More and more people admit to using AI to summarize books

Marcos, a 21-year-old student, acknowledges that it costs him “a lot” read a book whole because he can’t find “neither the time, nor the way, nor the desire.” That is why he uses AI when he needs to read a text or book for class. “Who hasn’t used it today?” he asks.

For her part, Raquel, 24, also relies on artificial intelligence tools when she doesn’t have the time or “inclination” to read. She admits that she has sometimes felt that by using AI she was missing out on a story that she might like, but she doesn’t regret doing it—and she’s sure she will do it again.

Neither Raquel nor Marcos believe that using these types of tools is dangerous or worrying, they simply consider it a change like any other in their generation. “It’s not that shocking, generations simply change, we read differently. We are a generation that reads through mobile phones and technological devices,” explains Marcos.

The search for shortcuts not to read It is not something new or exclusive to current generations. Students have always found ways to avoid books and get by on assignments or exams: copy summaries already made by publishers, ask a classmate for an explanation, or resort to platforms like El Rincón del Vago.

With the advent of AI, not reading is even easier. A search on social networks is enough to find dozens of publications with recommendations of applications, websites or AI tools that “promise” those who use them not need to open the book. Under titles such as “Do you find it difficult to read books due to lack of time? I share 4 AIs that read for you (and improve your understanding)!”, tools are announced that summarize any text or book, and that are also capable of creating mental maps, presentations, videos or even podcasts from them (in case you don’t even have time to read the summaries).

On these same platforms, young people express the relief they feel at not needing to read when they don’t want to. A Tiktok user suggests in her videos that she is “happier” for not having to “read 765 pages of a PDF,” since she only reads “the summary and the flashcards” that an application creates for her.

“Spanish people are reading more and more”

AI has become another accessory in our daily lives, a tool that we use for more and more things. We have verified its potential by solving operations or programming, but also by writing and summarizing texts. From there a question arises: if artificial intelligence can write, summarize and even tell us stories, can AI replace reading? For now, in Spain, no.

Las statistics Reading rates in our country reflect a growing interest in reading in almost all age groups: the percentage of Spaniards who read in their free time has exceeded 65% for the first time in 2025, breaking the myth that young people no longer read —75.3% of the population between 14 and 24 years old read in their free time.

This good reading health coexists with a new reality: young people incorporate artificial intelligence into their daily lives with astonishing naturalness.

According to the report This is how we are. The state of adolescence in Spain, by Plan International By 2025, 62% of girls and 59% of boys between 12 and 21 years old surveyed use AI to resolve questions related to their studies. In fact, 68% of them and 61% of them fear “developing a certain dependence on this technology.” Reading, therefore, does not disappear, but it begins to share space—and time—with a tool that can replace, complement or transform the way in which young people relate to it.

The abilities of AI to write texts are already well known to teachers. What, according to Patricia Sánchez, a Language and Literature teacher at an institute in Leganés, is beginning to worry them now is another, less visible effect: how it can affect to development of students to delegate tasks such as reading, understanding or interpreting a text to the AI. “At certain ages there are tasks that we should not leave in the hands of technology,” says the teacher.

Don’t ask him where he gets the summary of the book, mind you. (Emiliano Vittoriosi/Unsplash)

Teachers like Sánchez warn that using AI to read, summarize or write instead of doing it yourself—especially at an early age—can slow down the development of fundamental skills such as reading comprehension, writing or analytical skills. Sánchez sees it as problematic that “they do not acquire certain skills”, that “they do not make efforts, that they do not make mistakes and therefore are not able to solve them.”

Organizations such as UNESCO or the World Economic Forum point out how delegating activities – such as reading – to technology can affect memory and learning capacity.

According to an analysis by researchers at the University of Chile, the “passive use” of AI tools like ChatGPT can “undermine the very foundations of literacy.” The authors recognize that AI has a great potential in the educational field, but they warn of the need to work and “practice intensely with written texts” in order to develop “good reading comprehension and writing skills.” They agree with Sánchez that with reading we not only acquire information, but it is key to strengthening vocabulary, comprehension, reasoning and critical thinking.

