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

If you happen to’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 out there for US customers on the Kindle iOS app.

Based on 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 possibly can 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 provide “quick, contextual, spoiler-free data.” You will even be capable of ask follow-up questions for extra element.

Whereas Ask this E book could also be useful to some Kindle readers, the characteristic touches on a serious level of competition with authors and publishers. In response to Publishers Lunch, a every day e-newsletter for the publishing trade, an Amazon spokesperson mentioned that, “To make sure a constant studying expertise, the characteristic is all the time on, and there’s no possibility for authors or publishers to decide titles out.” Different AI firms 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 E book characteristic, Amazon is already planning to broaden 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 sequence, which acts very similar to 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 likely to be value double-checking the information you get from Recaps, too.