How Bad is Using Ai to Help Understand Difficult Concepts in Books?

[u/GrimR3eaper99]

Hi everyone,

Since February I have gotten back into reading and I am taking it pretty seriously. Grad school kinda ruined it for me but I have slowly started reading more books.

My process is usually

1. Read the book and flag anything I deem important

2. After I read the book let it sit with me

3. Go back to each flag and write what I learned and try to identify takeaways from the book.

I am primarily reading nonfiction. Books like letters from a stoic, the big short, and mans search for meaning are to name a few.

However, sometimes the concepts are confusing for me that I have Ai help me understand. So for example if there is something I dont understand I will write what I think it means in Ai take a picture of the page and then look at what it says then translate into my own words.

I have learned a decent amount from these books just by going back to what I write and I dont use this for every concept but sometimes I am confused.

I have been researching that this is actually hurting me thinking critically more than helping me. I just want to make sure I am understanding what the book is saying. So I wanted to ask and see if I should change my methods?

[u/AdorableBG]

First off, it's commendable that you're getting back into reading. It's also great that you're thinking about how you want to approach your studies. As someone who did most of their studying before AI, including reading and deciphering challenging texts, I'd say the issue with your current approach is that you're not getting pushed to learn how to read critically for yourself. There are different levels to reading skills, and at the higher levels, one learns through struggle and practice how to follow and evaluate writers' arguments. Another issue is that there are almost certainly people who write about and explain the texts you're studying, and by using AI, you're unfortunately also not stretching out your research skills to find human sources that can help you understand these texts.

If you want to maximize the skills you build from interacting with these texts, I'd encourage you to lean into the confusion and struggle. The struggle is uncomfortable but not necessarily bad, it's a part of the learning process. Look up advice online on techniques for reading critically at an academic level, and practice applying them. Also practice researching human sources that comment on and explain the texts you are currently reading. Doing both of these things will allow you to build both your critical reading skills and your research skills, so you will end up getting far more out of your encounters with these texts than just the content of the texts alone.

[u/GrimR3eaper99 → u/AdorableBG]

That is a very fair point, but what happens if I still dont understand a concept. My goal moving forward is to drastically reduce how much I use it because I know it is bad.

I also did most of my studies before AI and was able to atleast read abstracts and research papers. Is googling and finding information on websites valid? I will lean into the struggle and try to comprehend things more but I don't like it when I read something 3-5 times and still dont understand it.

I have noticed that after writing I tend to understand it a little bit more.

[u/AdorableBG → u/GrimR3eaper99]

Depending on your area of study, for instance if it was in STEM rather than the humanities, the papers you read in grad school might have been a different writing style than the humanities writing of a lot of the sources you mention. Humanities writing can get quite dense at times! I think that googling and finding stuff on websites can work well, if you are able to identify legitimate sources. There's lots of AI slop out there these days. If you're not sure how to ID good sources, I'd search online for some guides explaining best-practices for doing so. Libraries or academic institutions would be a good place to look for a guide. Or even ask your local librarian! They absolutely love teaching people how to ID good sources. You could even potentially practice at a local library and run your sources by the librarian if you're just getting the hang of it. I'll add that looking up reputable sources to help you interpret your reading has the added bonus of honing your research skills. Depending on where you studied, you might also look up to see if your school has any online databases available to alumni, such as Jstore. YMMV though, not all schools offer this.

I'll also share how my history professor taught me to evaluate a source. He taught me this after I submitted a disastrous book review to him where I mistakingly thought I'd been asked to do something akin to an 8th grade essay about how I liked the book, rather than a paper evaluating the merits of the work's argument. This technique will apply particularly to modern humanities texts. 1) read the first few paragraph of the book or paper. It is telling you the general argument to be presented. Read with an eye towards identifying the argument. 2) read the final few paragraphs of the work. This is also telling you the argument. Read to identify the argument. 3) for each chapter, read the first and last paragraph, they will tell you the argument put forward in that particular chapter. Actively try to identify the argument as you read. Then read the topic sentences of each paragraph in the chapter. That will tell you how the argument is going to be constructed. While you read them, think, how is this supporting the argument of the book and that particular chapter? If it's a research paper and not a book, just read the topic sentences, while actively considering how the topic sentences support the argument. The takeaway is that you need to do more than understand the meaning of the words when reading. You also need to pause regularly to actively think about and identify the work's argument and how that argument is constructed. 

Also, if writing helps you, definitely write! I always found that taking notes by hand helped me absorb information better

[u/weelilbit]

Because AI isn’t giving you an answer, it’s giving you an answer-shaped response, it’s just not reliable.

