This week I’ve got a quick guide for you, because sometimes AI should save you time.
But first! I’ve got a new podcast, and you might want to subscribe!
If you follow me on LinkedIn, you know that I share my principles for winning public affairs campaigns. I’m now taking these insights to YouTube and podcasts. The first few episodes our out. In my first week on the job, I’ve talked about how every CEO is a political leader, how a fast-fashion giant’s IPO is a political exercise, and my prediction on what I think will be the next palm oil.
Each episode is 2-3 minutes long by design: leave you with (hopefully!) useful take and insights without monopolizing your precious time. Take a listen, subscribe, and let me know what you think!
Now, back to the AI stuff.
This week, I’m sticking to the theme of saving time, and I’m turning our attention to YouTube. YouTube is an incredible resource. I’m always amazed at the quality of content I can find on the platform, and how much I can learn from it. That said, I also get frustrated by it. Many of the videos I want to consume are lengthy. Even a 20-minute video can feel like an eternity when I’m trying to wedge it between calls or in between parenting duties.
The truth is, the spoken word can take a long-time to make its point. And while I appreciate the effort so many creators put into the storytelling side of their videos, I rarely have the time for it.
With podcasts, I’ve taken to listening to most on 1.5x speed. And I’ll often to the same with YouTube videos. But even that doesn’t feel like enough on some days. In these moments, all I need is a summary, or written version of the video. My reading speed is much faster than my listening speed.
But, if you’ve ever tried to pull up a transcript on YouTube, you’ll know that they can be messy and almost counter-productive.
This is where the growing library of GPTs on ChatGPT is helpful. You’ll find several that are designed to help you summarize videos but I've recently been relying on this one: Free YouTube Summarizer.
Here’s how I use it to become smarter.
My use case is a real one. I’ve been hearing a lot about the lack of IPOs in London, and a general sense of malaise in the UK’s capital markets. I often rely on the Financial Times to explain these things to me, and enjoy the 20-minute documentary series the publication produces to explain complex topics.
Just this week, it posted this video, How to reboot Britain’s capital markets.
But, I had no time to watch it. So, I turned to the Summarizer GPT with its suggested prompt:
Once I gave it permission, it offered up this summary:
I took up its offer to write an article and got a 750-word version of the above, with a bit more detail. Either way, reading both of these products was much for time-efficient than watching the video.
This means that in the 20-minute window I would have needed to watch the video, I can rinse and repeat these prompts and get through 5-8 videos in the same time. Almost feels like a time machine.
That’s it. I promised you, short and sweet today. Take the time savings and gobble up some useful YouTube videos!