ChatPDFfor free, especially for much longer documents. You can summarize two PDFs of up to 120 pages per day, and a plan is available for $5 per month.Can ChatGPT summarize an email thread?Sort of. If you want to copy and paste every single email, ChatGPT can summarize the thread's contents for you -- but I wouldn't recommend that in terms of security. Emails can contain sensitive information, like confidential work information or personal identifiers, that you can't guarantee will be safe if uploaded to OpenAI.It would be more helpful to scan an email thread yourself and ask ChatGPT to help you write a response based on the key points you know about the conversation.Artificial Intelligence