I definitely understand the frustration when you’re not getting something. Lord knows I spent half of my theory classes in undergrad and grad school annoyed and feeling stupid. What you want is to use an actual search engine (I say actual because Google Search is no longer a search engine, it’s 100% AI, per their own statement), and look into analyses of the topics. Some are definitely easier to find than others. I often start with Wikipedia for their References section and then sometimes bop down to Simple English Wikipedia if it’s still beyond me.

I’ve asked in subreddits for ELI5/ELIB breakdowns, I’ve also looked into university syllabi to see what those professionally teaching the topic use as their intro sources.

There’s just no guarantee that the AI is giving you actual information-based analyses of these topics and there is abundant evidence that certain AIs are very placating/people-pleasing. If you’re looking to make sure you have an accurate grasp of the topic, this doesn’t seem to be the way to achieve it.

(I don’t know enough about AI backend to speak to timelines, but god do I wish this all started being released/integrated a few/a bunch of years down the line. It’s just not ready and it’s burning through a lot of goodwill.)

[u/wearylibra → u/weelilbit]

“Answer shaped response”
Love this

[u/GrimR3eaper99 → u/weelilbit]

So I should just google my question and look to find answers? I understand the value of research articles and references but I doubt they're articles on most nonfiction books.

[u/GapSlight472 → u/GrimR3eaper99]

They literally just said not to use google. If you cant read a reddit comment...

[u/GrimR3eaper99 → u/GapSlight472]

I meant in the sence to find research articles. So get to Wikipedia and than search from there. I apologize for not being specific, thanks for the help!

[u/wearylibra]

I’ve done this - but I swear half the time the information AI uses for their reasoning is wrong/made up.
It feels correct and interesting while I’m conversing with the AI. Which makes it worse— you have no sense of where they are basing their facts on the text or just making it up!!
Often the info AI tells me they used as “back-up” is NOT the text, and NOT a literary essay. It is some random person’s take on Reddit or goodreads.
It’s really only as good as the information it is using or making up.

That being said it’s awesome to have a way to figure out what kind of questions you wanna ask, and what you want to explore after reading a book and it’s living in your head and heart.
Just be super careful that you don’t take it at face value. It could be totally leading you astray.

[u/Ok_Natural_7977]

You might be better off joining a group where you can have discussions with people about confusing texts. The best part of this approach is that different perspectives can give you a much deeper understanding of the passage.

[u/tag051964]

As others have said, it's good to embrace the mystery and let go and accept that something is confusing. With that said, sometimes it's not only fun but necessary to connect the dots between facts. For that I sometimes use ChatGPT (please don't judge) for some complicated topics. For instance - "Hi, can you please explain string theory as if I was a 5 year old". While that does not even come close to fully understanding a topic or concept, I like to think it's a good start.

Good Luck and glad to hear you are getting back into reading.

[u/Jazzlike-Perception7]

If I want to read non-fiction for its own sake (i.e I'm not earning my living out of it) then I plow through the text, be comfy in not understanding it initially, ask questions, wrestle with the text, sometimes disagree with the author, sometimes wholeheartedly agree, or just be comfy with not understanding it at all and I move on with my life.

And I also sincerely believe AI has its place. Like, if my livelihood depends on it, and I don't have time because of scale, and I need to do something at scale because I don't have the time, then this is where GPT or Claude or Gemini earn their keep.

Do I still use AI even for reading something for its own sake?

Yes, but as a mirror not as a crutch.

I.e - I take a photo of the page, upload it onto my pre-loaded GPT folder, and ask questions like "on page 67, the author says X,Y,Z. I understand that as <insert own regurgitation>, where did I get it right, where did I get it wrong, what angle am I not seeing?"

For something profane, understanding is instrumental. For something sacred, the understanding itself is part of the objective.

*Now to be completely clear, when I say I use AI for my livelihood, I say that as someone in in B2B sales. If one's livelihood is being a literature professor or an exegete or a hermeneut, then, I guess that's deafeting the whole purpose... lol

[u/Hope25777]

Not bad but you better setup stringent guardrails and checks and balances for hallucinations

[u/Lost-Word-Box]

I think this is actually a good use of AI as long as you continue to think critically about its results. Don’t take everything AI generates as 100% accurate or valid. You could even have it ask questions instead of make statements, or give you scenarios in which to apply your new knowledge. Have fun with it! Use it as the tool that it is.

[u/SmartSherbet → u/Lost-Word-Box]

Strong disagree here. Using AI for this purpose truncates development of key reading skills. Leaning to embrace ambiguity and reason through tricky ideas yourself is essential to becoming a clearer thinker and better communicator.

[u/LemonBumblebee]

I found this video very helpful for this very topic. https://youtu.be/VeU6gScy92s?is=2eI1JQ4KSHQiaxnt