Summaries are decisions in disguise
Busy leaders act on summaries. If the model omits a condition, deadline or minority view, operations go wrong while everyone feels efficient. Require source page references, force “unknowns” to be listed, and keep original documents one click away.
A safer summarisation workflow
- Classify the document (public, internal, confidential).
- Choose an approved tool matching that class.
- Ask for structured output: purpose, key points, deadlines, owners, open questions.
- Have a knowledgeable human verify against the source.
- Store the summary with a link to the original—not as a replacement record.
What not to summarise in general tools
Legal holds, tribunal materials, raw safeguarding files, medical details and anything under professional secrecy should stay in approved case systems. When in doubt, do not paste. See GDPR-compliant AI for dioceses.
Institutional memory without chaos
Summaries accumulate. Without ownership they become a second, contradictory archive. Assign stewards per office, expire stale summaries, and prefer a governed knowledge base over endless chat histories. Pair with secure internal knowledge bases when the volume justifies it.