Kindle’s in-book AI assistant can reply all of your questions with out spoilers

In case you’re a number of chapters right into a novel and forgot who a personality was, Amazon is hoping its new Kindle characteristic will jog your reminiscence with out ever having to place the e-reader down. This characteristic, known as Ask this Book, was introduced throughout Amazon’s hardware event in September, however is lastly obtainable for US customers on the Kindle iOS app.

In response to Amazon, the characteristic can presently be discovered on 1000’s of English best-selling Kindle titles and “solely reveals data as much as your present studying place” for spoiler-free responses. To make use of it, you’ll be able to spotlight a passage in any e book you have purchased or borrowed and ask it questions on plot, characters or different essential particulars, and the AI assistant will supply “fast, contextual, spoiler-free data.” You may even be capable to ask follow-up questions for extra element.

Whereas Ask this Ebook could also be useful to some Kindle readers, the characteristic touches on a significant level of rivalry with authors and publishers. In response to Publishers Lunch, a every day publication for the publishing trade, an Amazon spokesperson stated that, “To make sure a constant studying expertise, the characteristic is at all times on, and there’s no possibility for authors or publishers to choose titles out.” Different AI corporations are already going through lawsuits claiming copyright infringement. Most lately, the New York Occasions and Chicago Tribune sued Perplexity, accusing the AI firm of utilizing its copyrighted works to coach its LLMs.

As for the Ask this Ebook characteristic, Amazon is already planning to increase it past the iOS app and can introduce it to Kindle gadgets and the Android OS app subsequent yr. Past this new characteristic, Amazon additionally launched Recaps to Kindle gadgets and the iOS app for books in a collection, which acts very like a TV present’s “Beforehand on” roundup in between seasons. Nonetheless, Amazon lately needed to withdraw its AI-generated Video Recaps characteristic, so it is perhaps value double-checking the data you get from Recaps, too.