According to researchers, “reading acts as a workout for the brain.”

The CEOs who no longer read

Sánchez is not worried that his students have not read Bohemian lights; He is concerned that in the future they “will not understand” a news story when they read a newspaper, or that it will be more difficult for them to “understand the world in general, have the patience to stop, think, assimilate, be able to create an opinion…”. This is why a good use of technology must have a “prior basis.”

Once the basic competencies and skills surrounding reading have been acquired, for Sánchez AI can be an ally.

For its part, Nerea BlancoSpanish philosopher and writer, creator of the Filosofers platform, believes that AI “is not a tool that will help” when it comes to reading. He warns of the danger of creating dependency and needing help from artificial intelligence to “explain everything to us.” Using it when we don’t understand something specific can be very useful, but for Blanco this can turn against us, because “we can stop putting our brain to work.”

There seems to be a consensus that the use of AI to avoiding reading is more widespread in the academic field: “Who wants to read Beowulf?”, comments a TikTok user in a video that recommends AI apps that summarize books. However, this discourse also resonates with some entrepreneurs or internet “gurus.” The accelerated pace of today’s society is capable of making these “shortcuts” to reading attractive.

Nikesh Arora, CEO of Palo Alto Networks – an American multinational cybersecurity company – openly acknowledged in an interview that it was “more about summaries than books.” The senior official of the company – which is powered by AI – questioned the “usefulness” of reading a book of 500 pages to finally “distill only 10”.

His position embodies a trend that seems to be increasingly widespread among technology leaders who see AI as a perfect substitute for more and more tasks. In fact, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman acknowledges using AI for all kinds of activities, including “summarizing documents.” For his part, Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, is sure that “in the old world, reading put you ahead of others. Very soon we will have to assume that an expert user accompanied by artificial intelligence will be able to act as if he knew more.”

The emergence of AI affects even perception of traditional training and university degrees. Ryan Roslansky, CEO of LinkedIn, is clear that the most attractive jobs of the future will not be reserved only for university graduates. This manager values ​​more “the willingness of professionals to constantly update themselves and adopt new technological tools.”

This perspective is also supported by Benjamin Mann, one of the six engineers who left OpenAI to create their own AI model: Anthropic. Mann says that, a decade or two ago, he might have tried to prepare his daughter to be the best in school and enroll her in all the extracurricular activities, but that now he felt that none of that really mattered, and what he wanted was for her to be “happy, thoughtful, curious and kind”; valuing new skills to the detriment of titles and traditional training.

Towards good integration

The ability of AI to synthesize ideas, provide summaries or answer questions does not at all replace the reading experience for Javier Bardón, professor of social psychology at the Rey Juan Carlos University. The author of ‘Ana against Gürtel’ believes that it is impossible for AI to replace what a book can make us feel.

“Literature involves mentally recreating a story and vicariously experiencing the characters’ conflicts, something that is completely lost with an AI summary.” By using AI to summarize or read, you lose the “experience” of “following the character’s hand” and the ability to “experience others’ conflicts for yourself.” The author compares it to “seeing photographs of Paris” rather than having been there. Although you have the informationthe experience has not been lived.

Patricia Sánchez agrees that that part of “emotion” that literature has—and that is the most “human”—“is really what is being lost.” The teacher believes that, if all reading is mediated by AI, the “enjoyment of literature”, discovering what we like and what we don’t, is not possible.

The fear and concern of excessive use of AI coexist with the vision of the potential that these tools can have. Far from “rowing against the current,” as Bardón points out, the key is learning to integrate it into the educational process: using it to approach complex texts, awaken curiosity about classic authors or reinforce the understanding of what we read.

Both Bardón and Professor Sánchez agree that the value of AI depends on having solid foundations. It can be very useful to guide writing or structure ideas, as long as the students are the ones who rework and contribute their own criteria. The philosopher Blanco adds that it can also act as a “reading companion”, an aid that allows us to better understand what we do not understand at first glance.

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Imagen | Brad Rucker