“Congrats on making Fahrenheit 451 a reality!”: People are bragging about “reading” hundreds of books—but it’s just AI summaries

An app that claims to let people read tons of books in a short time with the help of AI has people on social media banding together against it.

Back in July, Wren (@wren.sb1) posted a video in which she claimed to have "read" 100 books in a single week. While this is actually possible if you're a fast, dedicated reader picking up shorter books, Wren's TikTok wasn't actually about her love of reading at all. It was pushing an AI-based app that summarizes books so that you can get the highlights without any actual appreciation for the work itself.

In other words, it's SparkNotes, but worse.

The app is called SoBrief, and boasts the ability to "read any book in 10 minutes" on its homepage. It currently offers over 73,500 book summaries and audio of those same summaries, with both a free tier and a paid subscription tier. 

Buried deep within a subsection of the FAQ is a note that says they "believe" their summaries comply with Fair Use and are not infringing on copyright, while going so far as to suggest they have a "positive market impact" by sharing affiliate links (read: links that give them a split of any proceeds) to places where you can buy the actual books.

Everyone who likes reading hates this

There are, unfortunately, plenty of people out there who seem to think consuming summaries is somehow equivalent to reading books. 

"A book isn't just a chronological order of events," @neckromancerss commented on the original TikTok. "It's the tone, its the authors writing style, its the tension of the drama. Like not just 'knowing what happens' this isn't reading a book."

Whether the people behind SoBrief grasp this or not isn't as important as the fact that there are plenty of tech bros out there pushing AI who clearly don't. That's why they're so often flooding social media in praise of the prose or pictures that AI puts out with zero comprehension as to why it doesn't actually work as art. These people also don't seem to understand that creative pursuits are something humans engage in for enjoyment and connection, not to tick off a box.

And even though there's no getting through to some of these people, that doesn't mean folks aren't going to keep trying.

TikTokers and the SoBrief app

The good news regarding Wren's video is that it seems unlikely this particular TikTok creator is as deeply invested in AI speed reading as she suggests. Her entire account is made up of SoBrief videos, and her username include "sb" in it, which some people have theorized indicates it's a TikTok specifically for pushing the app. People have also discovered a web of other wannabe influencers interacting with her and also pushing SoBrief.

"She's really only getting positive interactions from other creators also part of the first wave of 'building' the software theyre talking about which has i think barely 300 followers ?" writes @boynuns. "like i guess its an easy rage-bait grift but it CANNOT be that profitable."

So despite the fact that there doesn't seem to be any disclosures happening, it seems somewhat likely Wren has a financial agenda in pushing SoBrief. But that doesn't mean others won't take this completely seriously as a positive thing or that it won't catch on. 

Guess this is what happens when people don't read.

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