I remember another post with an example of generative AI summarizing Emma
on this list, and the results, like these, were plausible-*looking* but
factually wrong. It's amusing to guess how AI could misunderstand so badly.

The assertion "Miss Taylor died and Emma's friend, Mrs. Weston, got
married" is a great example of AI having no understanding of figurative
language. The passage in *Emma* is, "Sorrow came—a gentle sorrow—but not at
all in the shape of any disagreeable consciousness.—Miss Taylor married. It
was Miss Taylor’s loss which first brought grief. It was on the wedding-day
of this beloved friend that Emma first sat in mournful thought of any
continuance." An adult human with high school reading comprehension knows
this funerary-type language (sorrow, loss, grief, mourning) is a comical
exaggeration, reflective of Emma's teenage self-centeredness.

Other bits of the summaries are factually correct, but not in a way humans
will comprehend. Frank was adopted by his uncle, Miss Churchill's brother,
but the summary implies to a human reader that he was adopted by her
parents. Miss Bates is Mrs. Bates daughter, but the summary implies the
daughter is some other character.

In all, this is why I wouldn't trust any AI tools to catalog books for us
just yet!

-Tamara

On Thu, Jun 27, 2024 at 8:30 AM Eric Lease Morgan <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I have found summarization through generative-AI to produce plausible
> results. For example, here is a truncated set of chapter summaries from
> Jane Austen's Emma:
>
>   * austen-emma_001 -- Emma Woodhouse and Miss Taylor had been
>     friends for 16 years. Miss Taylor died and Emma's friend, Mrs.
>     Weston, got married. Emma was sad to see Miss Taylor leave the
>     house. Emma's father and her father-in-law had problems with
>     their relationship.
>
>   * austen-emma_002 -- Mr. Weston was a native of Highbury, born of
>     a respectable family. He married Miss Churchill, of a great
>     Yorkshire family, and they had a son, Frank. Frank was adopted by
>     Mr. and Mrs. Churchill. Mr. Weston had a change of life and
>     settled in London. He made his fortune and bought his house. He
>     had a second wife, Miss Taylor.
>
>   * austen-emma_003 -- Mr. Woodhouse liked to have his friends come
>     and see him. His friends came from Highbury, including the
>     Westons, Mr. Knightley, Miss Bates, and Mrs. Goddard. Mrs. Bates
>     lived with her single daughter in Highbury and was well-liked.
>
>
> For more detail and summarizes of other things like articles on climate
> change, cataloging, and rheumatoid arthritis, see the blog posting:
> https://distantreader.org/blog/summarization/
>
> --
> Eric Lease Morgan <[log in to unmask]>
> Navari Family Center for Digital Scholarship
> University of Notre Dame
>


-- 

Tamara Marnell
Program Manager, Systems
Orbis Cascade Alliance (orbiscascade.org <https://www.orbiscascade.org/>)
Pronouns: she/her/hers