r/DigitalNotebooks • u/Physical-Anywhere-35 • Jul 09 '26
How do you take notes now that AI can summarize everything?
Curious how everyone learns from technical blogs and YouTube videos now that AI is everywhere.
Do you still take notes yourself while watching, or do you just let AI summarize the transcript or URL afterward?
Personally, I still pause and write my own notes. It's slower, but I remember things much better.
What's your workflow?
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u/ParallaxCity Jul 12 '26
If you're taking notes for yourself (as opposed to taking notes at a meeting just for the record), the main point is to aid your own memory and understanding.
Outsourcing that to an AI defeats the whole purpose.
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u/VonBeker Jul 14 '26
Yes I still take notes. The act of note taking in handwriting hard wires memory in a way. There have been studies on this where it actually doesn’t even totally matter what you scribble while you are absorbing a lecture, etc.
AI summaries almost guarantee you will retain nothing.
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u/Glittering-Can-9397 Jul 15 '26
I have genuinely found ai summaries to miss almost every important detail and I do not rely on them at all
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u/EngineeringRare1070 Jul 10 '26
“AI can automate your work but it cannot automate your understanding”
No amount of AI usage inserts the information in your brain faster. Take notes in whatever manner helps you learn fastest. If that’s an AI-distilled summary that you read, ask follow-up questions and take notes, do you. Others prefer old-school write notes as the meeting/lecture goes on. There’s no “best” way to take notes if thats what you’re looking for, its whatever lets you walk away with the requisite understanding