Google’s New ‘Simplify’ tool Makes Reading Comprehension On the web More accessible
A report from Abner Li at 9to5 Google this week brings news Google has added a new feature to its iOS app designed to simplify verbiage. The tool, befittingly called “Simplify,” is available for people to use when they come across complex language.
“When viewing a Search result or Discover article in the Google app, highlighting text that ‘uses jargon or technical concepts you’re not familiar with’ will reveal a new ‘Simplify’ option in the ‘More actions’ panel (alongside Search and Translate),” Li writes in describing how Simplify works. “This opens a sheet with a ‘new, simpler version of the text, helping you quickly understand a new concept so you can keep reading.’”
Google’s Simplify functionality is built atop Gemini 1.5 models, which is described as “specifically designed for minimally-lossy (high-fidelity) text simplification.” Li notes the company isn’t merely summarizing or explaining; rather, the software’s job is to clearly and concisely convey ideas without errors or omissions. Moreover, Li writes Google conducted research that eventually found simplified text proved “significantly more helpful” than the original version. Google tested Simplify across numerous domains, including aerospace, finance, law, literature, medical research, and more.
Li’s story gives an example of Simplify at work with biomedical text (emphasis Li’s):
Original: The complex pathology of this condition involves emphysematous destruction of lung parenchyma, diffuse interstitial fibrosis, changes in the composition of lung immune cells, increased production of immunomodulatory factors and the prominent remodeling of pulmonary vasculature
Simplified: This complex condition involves damage to the lung tissue from emphysema, a disease that damages the air sacs in the lungs, and widespread scarring of the lung tissue, called fibrosis. The immune cells in the lungs change, and the body makes more immunomodulatory factors, substances that control the immune system. The blood vessels in the lungs also change a lot.
In an accessibility context, Google’s new Simplify tool should be a boon for those who cope with intellectual disabilities. The stripped-down text not only makes for easier reading in terms of cognitive load, it boosts comprehension because it’s plainspoken and unpretentious. These factors ultimately go a long way to making Google Search more accessible when looking up information on the web. Relatedly, I’ve found Apple’s “Summarize” command within Safari to not only be spot-on in terms of accuracy, but it also provides cogent, easily digestible overviews of written work—including my own stories here. For all Apple Intelligence’s struggles over the last several months, the “Summarize” tool has worked impressively well in my (admittedly anecdotal) testing.
