Amazon will now let you ask your Kindle books about themselves.
The new feature, named “Ask this Book”, uses artificial intelligence to answer questions that people might have as they read. If someone has forgotten a character, for instance, they can ask their book for more information.
The features use of AI means that it will be available for all books. But it also comes at a time of increasing concern among publishers that their books are being used to train such systems – without them or their authors being fairly compensated.
The feature is available on the iOS app for now – though the company plans to roll it out more broadly – and is used by highlighting a passage and clicking the “Ask” button. Readers will also have the option of asking further follow-up questions.
It follows other similar features recently launched on the Kindle, including a recap that can be used to quickly catch up on the previous action in a series, for instance. Previously, however, Amazon had to pull its AI-powered recaps for its TV shows after they showed wrong summaries.
Amazon is keen to stress that asking questions won’t ruin the rest of the book. “Answers are from your reading so far and don’t contain spoilers,” reads a message at the top of the screen.
The feature is on by default, with no option for either readers or publishers to turn it off. That is to ensure “a consistent reading experience”, an Amazon spokesperson told industry publication Publishers Lunch.
