# AI models may struggle with clear communication, study finds

Digest AI · Generative AI & Models · published 2026-10-26T14:50:19Z

Canonical: https://digestai.news/story/ai-models-may-struggle-with-clear-communication-study-finds

## Summary

A new study from New York University and The University of Texas examines why AI-generated text can be harder to understand than expected. Researchers found that modern models like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini often prioritize efficiency in problem-solving over human-friendly clarity. This leads to compressed, ambiguous phrasing—such as inanimate subjects acting like living things or stacked noun compounds—that forces readers to decode implicit meanings, increasing cognitive load.

The study analyzed 14 models across chat, coding, and essay tasks, comparing their outputs to human-written texts. Frontier models like GPT-5.6 and Claude Opus 5.5 showed stronger tendencies toward complex constructions, while smaller models like Llama and Olmo Base performed closer to human writing. Experiments also demonstrated that fine-tuning models to penalize longer responses reinforced compressed, harder-to-parse language—even for untrained sentence structures. The authors suggest this trend may stem from training objectives that favor efficiency over readability.

## Key points

- 14 AI models tested showed frontier models use more complex, ambiguous phrasing than smaller ones or humans
- Compressed language (e.g., inanimate subjects, stacked nouns) increases reader effort to decode meaning
- Penalizing long responses during training reinforced harder-to-understand sentence structures

## Why it matters

This study highlights a trade-off in AI communication: efficiency over clarity could hinder adoption in fields where readability matters most, like education or customer service.

## Sources

1. [Why AI-Generated Text Is Harder to Understand Than You Think](https://unite.ai/why-ai-generated-text-is-harder-to-understand-than-you-think) (Unite.AI, 2026-10-26)

## Cite

Digest AI, "AI models may struggle with clear communication, study finds", 26 October 2026, https://digestai.news/story/ai-models-may-struggle-with-clear-communication-study-finds

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