Ask Questions About Your Book With the Kindle App
▼ Summary
– Amazon has launched an AI feature called “Ask this Book” in its Kindle app, which provides spoiler-free answers to questions about a book’s plot, characters, and themes based only on the pages read.
– The feature acts as an in-book chatbot, accessible from the book menu or by highlighting text, and is designed to avoid spoilers by limiting its responses to content the user has already encountered.
– According to an Amazon spokesperson, the AI-generated answers are non-shareable, non-copyable, and only available to readers who have purchased or rented the book.
– Amazon confirmed that the feature is always active and that authors and publishers have no option to opt their titles out of it.
– The feature is currently available for thousands of English-language books in the US on iOS, with plans to expand to Kindle devices and Android next year, but without a specified timeline for other regions or languages.
Amazon has introduced a new artificial intelligence tool within its Kindle app, designed to function as a personal literary guide. This feature, named “Ask this Book,” allows readers to pose questions about their current novel directly within the application. It promises to clarify plot points, explain character dynamics, and explore themes, all while carefully avoiding any spoilers for future chapters. The AI assistant bases its responses solely on the content the user has already read, creating a tailored, interactive reading experience accessible through the book’s menu or by selecting specific text.
The company confirmed that authors and publishers do not have the ability to disable this feature for their titles. A spokesperson explained that the tool is permanently enabled for all eligible books. Responses generated by the AI are private, cannot be shared or copied, and are exclusively available to individuals who have legitimately purchased or rented the book. This positions the feature as a value-added service for customers, though it raises questions about authorial control over how their work is interpreted and presented.
Currently, the option is live for thousands of titles in English and is accessible to users in the United States via the iOS version of the Kindle app. Amazon has outlined plans to extend availability to its dedicated Kindle e-readers and the Android app in the coming year. However, the timeline for an international rollout or support for additional languages remains unspecified. This launch follows the earlier debut of AI-powered series recaps on Kindle, yet it comes shortly after Amazon faced criticism and had to remove AI-generated show summaries from its Prime Video service due to factual inaccuracies.
The interface for “Ask this Book” functions much like a dedicated chat window. When a user submits a query, they are taken to a separate screen where they can converse with the AI about the narrative. This integration aims to make deep engagement with a book’s content more immediate and intuitive, potentially aiding comprehension for complex stories. As these AI tools become more embedded in how we consume media, their reliability and the balance between innovation and creative authority will undoubtedly remain a focal point of discussion.
(Source: The Verge)
